Such was the impact of the Lisbon Lions and the sheer talent held within the ranks of the Quality Street Gang that were primed to take over, there was little need for Jock Stein to get out the cheque book.

Indeed for the remainder of the 1960s, discounting the October 1969 signing of Wolves reserve keeper Evan Williams, there were only two recognised first-team signings.

The first was Tommy Callaghan who arrived from Dunfermline Athletic for £35,000 in November 1968, while the second arrived later the same season for a fee of £40,000 from Clyde in March – and his name was Harry Hood.

He signed on Sunday, March 16 following the Celts’ 1-0 league win over Partick Thistle the previous day.

That week’s Celtic View said: “Celtic signed Harry Hood, Clyde’s star inside forward, on Sunday night. Hood, a first-class ball player, has been the star man in the Clyde attack all season. Celtic almost signed Hood four seasons ago when Jimmy McGrory was the boss, but the inside man finally decided to go to England.

Jock Stein said: ‘Harry should prove a tremendous asset to us in our bid for the Scottish League Championship.

“’At this time of the year, the strain begins to tell on the players, and Harry will be a very handy man to have around at such a vital time of the season even though he will be ineligible for the Scottish Cup games or the League Cup final.’”

Celtic's next game was against Hibernian in the league, a dress rehearsal for the aforementioned League Cup final scheduled for April 5, but Hood wasn’t included in the line-up for the 1-1 draw.

Instead, the previous Friday night he appeared for the reserves in a 4-2 defeat at Easter Road, but the new Bhoy did get on the scoreline in a second-string side that included Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, George Connelly, Davie Hay, Vic Davidson, Pat McMahon and Lou Macari as well as Bobby Lennox coming back from injury.

Sean Fallon said in that week’s edition of the View: “Harry Hood and Bobby Lennox were our inside forwards in this game and both came through the tough match with credit.

'Hood produced some really great football and scored a clever goal, and Bobby, having a try out after his bad ankle injury, finished the game his usual self. Bobby proved he is ready for first-team duty again.'

Bobby Lennox did indeed make the first team the next day in that Hibernian match and the following week on March 29, 1969 against St Mirren at Love Street, he was joined in the forward line by Harry Hood for the first time.

And it proved to be a scoring debut for the new Celt as a crowd of 24,000 saw the Bhoys cruise to a 3-0 win in Paisley.

A Moment in Time: Debut delight for Harry Hood