Like so many of his generation of players, Dixie Deans was always available to speak to Celtic fans. He recounted his hattricks in the 1972 Scottish Cup Final and the 1974 League Cup Final, both against Hibernian, the support he received from The Jungle throughout his time at the club and his unique foundation story as a Celtic player. He even smiled politely at every mention of that penalty kick.
The latter part of Jock Stein’s nine-in-a-row did not reach the levels of the first five seasons, but it had firepower in the shape of Deans and Dalglish. Kenny was king, with Dixie often the man who put the ball in the net. After two years of failing to win the league, Stein knew change was needed and he sold Dixie to Luton in 1976. Dixie was 32, old for a striker back then, his legacy assured in Glasgow.
Celtic were keen to acquire him from Motherwell before he eventually signed in 1971 but were rebuffed. Stein, who invented the Dark Arts of football, was not to be denied. A few months after his first attempt failed, Jock empowered a friendly journalist to have a word in Dixie’s ear. After a game at Fir Park, the journo invited Dixie to meet him at Carfin Grotto the following day.
Dixie was a fish out of water at the Grotto, but as they walked around, the idea was put to him that he should inform Motherwell of his intention to emigrate to South Africa, where a relative had secured him well-paid work as an electrician. Within days, Motherwell phoned Celtic to ask if they were still interested in signing their striker.
“Nine-in-a-row” was a call of the ages for a generation of Celtic fans. A world record we thought would never be achieved again. I heard Celtic used only 44 players during those nine league campaigns; Dixie has a place of honour among them.
125 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
Well played, Paul
Yip, RIP Dixie.
Win with Wilfried ✌🏽CSC
Well said Paul.
Now for a what if . . . .Would MoN have stayed on if DD had asked him? Mark Fotheringham says yes;
“Martin won’t tell you this, but I’m going to say it. In my mind, he was really up for the challenge of going and winning titles and cups for this club again.
“The more it was going on, the more enthusiastic he was getting. He could easily have carried on for the rest of the season. In fact, he could have done it way beyond it.
“He’d two young people and another two young coaches supporting, with a fantastic staff round him.”
RIP Dixie.
DeniaBhoy on 10th December 2025 12:02 pm
That’s very revealing, I would have thought at his age he would be glad to pass over the reins.
I’m 64 next month and the past 4 years have been food, drink and travel 😂🤣😅
I don’t know if Wilfried will be a successful manager for us but, I don’t trust those who appointed him and how and why he was chosen.
The low key, almost underhand, manner in which he was presented frankly stinks to high heaven.
We need an overhaul not just a new manager.
The board’s contempt of the majority of ordinary supporters is criminal.
This gets much worse (no matter if we win on Sunday) before it gets better.
And, IMHO, it will only improve with major changes at board level, recruitment & coaching and interaction with fans.
I’m not holding my breath.
RIP dixie.
Celtic legend.
Great article Paul
What a goal scorer Dixie was, and coming from Edinburgh I loved rubbing it in the noses of my many Hibee mates in the 70s.
Here’s an extract of an interview the Scotsman did with Joe Harper, discussing the famous 6-3 Final where Dixie and Joe each scored hattricks. God bless Dixie, always.
==================
He (Dixie) stayed up in Johnstone. I was in Greenock. We played in some games together. My first game against him was for Morton v Arthurlie, and Dixie was playing for Arthurlie. We won 5-3, I scored five, he scored three.
After the cup final, it was ‘Margaret, Eddie’…my parents’ names.. ‘how are you doing?’ ‘Oh hello, Dixie son, good to see you’.
“‘Look at that Margaret, it’s a winner’s medal!’ I took it off him. ‘Let’s see that’. I rubbed it in my hands together with my own medal. I said: ‘Take your pick’. They were the exact same medals! To this day Dixie doesn’t know if he has the original winner’s medal he was given!”
