Thanks Jock

 

Thanks Jock

When I was a boy I attended a match at Hampden Park between Celtic and Dundee. I don’t recall much about the game apart from the fact it was a Wednesday night and Jimmy Johnstone scored the only goal of the game. What I do recall though is after the match I waited with a few pals at the entrance to the old rickety main stand for Celtic to come out. I had my programme in hand and wanted to get the autograph of a few of my heroes. Most of the players ignored us and got straight onto the bus. Jock Stein was last out and stopped to sign his name for a few lucky fans. I watched him from a few yards away; I was absolutely in awe of him. He had an aura about him, a presence few men have. I stood shyly and offered my programme to him to sign which he did. There in front of me was a true Celtic legend, the man who led Celtic to their first 9 in a row and the European cup. I could have asked him anything but as a star struck youngster all I could think of to say was ‘Thanks Jock.’ Those two words were the only words I ever said in person to Jock Stein and perhaps given his contribution to Celtic they were the most appropriate.

In early 1965 Jock Stein was the most coveted young Manager in Scotland. The 42 year old had won the cup with Dunfermline in 1961 and then moved on to revive an ailing Hibs side. There was no doubting his astute footballing brain or the natural intelligence he had in spades. His path in life was not to lead him into higher education as that was a distant dream even for bright working class youngsters in those days. The education he received came in the coal mines of Lanarkshire and the lower league football pitches of Scotland where he turned out for Albion Rovers for £1 a week. He never forgot the lessons he learned in the mines about the need to work as a team and to be there for your workmates in that most dangerous of working environments.

There is no doubt that he wanted to return to Celtic, a club he had both played for and coached young players at. Celtic also had the potential and fan base to offer Stein a chance to prove himself at the highest level of the game. Bob Kelly, Celtic’s autocratic Chairman was hesitant as the club’s previous three managers had all been former players and of course they had also all been Catholics. To the modern mind it seems absurd that Stein’s religious background was considered a factor in his potential return to Celtic but Kelly was a traditionalist and wanted Stein to work under Sean Fallon. Celtic had since earliest times played with a mixed team and shunned the petty discrimination of their great city rivals. The Celtic team Stein played in during the mid-1950s had players like Evans, Peacock impressing the fans with their ability and fighting spirit. After one particularly bad defeat at Ibrox though, Charlie Tully made the crass and unfair remark that one of the reasons they lost were that there were too many Protestants in the team. Stein pinned him to the wall and had to be restrained by Sean Fallon lest he damage the mercurial Tully. Fallon recalled the incident years later and said…

‘Charlie wasn’t normally that kind of person but was obviously frustrated that day and came out with a stupid, unfair comment. You shouldn’t forget he had been brought up in Belfast which was very divided back then but there was still no excuse for what he said. At the time he was looking to me to back him up as a fellow Catholic but there was no chance of that. I had nothing but respect for the Protestants in our team and one of the things I admired most about Celtic was that unlike Rangers we signed players from every background.’

Stein clearly didn’t hold a grudge about Charlie’s stupid remark as he travelled to Belfast at the height of the troubles in 1971 to carry Charlie’s coffin. Beside him was his young Captain Billy McNeill who with Stein ignored RUC advice that they couldn’t guarantee their safety to honour a fine Celtic player one last time.

At the AGM of 1957 a fan asked the board if they would consider limiting the number of non-Catholic players the side. Bob Kelly rose to his feet and destroyed this odious opinion with the withering words…

‘It has been the founding Fathers’ doctrine and club policy that Celtic field the best possible team regardless of denomination. Non-Catholic’s had throughout the club’s history played their hearts out for Celtic and the policy of the founding Fathers’ would continue! With the new school of youngsters there is no doubt that Catholic youth will show up well and have every opportunity to show its worth but the principle (of a mixed team) will remain the same as always.’

