When we were Kings...
1962 was a year of uncertainty at Celtic
Park. The team had talent, lots of it but was brittle and lacked the belief
necessary to master the dominant Scottish teams of the era; Rangers, Hearts and
Dundee. Their brief inaugural appearance in Europe that season saw Valencia
knock them out of the Fairs Cup after a spirited display in both legs. (2-4,
2-2)However the event which got Celtic fans excited came in September 1962 when
Real Madrid were enticed over to play a friendly match. The game was the idea of businessman and Celtic fan Max Benjamin who
wanted to raise money for the Jewish National Fund Charitable Trust and the
rehabilitation of refugee woman and children. Real Madrid had an aura of
invincibility, especially in Glasgow where they had destroyed Eintracht
Frankfurt 7-3 in the 1960 European Cup Final. The magnitude of that victory and
the manner in which it was achieved stunned the soccer world. Eintracht were no
mugs having disposed of a good Rangers team 12-4 on aggregate in the Semi
Final. However the Germans could have lost 10 at Hampden as 127,000 watched
Real rip them apart with clever passing football and deadly finishing. Names
such as Gento, Puskas, Santa Maria and Di Stefano entered Scottish folklore.
Young Dunfermline manager Jock Stein watched the game with interest. He had
seen the brilliant Hungarians destroy England in the mid-fifties (6-3 &
7-1) and now he saw Madrid play with the same brilliance. The shrewd former
miner noted that this is how football should be played.
As McGrory’s young team trotted out to face
the mighty Madrid on a bright September evening in 1962, few gave them a hope
of upsetting the magnificent side which had won 5 of the previous 7 European
cup finals. To their credit, Celtic went for Madrid from the start, Hughes,
Lennox, Higgins and Chalmers gave Madrid’s defence some testing times in the
first 10 minutes as 72,000 fans roared them on. Then, with virtually their
first real attack of the game, Madrid carved Celtic open and Puskas slotted in
the first goal. The Parkhead crowd applauded the incisive passing and clinical
finishing, which so often seemed to be missing from their own side in that troubled
era. When Amancio made it 2-0 mid way through the first half, some feared Celtic
might crumble and take a severe beating. However, with spirit and enthusiasm
they continued to attack their illustrious visitors and Chalmers pulled one back.
They eventually lost 3-1 but such was the spirit and flair the young Celts
displayed, the huge crowd demanded they appear back on the pitch and complete a
lap of honour. They had lost but hadn’t been disgraced. They had given one of
the best teams in the world a tough game and this filled the long suffering
fans with hope for the future.
Madrid were polite and stated they were
impressed by Celtic and their supporters but the gulf in class and organisation
was still there for all to see. Celtic were for all their enthusiasm, a work in
progress. There were more miserable days ahead as their potential remained
unfulfilled. They were miles off in the League campaigns of the early 1960s and
took some morale damaging defeats from their great Glasgow Rivals in those
years. The promise of the Madrid game faded as their barren spell stretched
from the legendary 7-1 game in 1957 into early 1965. Some wondered if the good
days would ever return until in the early spring of that year a new Manager was
appointed. The new man wasn’t one to accept any interference in team matters
from Directors. It was his team, his way or he wouldn’t take the job. The autocratic
Bob Kelly did what was best for the club and agreed. Jock Stein set about organising this bunch of
talented but under achieving young players into a formidable team. The sort of skilful,
pacey, passing game he had seen from Hungary and Real Madrid was blended with
traditional Scottish traits such as grit and determination and it produced a
team of awesome attacking prowess. Celtic won the cup in 1965 and belief spread
throughout the club like a virus. The title was won in 1966 and the team took
part in its first European Cup campaign in 1966-67 season.
Anyone who saw Celtic dismantle Inter Milan and
their suffocating ‘catenaccio’ style of play can be in no doubt they were
watching one of the best club side’s ever to play the beautiful game. If somehow
those green hoops fell away from the strips in Lisbon that hot May day, you
could be forgiven for thinking you were watching the Real Madrid of old. The
passing, movement and aggression were a joy to watch as the much vaunted Inter
defensive system was stretched to breaking point beneath the Portuguese sun. Of
course, Celtic won a great victory for themselves that day but they also won a
great victory for football. Stein’s team played the game as it should be played
with flair, skill and imagination. Even Inter coach, Herrera accepted that the
days of defensive football were over. Celtic had seen to that.
As if it was pre-ordained, Celtic, newly
crowned Champions of Europe travelled to Madrid to compete in the Alfredo Di
Stefano Testimonial match in June 1967. Madrid were still a formidable team
having narrowly lost to Inter in that season’s European Cup. This would be the
test of how far Celtic had travelled in the 5 years since McGrory’s brave young
side had been beaten by Madrid. The game was played in front of 117,000 fans
and it was obvious that both sides wanted to win. For Stein and men like
Chalmers, McNeil and Lennox this was the testing ground. Madrid had been the
masters in 1962 now Celtic sought their crown. It is a matter of historical
record that Celtic defeated Real Madrid 1-0 that night. That score line barely
describes how they dominated the game. Jimmy Johnstone was at his mesmeric best
and drew applause and chants of ‘Ole’
from the knowledgeable Spanish fans as he jinked past demoralised defenders
time and time again. On one occasion two defenders had him trapped on the
byeline and when it appeared he must lose possession, he flicked the ball
elegantly over their heads to a team mate. It was the stuff of dreams, Celtic
were mastering the mighty Madrid in their own stadium. Lennox,
of course, flashed into action and scored a goal of clinical excellence
following a slide rule pass from unplayable Johnstone. In every department
Celtic were superior to Madrid and the game ended with a storm of applause for
the magnificent team from Scotland who had demonstrated beyond any doubt that
they were the greatest side in Europe. Stein looked on in satisfaction. He had
learned from the best and had made his team the best.
As Di Stefano took his applause at the final
whistle he glanced at the pale Scots who had outplayed his side so comprehensively.
He may have been thinking that the crown had passed to a new generation, a team
who played the game as it should be played. Jock was the king maker and that
incredible season demonstrated his genius for blending together the various
skills and talents of 11 Scottish lads and making them a powerful and elegant
football team. His team can rightly be regarded as being among the vanguard of
total football, a system of open attractive play so brilliantly expounded by
the Dutch in the years ahead. Attacking play has always been at the core of the
Celtic philosophy but it reached its zenith in that remarkable year. As for the
stifling Catenaccio system, its days of influence were well and truly over. There
were new Kings in football and they wore green and white hooped shirts.
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