MON should have been kept on until Xmas.I said this all along.I think the new manager bounce had gone,but it would have let WN sit in the stands for a few games observing players,in real time,and focusing on what is needed in January.At the moment there is no time for any tactical work with a.game every 3. Days.Personally,I think it was madness to go the route we have.The first Cup of the season,and making the League,which is a very tight race,that bit harder,with a team reduced to bare bones,is no environment to put a new manager,with different philosophies into.
A bit of patience was required.If we could wait 5 weeks,for whatever reason,we certainly could have given WN a little settling in time until Xmas.But we did not.
Anyway,get behind him even if you are not happy.There is no alternative.
Anything but a loss tonight,and a win on Sunday,its a whole new outlook.
Hail Hail.
Vale Bhoy
Curious re what was underhand about it ?
Vale Buoy,
I agree,but whatever we think,he needs a chance.
Great tribute Paul. Respect.
To Dixie primarily of course …
… but also the nod to Jock’s cameo.
63 years of Celtic before him.
74 years with and since him.
Other than our founder … Who took us on that huge leap from nothing to something after all …
Jock is the most significant person in our club’s history … by a country mile.
A great and a giant.
Burnley,
You know fine well what Vale Bhoy was on about.The lowest keyed managerial appointment and presentation,I can remember.Michael Nicholson,meeting and greeting as if he had a Pool Cue up his ass.It got worse.
Roma game sold out
HH
BTB,
Nothing about our present leaders,who,going by the decline since January,have got us on a huge leap of something to nothing,rapidly.?
They have January !!!!
An Tearmann on 10th December 2025 12:58 pm
Roma game sold out
HH
_____
Excellent. Patience and real support required.
Lovely article Paul 67 .
Sometimes getting old is a b******* but the great consolation we have over folks born later, is having seen the Lions play and the likes of Dixie in the flesh .
Turkeybhoy
Cheers.
Like Ange before him, Wilfried deserves a chance.
If he fails, it won’t solely be down to him.
The powers that be took the goals out of the team and left us sadly lacking with no replacements.
Burnley: why wasn’t there a grand show of support? Why were the fan media outlets excluded?
But, you already know the answer to those questions.
Dixie was just before my time so I didn’t see him person but I have seen those highlight reels many times. Definitely one of the most recognisable of the post- Lisbon Lions team and very sad news.
Great story and leads to a genuine question. Where is today’s Dixie Deans and why don’t we produce goal scorers like him any more in this country?
Paul67 et al
Dixie Deans was yet another example of players signed by Jock Stein who merged, not only with Lisbon Lions, but with the Quality Street Gang who followed that great footballing side. Dixie, along with Harry Hood from a couple of years earlier, joins the Pantheon of Celtic players from that late 1960s – early 1970s era who scored over a hundred goals after arriving through Parkhead’s gates. That 1972 Scottish Cup Final, saw Dixie line up not only alongside Craig, McNeill, Murdoch and Johnstone, but also Connelly, Dalglish and Macari, too good even for one of the best Hibernian sides of modern times. And a tribute in a way to two clubs, from two very different Cities, In Glasgow and Edinburgh who shared a common ancestry. John Dean will be sadly missed
RIP Dixie
DeniaBhoy on 10th December 2025 12:02 pm
“Now for a what if . . . .Would MoN have stayed on if DD had asked him?”
I’m not sure how this would have worked though as Martin agreed to step in until a new guy was appointed. The ‘bored’ then went about its merry way we are told by looking at potentials and then narrowing it down to Wilfried – what were they to do? Say to him the job’s yours but you’ll have to hang on till Martin decides to chuck it, even though we know that you’re a popular manager looking for a move?
Also Wilfried, someone else will be doing the purchasing of players for a system which is (apparently) very different to yours in January, so if for whatever reason Martin decides to chuck or gets punted before the summer you will have to run with it (and the consequences)
Whilst Martin’s performance in this role was fantastic we did have three narrow one goal victories – not his fault of course that we didn’t have any strikers coupled with a horrendous injury list.