He sat down to a huge applause as the vast majority of Celtic supporters wanted no truck with the petty prejudice they witnessed at the home of their main rivals at that time. Celtic was an integrated team and it would stay that way.

In early 1965 Jock’s perception told him that he was in a powerful position in his negotiations with Bob Kelly. Other teams were interested in him, most notably the decent Wolverhampton Wanderers of the era and he played hard ball with Kelly. He told the Celtic Chairman he would return, but only as Manager and with full control over team matters. He would not be joint manager or assistant manager it was full control or nothing. Kelly had much to ponder as Stein hinted that Wolves were ready to move him. Celtic hadn’t won the title for 11 long years and had stuttered through the early 1960s like the proverbial sleeping giant. The fans wanted Stein, they wanted success and Kelly knew this.

Back at Hibs Stein spoke to the club Doctor, John Batters, and told him about the possibility of returning to Celtic. The astute doctor said to Stein, ’John you’re a Celtic man, you should go or you’ll regret it.‘  It was a solid piece of advice but Stein and his wife knew the often poisonous rivalry which afflicted Celtic and Rangers and Jean Stein took some convincing that it was the right move. She had seen long-time friends snub Jock over a decade before when he joined Celtic as a player. He said as he reflected on that time,’ I lost some friends when I made the move but if that’s what matters to them then they weren’t really friends at all.’

By March 1965 Kelly had relented and told Stein he could be manager and Fallon would be his deputy. He would also have full control of the team ending the days when Kelly interfered in team matters to the degree of telling Jimmy McGrory who to put in his side and who to drop. Stein would have none of that. He took control of Celtic’s playing side on 8 March 1965. By then ten of the players who would conquer Europe were on Celtic’s books. His first game in charge against a stuffy Airdrie side at the old Broomfield stadium saw Bertie Auld hit 5 goals in a 6-0 win. Celtic were well behind in the league but Jimmy McGrory’s parting gift to Stein was to knock eventual league champions, Kilmarnock,  out of the cup quarter final the week before he relinquished his post.

Stein, in typical style, demanded that all of the players referred to Mr McGrory as ‘boss’ when they interacted with him in and around the stadium. McGrory had been a fine servant to Celtic and Stein’s innate sense of decency shone out in his treatment of his former manager. Unlike McGrory, Stein would be on the training field with the players, organising drills, working with the ball and instilling a sense of tactical awareness into them. His training was geared towards making them the fittest team in the land but also to making them better players. He was a strong character who was never slow in telling players what he expected of them on and off the field. Jimmy Johnstone, perhaps the greatest ball player ever to wear the hoops, recalled enjoying a pint at his local pub the night before a game. The barman signalled to him that he was wanted on the phone. As he put the receiver to his ear the unmistakeably gruff voice of Stein barked at him, ‘You’ve got a game tomorrow, get yer arse up the road.’

As season 1964-65 drew to a close with the traditional showpiece of the Scottish Cup final, Stein’s team of talented young players walked out onto the lush green turf in front of 108,000 fans. Their days of being also rans were over. The green and white army had a new general in control and things would never be the same again. As he took control of the side for his first full season in charge in 1965-66, both fans and players were excited about the journey they were about to embark upon. They could not have dreamed then of the glittering prizes which Stein would guide them to.

Jock Stein was many things to many people; he was the man who stood with pickets during the miners’ strike of 1985 telling ‘scab’ drivers that they were doing good people out of a job. He was the man who stayed behind at Ibrox after the disaster of 1971 to tend to the injured and dying. He was the man who entered the crowded terraces at a Celtic away game to tell fans that there were enough good Celtic songs without adding politics to the repertoire. He was the all-conquering manager of Celtic who made a team born of an impoverished migrant community the best in Europe.

But most of all he was the hero of a young boy who stood in awe of him and could only quietly mutter two words during that briefest of meetings all those years ago.

Let me say them again Mr Stein as we remember your contribution to our club.

Thanks Jock.