Fifty-four years ago Celtic sent a box of strips to help a non-league club in Essex look the part in a cup final.
Running out for that 1968 Walton Cup clash in the Lisbon Lions’ kit was enough to spur Catholic United on to a 2-1 victory over Haden FC, a triumph which remains one of their best ever.
From that moment it was written into the amateur club’s constitution that their colours would always remain green and white hoops in a gesture of thanks to the Parkhead giants.
But more than half a century later Catholic United hope they’ve finally repaid the Hoops in full with their own special delivery - by helping send Cameron Carter-Vickers on his way from schoolboy prodigy to potential Champions League star.
Carter-Vickers is closing in on making last season’s loan deal at Parkhead from Tottenham permanent with personal terms agreed between player and club, as Record Sport revealed on Tuesday.
Having been a pillar in Ange Postecoglou ’s defence as Celtic reclaimed the title from Rangers, the 24-year-old looks set to end a 13-year spell with Spurs.
That association with the Premier League giants stretches back to when the now US international was an 11-year-old school kid plucked from the realms of the Catholic United youth ranks after impressing scouts.
As the Essex side’s chairman James Paviour told Record Sport last night, his journey from the club dubbed the Essex Bhoys to the real Bhoys has been nothing short of a fairytale.
Paviour said: “Cameron played youth team football for us for a good few years before being picked up by Spurs.
“He’s a local boy who went to the catholic primary school here. A few of our current team were in his class.
“We have a Sunday League team too and a few of those boys still speak to him regularly.
“He was a supreme athlete even back then. A very capable player with enormous drive.
“It’s so pleasing to see how successful he has been.
“I was always a Celtic follower anyway so Cameron going there changed nothing in that regard.
“But the back story with our club is that Celtic sent us kits back in 1968 for a cup final.
“Our chairman at the time, Glen Foy, wrote to the Celtic chairman, Bob Kelly, to explain that we had this huge game looming but that our kit was a bit of a mismatch.
“He asked if we could buy a set of strips from them because the manufacturer at the time wouldn’t allow the kit to be on general sale.
“The club didn’t hear anything back for a few weeks.
“But then the day before the cup final a big box arrived which was full of Celtic strips and a letter wishing the club luck. It was just incredible.
“Thankfully we went on to win the final 2-1!
“That was before my time but recently I was at an event with some of that team who played in that kit and their recollections of that final is the sort of stuff that makes your hairs stand up on end.
“So to now have a former player playing for Celtic on loan was amazing but if that becomes permanent then even better.
“It’s nice to think we’ve maybe helped repay them for those strips!
“Not only are we tremendously proud of what Cameron has achieved but the impact his move to Celtic has had on our club is nothing short of remarkable.
“As a by-product of him signing for Celtic we gained 22,000 followers on social media and have had people make trips down from Glasgow to watch out games.
“The whole thing has just been a fairytale.”
Celtic have a £6m option locked into the terms of Carter-Vickers’ loan switch from Tottenham which was only finalised in the last hour of the transfer window last summer.
That could rise to £10m with add ons and it’s understood the mechanics of that deal are still being discussed between the two clubs although Spurs can take the option off the table on June 15.
But Carter-Vickers sensational form on loan last season has made him a priority as Ange Postecoglou looks to build on his instant success in Glasgow.
The eight-times capped US international played 45 times and scored four goals including the winner in April’s pivotal 2-1 Old Firm victory at Ibrox.
His form saw him included in the PFA Scotland team of the season and won him a recall to Gregg Berhalter’s America squad for the first time in three years.
It’s the prospect of playing Champions League football next season which most excites Paviour though with the Hoops already qualified for the group stage.
He said: “It’s incredible .. we had a few of our players go on to play international football back in the 1970s and 80s, our most recent was a keeper with Antigua.
“But I’m certain Cameron will be the first ever to go on and play in the Champions League.
“That will be another little bit of history for our club and again will be linked directly to Celtic.
“It would be nice to see Cameron play in our hoops again .. but I think that ship has sailed.
“If it doesn’t work out at Celtic he is welcome back!”
