Kilmarnock 1964-65: By Far The Greatest Finish
- Graham Dunn
- Apr 2, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2025
The Kilmarnock 1964–65 Scottish champions side remains one of football’s great comeback stories. Under Willie Waddell, Killie overturned the odds to win their first and only top-flight title, sealing their legacy with a dramatic final-day victory and a European fightback against Eintracht Frankfurt that cemented their place among Scotland’s True Greats.
If a TV executive could have scripted it, they would have done it this way. The Scottish title in 1965, already incredibly a four-way contest featuring neither Celtic nor Rangers, came down to a final day shoot-out between the top two with Kilmarnock heading to Hearts needing to win by two clear goals to clinch their first ever title.
TV producers however did not plan this. They were showing the Scottish Cup Final live that day instead. So, the most incredible climax to a season, almost ever, could only be followed on radio or by those lucky enough to be at Tynecastle that day.
First-half goals from Davie Sneddon and Brian McIlroy gave Willie Waddell’s Killie the two-goal lead they needed for the title. Kilmarnock held out over the next hour, not least thanks to a late save from Bobby Ferguson – a seismic contribution from a keeper in one of just six games he played that season.
It was fitting that resolute defending should seal the title. It was Kilmarnock’s impressive defensive record across the season that ultimately made the difference in the tightest of title races.
Kilmarnock’s win at Tynecastle meant the two sides ended the season locked on 50 points, with identikit records of 22 wins, six draws and six defeats. Hearts though had scored 90 goals – 28 more than Kilmarnock. However, Hearts had conceded 16 more goals than Kilmarnock – not least seven in a 7-1 home loss against Dundee in February.
Under goal difference Hearts would have been champions. But back in 1965 goal average/goal ratio was in force. This meant that rather than subtracting goals against from goals scored, the two figures were divided. It meant the maths came out in Kilmarnock’s favour by 0.04. Only Red Star Belgrade, who won the Yugoslav First League in 1951 with a goal ratio advantage of 0.013, have won a title by a slimmer margin.
Kilmarnock’s win perhaps played a part in the move to goal difference. FIFA first introduced it at the 1970 World Cup, in part arguing it would incentivise more attacking football, and before long it was commonplace across the leagues.
It marks the only season when neither of the Glasgow giants has finished in the top four.
Hearts, however, just could not catch a break when it came to final day title deciders and goal difference. Having been among the campaigners for a move away from goal ratio, Hearts were denied a Scottish title in 1986 when Celtic edged them out on goal difference – a title, as all good narrative and maths fans have already guessed, Hearts would have on goal ratio.
Spare a thought too for Dunfermline Athletic. They finished in third place in 1965, just a point behind the top two and with a goal average of 2.3 – above both Kilmarnock and Hearts. That would have been enough to deliver their own Scottish title for the first time.
Notably absent from the 1964-65 season story are the Old Firm clubs. Rangers finished fifth, six points behind Kilmarnock, and Celtic in eighth place. It marks the only season when neither of the Glasgow giants has finished in the top four.
This though was not to signal a great shift in Scottish football. Celtic responded by winning the next nine titles – and the European Cup for good measure in 1967 – while it would not be until 1980 when a team outside the Old Firm would win the Scottish title again. And since this brief interlude of success by Aberdeen and Dundee United, Celtic and Rangers have held a 40-year grip on the title with little sign that will change in the coming 40 years.
Kilmarnock’s title success, though, should not be seen as a one-off. Under Waddell’s astute management, the club had been enjoying its most successful period ever. They had finished second in four of the previous five season before winning the ultimate prize, as well as reach two Scottish League Cup finals and one Scottish Cup final.
Silverware though eluded them and until 1965 Killie could have been forgiven for believing they would always be the bridesmaid.
Perhaps the moment when Kilmarnock began to believe anything was possible came in September 1964 when Eintracht Frankfurt came to Rugby Park for the second leg of their first round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – the club’s first adventure in European football.
Already three-nil up from the first leg, the German side took the lead within two minutes of the second leg to leave Kilmarnock requiring five goals to progress the next round. Incredibly by the time Ronnie Hamilton scored his second – and Kilmarnock’s fifth of the night – history had been made.
This was a record they held until, four-goals-to-the good PSG so benevolently imploded in the final minutes at the Nou Camp to hand victory to Barcelona.
How We Ranked Them
We have five categories of greatness from our five-star All-Time Greats category at the top to our one-star Blinkered Greats category at the bottom. After watching the footage of the Eintracht Frankfurt comeback, we couldn’t help buy into this team and ranked Killie.
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TRUE GREATS
Listen to the full podcast
Join Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney who were joined by David Sneddon, son of one of Killie’s goalscorers at Tynecastle which clinched the title, to look back at an incredible period for Kilmarnock reliving the Kilmarnock’s 1964–65 title-winning season — a story of resilience, redemption, and one of the greatest comebacks in Scottish football.
Further Listening
You wait for a podcast on a non-Old Firm team winning the Scottish title for the first and only time and two come along in a matter of weeks. Here is the story of how Jim McLean’s Dundee United and their 1983 triumph
Nothing from the era, but a reminder that Stuart Findlay had been impressing in the heart of Killie’s defence during his double-loan seasons at Rugby Park and is welcomed back to the side this weekend after a lengthy injury.
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