When Jock Stein, a CELTIC legend, took over as manager of the Parkhead club in March 1965, he had an incredible immediate impact on the team.
Another CQN EXCLUSIVE comes from Alex Gordon, who has written fifteen books about Celtic and unlocked his book files for an exciting twenty-one part series.
As Big Jock guides the team forward, we continue in Part Fourteen of our intriguing look back at these significant moments in a storied football club’s history.
QUESTION TIME was held at the start of the 1971–1972 season. Could Celtic surpass their own Edwardian-era record title run and complete the hitherto unimaginable and improbable Magnificent Seven?
Had Aberdeen made any progress since their close call in the previous campaign? Could Rangers bounce back after a miserable season in which they came in fourth place, three points behind St. Johnstone, and a whopping fifteen points behind the champions and longtime rivals? Would Edinburgh’s Hibs and Hearts duo awaken from their slumber and present a persistent challenge?
Could Jock Stein really lead Celtic to their 27th championship?
Things that happened at Celtic Park were mysterious. The Lisbon Lions’ heyday had vanished into a glorious memory that would always be cherished and never be disturbed. Jock Stein was now the center of attention. He was obviously in the middle of a rebuilding project. Billy McNeill, John Clark, Jim Craig, Bobby Murdoch, Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Lennox, and Stevie Chalmers were among the individuals he had inherited.
Celtic got ready for their ‘home’ first League Cup match at Ibrox in these constantly shifting times. The opening game of the season was originally scheduled to take place at Celtic Park, but because of ongoing construction, the game was moved to Rangers’ stadium. Since Hampden was also undergoing reconstruction, it had been eliminated. By chance, Celtic would face their old adversaries three times in less than a month—twice in the First Division and once in the League Cup—all at Govan.
There was no better start to a new campaign than what Stein and his men received. How competent were the youthful pretenders like Kenny Dalglish, George Connelly, and Davie Hay? We would soon find out.
In his starting lineup for the game versus Rangers, the manager included the aforementioned excellent trio. Billy McNeill, Bobby Murdoch, Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox, and John Hughes contributed to the experience that day. Tommy Gemmell, Willie Wallace, and Stevie Chalmers, members of the Lisbon Lions, played for the reserves against their Ibrox counterparts in a 1-1 draw on the same day at a barren Celtic Park.
The largest crowd in Britain that weekend, 72,500 spectators in Govan, were fascinated as they watched an exciting and dramatic game swing back and forth until a sixty-seventh-minute goal from Johnstone blasted high into the net to put the home/away team in the lead.
When Willie Mathieson’s vicious tackle on Hughes left referee Bill Mullen with little choice but to award a penalty kick, captain McNeill gave the ball to former Rangers fan Dalglish. Three minutes later, the twenty-year-old forward showed signs of things to come when he calmly sidefooted the ball away from Peter McCloy to the keeper’s left as the beanpole goalkeeper decided to take a chance on moving to the opposing side.
A week later, the clubs faced off once more, this time at home for Rangers, when Dalglish once more scored the game-winning goal three minutes after the break. Bobby Lennox and Tommy Callaghan both scored goals to increase the victory margin to 3-0. The chirpy, cocky little guy from Largs definitely enjoyed the occasion when Stein joined Lou Macari to his three Quality Street Gang companions on this particular occasion.
Two weeks later, when Celtic once again played at the home of their enduring rivals, this time on league business, Macari scored his maiden Old Firm goal. On this occasion, though, it needed a last-second goal from Johnstone to win a 3-2 victory, with Dalglish scoring his third goal and obviously relishing these contests.
The stage was set for a memorable season with the exciting influx of youthful players as Stein guided Celtic into a new era. The Celtic manager said: “Changing a side is never an easy job after the war has ended and another season of celebration. When done in the season, it can be twice as challenging.
“For this reason, I salute the players who made it happen when I look into the Celtic Park boardroom and see the two trophies, the League Championship trophy and the Scottish Cup, sitting there once more.
“It was our seventh league championship in a row, a fantastic record-breaking accomplishment of which I am extremely pleased, but I think it can be said with honesty that a different Celtic team won it. New Celtic players like Kenny Dalglish and Lou Macari emerged, and they proved to be equally as entertaining as the stars they replaced.
Although the wreckage of managers who failed to recognize the need for change are all over the football globe, I would have wanted to have kept the 1967 Lisbon Lions team together.
On October 23, 1971, when Celtic faced Partick Thistle in the League Cup Final, two players who had been let go, John Hughes and Willie Wallace, were in the Hampden stand. It was one of the most puzzling games in the club’s history. Despite being the clear favorites, Jock Stein’s team managed to trail by four goals at the break.
Nobody could quite believe what they had just seen in the national stadium that afternoon. Every attacking move made by the Firhill team ended up behind Evan Williams in the goal. In the second half, Kenny Dalglish scampered in a consolation goal, but Maryhill already had the trophy. The script did not call for that performance.
But on April 15, with four league games left to play, Celtic won 3-0 against East Fife to clinch their sixth straight title. Methill was the kind of stadium that made Airdrie’s Broomfield appear like a cutting-edge sports complex. There were 12,000 spectators jammed in to watch Stein’s team, which only had Billy McNeill, Jim Craig, and Bobby Murdoch as Lisbon Lions, cruise to victory with two opportunistic goals from Dixie Deans and a deft header from Harry Hood.
As the champions eventually won the trophy in a breeze, ten points ahead of Aberdeen and sixteen in front of third-place Rangers, the race had changed to a canter.
Dixie Deans, who ironically joined the team as a result of the League Cup Final defeat to Partick Thistle, added the Scottish Cup to the club’s record of achievements with a great individual hitting performance. A week after that disaster, Jock Stein gave Motherwell $22,000 for their hulking frontman, and it was money well spent.
In the 6-1 victory over Hibs, he scored three goals, including the team’s first goal, which was scored by Billy McNeill. On a sparkling May 6 afternoon at Mount Florida, Lou Macari added the others.
In his rare moments of reflection, Jock Stein said: “I could never have guessed in my wildest thoughts that we would go on to win the championship so easily, maybe the smoothest run-in we have had in all of my seven victories. Already looking ahead to the task of next season.
I would know it was time to stop playing football if I ever stopped enjoying it. As I feel I have demonstrated, I do not believe in dwelling on the past, and I anticipate that more of our young players will succeed next season. Despite all of our resources, I would not want to predict the winner of the upcoming season.
When asked whether another club could achieve what Celtic did
