It was on this day, 40 years ago that one of the tightest titles ever won by Celtic was clinched on a magical day in Paisley thanks to exploits there and in faraway Dundee. Here we take a look at the story behind the title. ONCE the initial skirmishes of the opening games were over, it was Rangers who held first place as the only points they dropped in their first six games was when they drew 1-1 with the Hoops at Celtic Park. However, two consecutive home defeats, 1-0 to Dundee and 3-0 to Aberdeen, saw them topple to third place and the Hoops, thanks to wins over the same two clubs that had beaten Rangers, moved to the top for the first time. A win over St Mirren kept Celtic on top for one more week but a defeat to Hearts, who had been hugging eighth place in the table for six weeks, knocked the Hoops off the top spot on October 8 – they wouldn’t return there until the late afternoon of May 3, 1986. It was Aberdeen, thanks to a 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Easter Road, that moved to the top of the table that day and they would stay there, despite defeats to Hearts, St Mirren and Clydebank, until their game before Christmas when a 2-1 defeat at Tannadice saw them drop to second place. This was when, despite a pretty rank start to the season, Hearts moved to the top spot for the first time. Their next eight games against every other side in the league following their opening-day 1-1 draw with Celtic saw only two wins, one draw and five defeats, hence their lasting relationship with eighth place.Their 1-0 loss to Clydebank at Kilbowie on September 28 would be the last time they would taste defeat until that fateful day of May 3, 1986. Of the other 26 games left, they drew 11, including another two 1-1 draws with Celtic, and won the other 15, starting with a 1-0 win over the Hoops at Celtic Park. The week after they drew 1-1 with Celtic at Tynecastle on December 14, a 1-0 win over St Mirren at Love Street moved them into the top spot – a position they would hold until the drama of May 3, 1986. The week that Hearts moved to the top, a 1-0 defeat to a Dundee United penalty at Tannadice saw Celtic slip to fifth place, although the mere positions were slightly misleading as Hearts were on 24 points with 20 games played while Celtic were on 20 points with only 17 games played. Nonetheless, Celtic were playing catch-up and they would continue to do so until about 4:45 on May 3, 1986. However, the Hoops were to suffer only one more defeat that season, also to Dundee United at Tannadice, 4-2 this time just two games after the 1-0 loss, but drawn games were not helping the Celtic cause. Indeed, there were four drawn games in a row at one point with 1-1 games against St Mirren, Hearts, and Dundee United followed by a thrilling 4-4 game with Rangers at Ibrox. Following that, though, Celtic won their remaining eight games all the while moving up the ladder step by step from fourth place – the Hoops had even been back down to fifth place after a 1-1 home draw with Aberdeen in January.The 4-4 draw with Rangers saw Celtic in fourth place with 34 points from 28 games while Hearts were seven points ahead with 30 games played, even winning the games in hand would still leave the Hoops three points behind. Hearts then beat Rangers and Dundee United while Celtic beat Clydebank, Dundee, St Mirren and Aberdeen over the same time frame. The Tynecastle side were on 47 points from 33 games and the Celts, in third place, were five points behind having played a game fewer. On Saturday, April 19, two late goals gave Celtic a 2-0 home win over Hibs and 24 hours later, Hearts drew 1-1 with Aberdeen at Tynecastle – the Hoops were still in third place but had narrowed the gap to four points. The following weekend, two second-half goals gave Celtic a 2-0 home win over Dundee while Hearts were at home to bottom club, Clydebank, a team who had shipped more goals than any other that term, but the Edinburgh side won only 1-0 in their penultimate game. Wednesday, April 30 saw Celtic’s game in hand played with a 2-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park – it was now game on. Both sides had one game left with Celtic travelling to Paisley while Hearts went to Dens Park to play sixth-place Dundee.Hearts had a goal difference of 28 while Celtic, two points behind had a goal difference of 24 – the Edinburgh side only had to draw to win the title while even a 1-0 defeat for them would have to see Celtic win 3-0 to take the title on goals scored. What unfolded was the stuff of green and white dreams. Celtic raced to a 4-0 half-time lead and just nine minutes after the break, Brian McClair made it 5-0 – but the ball was still in Hearts’ court as they were drawing 0-0 at Dens Park. Well, the ball was in their court until future Celt, Dundee’s Tosh McKinlay, was replaced by fellow Celtic supporter, Albert Kidd. With seven minutes to go, the cheers at Love Street, Easter Road and Ibrox were louder than those of the heavily outnumbered Dundee fans at Dens Park. Kidd had amazingly put Dundee in front, the cheers at Love Street spoke for themselves, fans of Edinburgh rivals Hibs obviously rejoiced in schadenfreude while Rangers fans at Ibrox did likewise – mistakenly thinking that Walter Kidd had scored for Hearts. Even more amazingly, Kidd, of the Albert variety, scored again with three minutes left and even Hearts’ slim hopes of winning the title with a draw evaporated. History was made on May 3, 1986. P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Celtic 36 20 10 6 67 38 29 50 2 Hearts 36 20 10 6 59 33 26 50 May 3, 1986, St Mirren Park Game 36 in a 10-team, 36-game league Celtic 5-0 St Mirren (McClair 2, Johnston 2, McStay) CELTIC: Bonner, McGrain (Grant), Whyte, Aitken, McGugan, MacLeod, McClair, McStay, Johnston, Burns, Archdeacon. TOP LEAGUE GOALSCORER Brian McClair, 22 goals in 33 games plus one substitute appearance played. MOST LEAGUE APPEARANCES Roy Aitken played in all 36 games.FixturesHibernian Vs. Celtic – Sun, May 3rd 2026, 12:00
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