But what if under Martin we lost the Hearts game, lose against Roma and played like we did at Love St (I know I’m old) and it was the Buddies who got a 95th min screamer in Sunday’s cup-final
What would we have said then?
I hate to be the one who brings up old Leon’s cognitive dissonance theory but I do think it is very much the case that some people do seem to want their cake and and the ability to eat it
I’m not looking for an argument I would just like someone to logically explain how this would work – at what point during Martin’s short reign was the plug to be pulled on the appointment of a new manager?
\o/
Good afternoon all.
VALE BHOY on 10TH DECEMBER 2025 12:18 PM
Wilfried did not get the Ange or Brendan welcome presser because our CEO does not want to answer any questions.
Much easier to do an in house sit down with Gerry for 5 mins and go back into hiding.
The low key unveiling only confirms my suspicions that the board acted quite deliberately to avoid questioning at the AGM.
Je Suis
Once they’d determined that Bro Wilf was their man and he had agreed to join, the only sensible course was to get him in the door as quickly as he was able to get here.
After all, if MON was a better candidate we wouldn’t have been looking at WN in the first place.
The nagging sense though is that the changeover itself seemed a little rushed. Unnecessarily so. We went into the Hearts match with a management team that hadn’t properly oriented themselves, who had just two sessions with the players and who seem to have elected not to ask any of the outgoing coaches to hang around.
Maloney I gather remains on the payroll, but he’s not on the bench and his insight is not available during the match. I am sure he was available to WN as a coaching candidate, and I respect that the new man is permitted to put his own team together, but still, that’s reliable intelligence that WN has elected not to utilise. Maybe he thinks Gavin Strachan has all the intelligence he needs short term.
Anyway, there’s tuppence worth.
Oh dear!
“In another article, written with Jill Thomson for UK Column website, Miller described how Glasgow Jews took control, behind the scenes, of Celtic Football Club. This would have come as a surprise to the legions of Celtic fans who wave Palestinian flags at matches. Mostly residing in the south of Glasgow, Jews had tended to support Third Lanark FC, a club based near the national stadium of Hampden Park. When that club folded in the 1960s, some directors shifted allegiance to Celtic, where they succeeded in organising a charity match against Real Madrid, with the proceeds going to Jewish settlers in Palestine.”
https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1998702034501906764#m
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Cmon the Wilf
HH
oot.
“Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 10th December 2025 10:36 am
And, respectfully, I don’t see how it is possible to seal and contain that hatred while, simultaneously, wholeheartedly backing the team and the manager.
One inevitably spills across into the other.”
Good point.
I can still see that penalty. It still gives me nightmares. We should have won that big cup at least once or twice more. We were THAT good.
Dixie gave me many more great memories. His sheer delight when he scored did my heart good. After Joe McBride, Dixie is probably the best goalscorer I have seen in the Celtic jersey.
Rest in peace, Dixie.
The Battered Bunnet on 10th December 2025 3:22 pm
A very measured ‘tuppence’ worth thank you
\o/
DENIABHOY on 10TH DECEMBER 2025 12:02 PM
I suspect MoN’s non selection of almost all the summer signings married with his public comments about the need for a squad rebuild probably didn’t do his full time ambitions much good.
That would not have gone down well with the sleepy doc.
Celtic presser with Wilfried Nancy
https://youtu.be/VM38gRscQlw?si=t6BqVSHmvax-2exP
HH
If Celtic had invited Martin to stay till end of season and they didn’t win the league, the support would have burnt down the stadium and the board with it for not replacing Brendan with a younger, permanent manager.
And TURKEYBHOY would have been at the front of the barricades.
An Tearmann on 10th December 2025 4:50 pm
Celtic presser with Wilfried Nancy
https://youtu.be/VM38gRscQlw?si=t6BqVSHmvax-2exP
HH
—–
I like the cut of his jib. Oh and Wilfred, the culture here isn’t favourable towards all things Celtic.
Wilfried’s Presser
Oops ☝️