From Eddie Park

Talking about 'The Greatest', I thought I'd share an article we
(www.etims.net) created on the Life and Times of the Greatest manager in the history of British Football.

Jock Stein – The Life and Times of a Great Celt

1922 – John Stein the only son of George and Jane Stein was born on
October 5th at Burnbank, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.

1937 – Leaves Greenfield school in Hamilton and after a short time
working in a carpet factory goes down the pits to become a miner.

1938 – Joins Blantyre Victoria junior football club.

1942 – Takes his first steps into senior football when he joins Albion
Rovers. Makes a name for himself as a no nonsense Centre-Half and goes
on to make over 200 appearances for the Coatbridge club, which also
includes a brief loan spell to Dundee United in 1943.

1948 – Rovers win promotion to the First Division. Stein described in a
book to mark the occasion as “the best capture the club ever made”.

1950 – Signs for non-league Welsh club Llanelly (Llanelli) Town. For the
first time in his career Stein becomes a full-time professional
footballer on the princely sum of £12 per week.

1951 – Stein is desperate to come home to Scotland as he had left his
wife and young daughter behind and his house had been broken into twice
in his absence. His wish is granted when on the recommendation of Celtic
reserve team trainer, Jimmy Gribben, Celtic buy Jock Stein from Llanelly
for £1,200.

1951 – Makes his Celtic debut against St Mirren at Celtic Park on
December 8th 1951.

1952 – Stein appointed vice-captain by current captain (that was the
captain’s right in those days) Sean Fallon.

1952 – Sean Fallow breaks his arm and the full captaincy was passed to
Stein. He would be club captain until his Celtic playing career ended
due to injury in 1955/56.

1953 – Captain’s Celtic to Coronation Cup success when Celtic
unexpectedly overcome Arsenal 1-0, Manchester United 2-1 and Hibernian
1-0 (in front of 117,000 at Hampden) to become unofficial champions of
Britain.

1954 – Skippers Celtic to their first League championship since 1938 and
first League and Scottish Cup double since 1914.

1954 – Celtic chairman Bob Kelly takes the players to watch the 1954
World Cup Finals in Switzerland. While the rest of the Celtic party
enjoyed the holiday and sympathised with the three Celtic players in the
Scotland squad (Evans, Fernie and Mochan) who had been humiliated 7-0 by
Uruguay, Jock Stein watched and learned. Firstly, about the shambles of
Scotland’s preparations and secondly about the continentals tactics,
particularly the Hungarians who were revolutionising the game.

1956 – Stein forced to retire from football after persistent ankle
injuries that would result in him having a permanent limp. In total Jock
Stein played 148 games for Celtic and scored 2 goals. He was given the
job of coaching the reserve and youth players and was responsible for
persuading the board to purchase Barrowfield as a training ground.

1958 – Leads the reserves to the second XI Cup with an 8-2 aggregate
triumph over Rangers. This was Stein’s first success as a manager.

1960 – Accepts the role of Dunfermline manager on March 14th 1960. After
only 6 weeks in charge Stein leads the Pars clear of relegation.

1961 – Stein guides Dunfermline to the Scottish Cup for the first time
in their history. Ironically this comes via a 2-0 replay victory over
Celtic.

1962 – Defeats Everton in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now known as the
UEFA Cup) and only loses to Valencia in a third game play-off after
retrieving a four goal first leg deficit.

1964 – Becomes manager of Hibs on April 1st 1964. Within months of
becoming manager he leads Hibs to Summer Cup success.

1964 – The testimony of his contemporaries is that he was already
“miles” ahead of everyone else in his understanding of the game, and in
studying how the investment of energy could be tailored to maximum
effect. Stein was immersing himself in the structure of the game while
the rest simply went out and played.

1965 – On January 12th the four Celtic directors meet in the North
British Hotel. The minutes note that “all four have an agreed desire to
secure the services of J Stein as manager. Mr Kelly was to approach
Stein with the view to offering him the position. (Sean) Fallon was to
be offered an increased salary with increased status if Stein was
secured. McGrory (current manager) was to continue as public relations
officer”.

1965 – On January 14th at the weekly board meeting Kelly states that “he
had interviewed Stein and that he was willing to join the club as
manager. He had asked however to be allowed to remain for a time with
Hibs as they had a chance of winning the league, and that in any case he
would require to give reasonable notice. This was agreed to”.

1965 – Due to the leakage of information the board announce a press
conference on January 31st. At the press conference it is announced that
Jock Stein will assume the role of team manager on March 9th 1965.  A
few days after Stein takes over his first game in charge is away to
Airdrie with Celtic winning 6-0. Stein was also the clubs first
non-Catholic manager.

1965 – On April 24th 1965, six weeks after becoming manager, Stein leads
Celtic to Scottish Cup success after a 3-2 victory over Dunfermline.
This was Celtic’s first silverware in over 7 years. The importance of
this victory in the future success of Celtic was not lost upon Stein
when he observed many years later, “It wouldn’t have gone as well for
Celtic if they hadn’t won this game”.

