LISBON LION Tommy Gemmell will be celebrated when a statue of the Celtic legend is unveiled in his hometown of Craigneuk at 2pm on Saturday.
The club icon was the scorer of the crucial and utterly unforgettable equalising goal as Jock Stein’s side became the first British club to conquer Europe when they overcame mighty Inter Milan 2-1 in the glorious sunshine on the evening of May 25 1967 in the Portuguese capital.
CQN are marking the well-deserved honour to a genuine Celtic great with an EXCLUSIVE series in the countdown to the big day.
Celtic book author Alex Gordon, a lifelong friend of the iconic Celt and who co-wrote Tommy’s 2014 best-selling autobiography, ‘All The Best’, looks back at the remarkable career of a completely one-off character.
Here is an edited chapter in Tommy’s own words.
Please enjoy.
IT WAS June 1977 and I had just been appointed manager of Dundee and the new season didn’t seem that far away.
Naturally enough, there had been a fair upheaval in my professional life since I had walked through the front doors at the end of the previous campaign and wished everyone, ‘Happy holidays.’
Now I was in charge. A team-mate in May and the boss a month later.
I had to try to turn things around as quickly as possible. I knew we needed new players, that much was obvious. However, we had no money. It was time to wheel and deal.
There were players I wanted out and there were others I wanted in. That’s one of the occasions when you need your board to back you. I gave them a list of a few players I thought would be better moving to other clubs.
Thankfully, the club hierarchy accepted my proposals and that allowed me to get to work immediately.
BY THE LEFT…Tommy Gemmell in his Celtic heyday.
During my three years as manager of the Tayside outfit there were thirty-eight changes at the club, players leaving and players arriving.
One of our squad I was forced to sell was Gordon Strachan. The club urgently required a cash injection and he was our most sellable asset.
Wee Gordy was a great man to have in your team. I could see why my predecessor, Davie White, had made him skipper of the club at the age of nineteen when I was injured and missed the run-in to the 1976/77 season.
Everything in the team seemed to go through Gordon and he was never afraid of accepting responsibility. As fate would have it, I only had him at the club for a few months before he left us for Aberdeen in November 1977.
Of course, I didn’t want him to go, but I realised it was the only course of action to save the club from going under. Chairman Ian Gellatly telephoned me early one Monday morning and didn’t bother with his usual preamble.
He got straight to the point. ‘Tommy,’ he said, ‘we need to get £50,000 urgently or the bank will close the gates on Friday.’
Just like that.
IT’S A DEAL…Billy McNeill and Tommy Gemmell are all smiles after the double switch that took Gordon Strachan – sporting a natty moustache – to Aberdeen and Jim Shirra to Dundee in November 1977.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! I knew my old Celtic buddy Billy McNeill had been sniffing around Gordon. Would he be willing to confirm his interest into a firm bid? I put a call into the Aberdeen manager.
I laid it on the line and was totally honest.
‘We need £50,000 by the end of the week or there will be no more Dundee Football Club,’ I said. I added swiftly, ‘But don’t think you can get Gordon Strachan for only £50,000 because you and I both know he is worth a lot more than that.’
Billy asked for some time to talk to his board and he would get right back to me. My old mate was as good as his word.
‘We’ll pay the £50,000,’ he said, ‘but, sorry, we can’t go higher than that.’
I took a chance. ‘Would you be willing to throw in a player, as well?’ I enquired.
The man known as Caesar answered, ‘That’s a possibility. Who are we talking about?’
I had always liked the look of Jim Shirra, another wee left-sided terrier who could snap into the tackle. He was my type of player and I also knew he would be ideal in the First Division. No-one would bully this bloke.
‘I’ll get back to you, Tommy.’ I reminded him that time was not an ally of Dundee Football Club and he promised to phone first thing on Wednesday morning. As usual, he was as good as his word.
TWO OF A KIND…Tommy Gemmell and Billy McNeill parade the European Cup at Parkhead.
‘Right, Big Man, you’ve got a deal,’ were the words that made me smile. We got the cash up front and the cheque cleared and Dundee would live to fight another day. It turned out to be a great move for both clubs and the players benefited, too.
We all know what happened to Gordon on his travels through football, but Jim Shirra, who was valued about £35,000, also enjoyed a good career at Dens Park where he was getting regular first team football.
However, complications are never far away in football and that deal might not have gone through if it hadn’t been for another old Celtic pal, Mike Jackson.
Mike was in charge of Queen of the South at the time and they had just hammered Dundee 6-0 in a League Cup-tie. We had lost, surprisingly, 3-1 at home in the first leg. I will never be known as a quitter, but I had to look sensibly at the situation as we prepared for the return game in Dumfries.
I knew we were due to play Hearts in the league three days later and I realised only too well that the Tynecastle outfit were likely to become one of our main rivals in the race for promotion. I rested some of my top players with the Edinburgh test in mind.
Mike’s team simply took us apart that night. Strachan played that evening – in fact, it turned out to be his last game for the club – and I was proud of his determination throughout an embarrassingly one-sided encounter.
IN CHARGE…Gordon Strachan in his days as Scotland international manager.
Mike Jackson told me later that he had been phoned afterwards that night by his big buddy Billy McNeill. Mike told me, ‘Billy wanted to know how Gordon had performed. I told him he was the only guy in the Dundee team who looked as though he was trying.
‘I told Billy not to hesitate if he wanted the player.
‘We may have won by a landslide, but Gordon was still racing around with the referee about to blow for full-time. To me, it showed great character.’
Billy took his best friend’s word for it and that opened the way for the deal to be set in motion.
A win-win situation for all involved.
TOMORROW: DON’T MISS CELEBRATING TOMMY GEMMELL: DAY FOUR
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