Remembering Jock Stein, Celtic’s greatest manager | OneFootball

Forty years ago today Jock Stein, then manager of Scotland, collapsed and died at the end of a World Cup qualifier between Wales and Scotland at Ninian Park, Cardiff. A late penalty had given Scotland a 1-1 draw which is enough to earn a play-off for qualification for the World Cup in Mexico.

Jock Stein. Scottish Cup Final 1975. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Jock Stein was manager of Celtic from 1965 until 1978, winning ten League Championships, eight Scottish Cups, six Scottish League Cups and of course one European Cup. If Willie Maley was the “man who made Celtic”, Jock Stein was the “man who saved Celtic”, for they were on their knees before he arrived.

These are the words of David Potter in his Celtic Diary on The Celtic Star. David’s book on Jock Stein’s first season at Celtic, titled The Celtic Rising was a best seller and now completely unavailable in print, but can be read on Amazon kindle. David, like fellow Celtic writers Tom Campbell and Pat Woods, who we have lost this year, lived through an era where Celtic won nothing from the 7-1 game on 21 October 1957 to the Scottish Cup Final in 1965 when Jock Stein’s Celtic Rising delivered it’s first piece of silverware. It wasn’t the last.

This evening Celtic Supporters will meet to discuss the current problems at the club, which appear to most to be caused by those in the boardroom who seemed to have cracked under pressure at the weekend by releasing that dreadfully ill-considered statement at around 9pm on Saturday night.

It has backfired spectacularly and has done nothing more than unite the support against those arrogant boardroom members who clearly think they alone have all the answers and all the power over the future direction of Celtic.

They certainly don’t. This century Celtic has enjoyed our most successful period of all time in terms of sustained success and domestic trophies won. Yet on the European stage, other than one season when we reached the UEFA Cup final under Martin O’Neill, brought about by another Champions League qualifying failure, Celtic has failed miserably on the European stage.

Jock Stein, manager Jock Stein of successful Scottish club Celtic. Once again the Glasgow side has taken the Scottish league Division One championships. 3 May 1968. Imago Photo Top Foto (The Celtic Star)

Indeed even in this dark days in the early 1960s when Celtic weren’t at the races in domestic football, they still managed to reach the latter stages of European competitions. Yes, times have changed but last season Brendan Rodgers showed us that it is indeed possible for Celtic to compete in the Champions League. His side gave Bayern Munich a major fright in their own backyard. Celtic it seemed had returned as a contender but under this board’s direction it turned out to be a false dawn.

Rodgers asked for quality three players but instead they briefed against him, sold more stars like Nicolas Kuhn who was Celtic’s top Champions League performer last season. Disgracefully they failed to replace Kyogo – he’s been away since January – and after having taken on Kairat in the Champions League with Yang and veteran winger James Forrest starting and want-away Daizen Maeda through the middle, they squandered £40m, killed our dream and – maybe even drink was had, who knows – issued that crazy statement blaming everyone but themselves, after the day before allegedly briefing against Brendan Rodgers via the Sun newspaper.

Today we remember Jock Stein, our greatest ever Celtic manager, who himself was subjected to insulting treatment from the Celtic boardroom as his tenure came to its end. Fancy a seat on the board Jock? The status that Manchester United later afforded Alex Ferguson? No, he was offered a job at Celtic Pools.

We’ve heard nothing from Celtic PLC since that statement on Saturday night. The reaction must have been noted, as will the various votes of no confidence from supporters associations. Celtic need to get their heads out of the sand and reach out to the support. There needs to be a dialogue where all the issues are openly discussed and the ‘we know best’ attitude is consigned to the dustbin. The status quo is untenable after that statement was issued, there is simply no going back.

10/09/05 SPL CELTIC V ABERDEEN (2-0) CELTIC PARK – GLASGOWAberdeen fans pay tribute to the late Jock Stein. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Jock Stein said this: “Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that. The only chance of bringing them into stadiums is if they are entertained by what happens on the football field.”

It seems to me that their plan is get rid of Brendan Rodgers replacing him with someone onside with their strategy, that will be an in-house placement. When we’ve described Brendan Rodgers as an ‘elite manager’ some supporters have questioned than but it’s all relative. You could easily name a dozen managers who would be regarded much higher than Rodgers in the football management business, but look at those who might be a possibility to take the Celtic job, if they were offered it. Even David Moyes knocked it back when he was offered it back in 2016.

Rodgers will be regarded as elite when you see what’s around the corner.

God bless Jock Stein, always in our thoughts but especially today. YNWA.

Celtic in the Eighties – Out Now!…

Celtic in the Eighties by the late, great David Potter is out now on Celtic Star Books. Celtic in the Eighties is now available in the Celtic superstore and all other club shops. And don’t forget that you can still purchase your copy directly from Celticstarbooks.com for same day postage.

Order Celtic in the Eighties today, you’ll be glad you did, it’s a fabulous read!

OUT NOW! Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books. Click on image to order.

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