1965 – A few days after the Scottish Cup success Stein presented to the
board two lists of players. The first list, including the name of Joe
McBride, was of a list of players Stein wished to buy. The second list
contained those players Stein was willing to sell. Names on that list
included John Hughes, Charlie Gallagher and Jimmy Johnstone!.
Fortunately, the sale of players was restricted to less obvious names
otherwise the course of Celtic’s place in European football history may
have dramatically changed.
Celtic players from that era commented that Stein at that point must
have been preoccupied with teamwork rather than giving individuals
licence to do as they wish.

1966 – Celtic are crowned Scottish champions for the first time since
1954. They also reach the semi-finals of the Cup-Winners-Cup only to be
knocked on away goals by Liverpool in controversial circumstances.

1967 – Stein wins THE LOT.

Manages first British team to be crowned Champions of Europe after
beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon. It was also a triumph for attacking
flair over an ultra-defensive Italian style that at the time, was
threatening to suffocate the game on the Continent. Stein’s style of
play changed football and inspired so many football fans that Silvio
Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan was later to comment that AC’s great club
side of Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard and Baresi was based on Celtic
after watching Stein’s team pulverise Inter Milan to submission with the
finest attacking football he had ever seen.

- Manages first EVER team to be crowned Champions of Europe with 11
home-grown players.
- Manages the club to two League Championships in a row for the first
time in 50 years.
- Manages the club to Scottish Cup success..
- Manages the club to League Cups in a row for the first time in
Celtic’s history.
- Manages the club to the domestic treble for the first time in Celtic’s
history.
- Manages the club to Glasgow Cup success.
- Becomes the First Manager of the First club in history to win ALL
competitions entered.

1968 – Wins the League for the third time in a row and the League Cup
for the third time in a row.

1969 – Wins the domestic treble for the second time in three years.

1970 – European Champions Cup runners-up after losing 2-1 to Feyenoord
after extra-time. Defeat heavily fancied English champions Leeds Utd in
the semi-final both home and away. Wins both the League and League Cup
for the fifth time in a row and finish runners-up in the Scottish Cup.

1970 – Stein starts to rebuild the team by bringing through a batch of
home-developed players known as the quality street kids. These players
included Davie Hay, George Connolly, Lou Macari, Kenny Dalglish and
Danny McGrain.

1971 – Wins both the League for a record equalling sixth time and the
Scottish Cup. Finish runners-up in the League Cup.

1972 – Reach the semi-finals of the Champions Cup before losing to old
foes Inter Milan on penalties. Wins the Scottish League for a record
seventh time in succession and also wins the Scottish Cup to complete
the domestic double for the second year in a row. Finish runners-up in
the League Cup.

1973 – In January he suffers a suspected heart attack and spends several
weeks convalescing. During Stein’s absence Celtic slump in the league.
Stein’s return invigorates the team and they go on to win the League
championship for the eighth time in a row.  Also finish runners-up in
both the Scottish and League Cups.

1974 – Stein manages Celtic to the League Championship for a
World-record Ninth successive time. Celtic also reach the European Cup
semi-final but lose to the hatchet men of Athletico Madrid. Celtic win
the Scottish Cup and domestic double for the fifth time in Stein’s
tenure and also finish runners-up in the League Cup.

1975 – Win both the Scottish Cup and League Cup. Celtic’s League Cup
Final appearance was their tenth successive appearance in the final.

1976 – In July seriously injured in a road accident after returning home
from holiday in Menorca. Stein was rushed to hospital in Dumfries.
Scarcely able to breathe, a condition which had not deterred a policeman
from attempting to breathalyse him as he lay at the roadside. Stein did
not return to Celtic Park that season and Celtic failed to win their
first silverware since Stein became manager eleven seasons ago.

1977 – Stein returns and Celtic win both the League Championship and
Scottish Cup to complete the sixth domestic double during Jock Stein’s
twelve years in charge. Celtic also finish runners-up in the League Cup.

1978 – After twelve wonderful years, the greatest manger Scottish
football and arguably British football has ever seen resigns from the
position of club manager. The board of Kelly’s and Whites offer Stein a
position in charge of fund-raising. A shameful act from a shameful group
of people when he should have been made club chairman.

1978 – Jock Stein leaves Celtic and takes up the position of manager of
Leeds United.

1978 – After 45 days in charge at Elland Road, Stein resigns and accepts
the position of Scotland manager.

1982 – Leads Scotland to the World Cup Finals where they go out on goal
difference to the Soviet Union.

1985 – On September 10th 1985 at Ninian Park, Cardiff, Jock Stein
suffers a fatal heart-attack as Scotland equalise to gain the point
needed to make qualification virtually certain to the 1986 World Cup
Finals.

Jock Stein’s Roll of Honour:

European Club Champions: 1967

World Club runners-up: 1967

European Club runners-up: 1970

Scottish League Winners: (Ten times) 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971,
1972, 1973, 1974, 1977.

Scottish Cup Winners: (Eight times) 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972,
1974, 1975, 1977.

Scottish League Cup Winners: (Six times) 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969,
1970.

Jock Stein: 1922 – 1985.

“The legend has gone but his memory will always live on”.