Celtic have only one game before they meet Benfica in the Champions League, away to St Johnstone on Saturday. The Perth team are bottom of the SPL without a win so far this season, so will not present a significant challenge, but Celtic could do with a sterner test.
Lassad Noiuoiu, Efe Ambrose and Miku Fedor each need to be stretched before they will be ready for Champions League football. Even if they get a full 90 minutes on Saturday, so I can’t see either starting against Benfica a week on Wednesday, unless they possess uncommon natural fitness, or our injury crisis steps up a level.
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John Stein – The world’s greatest.
Remembered always.
When I imagine The Singing Detective, I see Denholm Elliott.
Fits in with all the tailgunner pish.
Denholm was actually downed in his bomber, and took up acting in a POW camp.
Not too bad an analogy?
Who am I?
Harold, Steptoes’s son?
I am flummoxed and don’t want to seem paranoid, but over the last couple of days I had an email conversation with a fellow cqn’er re. CL tickets. Now, for some reason, all his emails have disappeared from my mail account like they never happened.
Not that it matters, but it just seemed strange.
I mean, is this daft : can emails automatically delete themselves?
I have emails saved from years ago. And this is the first time I’ve ever encountered this phenomenon.
Confused….that’s me.
How weird. I went and changed my email password and everything returned.
Computers. Why?
Luddite CSC
I’m getting boring now….yes I am….been into my computer’s bowels….no unusual activity….checked some geeky forums. My conclusion? Apple & Samsung are in a battle with each other right now, and consumers get caught in their sniping crossfire. It’s the only logical explanation, James.
In a Galaxy far far away…..
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke. 23:43)
Dutch Schultz was a power in the underworld. He was a criminal of criminals. His name was linked with every type of crime—from robbery, bootlegging, and extortion to cold-blooded murder. On Wednesday evening, October 23, 1935, the notorious gangster met with several companions in the rear of a tavern, the Palace Chop House in Newark, New Jersey.
Suddenly, Schultz and his men were surprised by gunshots as several men opened fire on them. Critically wounded, Schultz was rushed to a hospital, where he registered as a Jew.
But the next morning, feeling sure that he was face-to-face with death, Schultz called for a Catholic priest. Fr. Cornelius McInerney answered the call and gave Schultz a few instructions before baptising him and giving him the Anointing of the Sick. Fr. McInerney then stayed to comfort the Dutchman’s mother, sister, and wife. Schultz died at 8:35 pm on October 24, 1935.
Dutch Schultz was buried on October 28 in a Catholic cemetery, the Gate of Heaven in New York City. At once a roar of argument and protest arose in the streets, in the taverns, in the newspapers, on the subways, and in the office buildings. People could not understand how the Church could accept such an evil man into her fold. They could not understand how Schultz could be taken up into the arms of a Church that expresses such horror of the least sin; a Church that upholds such high ideals of virtue; a Church that stands for the very opposite of the things Schultz had done all his life.
It was ridiculous, unthinkable, that Dutch Schultz could be mingling with the angels—that this hardened hoodlum could be living with the holy people of all ages in heaven. It was unjust, unreasonable, that he, in a few moments, could win the eternal reward for which struggling souls fought through years of trial and temptation.
Yet, there were many points which these horrified critics forgot. They forgot that there is One, and only One, who can judge rightly and completely and justly. They forgot that God alone knows all the influences in a person’s life—the bad example, the wicked environment, the godless home, the pull of temptation. They forgot that God is always ready and willing to forgive, even up to the very last breath of life. They forgot that God offers His grace, His light, His strength, His very life to share.
They also forgot, if they ever knew it, that accepting Dutch Schultz into the Church in his last moments did not mean approval of his wicked life and his cruel deeds. It merely meant that the Church offered God’s grace to one who surely needed it, to one who wanted it, to one who seemed sincere, to one who had no possible reason except a special gift of God to call for a Catholic priest and to throw himself into the welcoming arms of Mother Church.
A “Good” Thief?
Above all, these critics forgot one story from the Bible: the story of the good thief. To that dying criminal on Calvary, the Son of God Himself promised paradise.
Christ’s Church continues to do what Christ did. Sacred Scripture tells us that two criminals were crucified together with Christ, one on His right, the other on His left. Both were evildoers. Both had committed serious crimes. Both were guilty of death. Even while hanging on the cross, one of them, the criminal to the left, joined the Jews in jeering at Jesus. He shouted: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” The “good thief” to the right rebuked him: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then, turning to Jesus, he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingly power.” And Jesus said to him: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (see Luke. 23:39–43).
To the good thief on His right, Jesus promised the kingdom of heaven. He promised He would, this day, lead this condemned man into paradise, and to heaven when He ascended 40 days later (Eph. 4:8). In the twinkling of an eye, salvation—the goal and prize of life—was given to this criminal. As someone has said, he was a robber to the last; he even stole heaven.
The Deal of a Lifetime
How do we reconcile the way that Jesus promised the repentant thief companionship with Him at the eleventh hour with the response of the living faith that He seems to ask of us? After all, Christ had made a similar promise to His Apostles and followers: “In my Father’s house there are many mansions. Were it not so, I should have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and I will take you to myself; that where I am, there you also may be” (John. 14:2–4). But He was also very clear that it is not enough to cry, “Lord, Lord”; we must do the will of our Father in heaven. Our hope of heaven must never bog down into presumption—that is, thinking we will get there no matter what we do, no matter how little effort we put forth.
What a glorious promise Christ has given us! What a precious destiny! But this companionship with Christ is not simply eternal life in heaven. Rather, this promise of eternal life can begin now—and it calls us to try to be with Christ, to live in His grace, on this earth. We are with Christ when we pray; we are with Christ when we work and suffer; we are with Christ when we walk the Way of the Cross with Him; we are with Christ when we receive Him in Holy Communion; we are with Christ every time we step into a Catholic Church.
Repent, and You Will Be Saved
Our first step into life with Christ is to enter into companionship with Him, as the good thief did, by contrition and repentance. And our ongoing efforts of conversion and repentance are essential for staying on the path to the kingdom.
Our Lord saw the contrite heart of the thief who defended Him publicly as they hung side-by-side on Golgotha. He invited that penitent criminal into His own home in heaven, even in a moment of pain and agony as he was being reviled and blasphemed. This is the God of whom we read: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God did not send his Son into the world in order to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John. 3:16).
The good thief, traditionally called Dismas, received Christ’s precious promise because he cooperated with the great grace that God gave him. In a moment, a truly great sinner became a saint. In the face of this fact, how can any sinner despair? To every one of us, God gives His bountiful grace. We must follow the good thief’s model of repentance and his cooperation with grace. And then, in cooperation with that grace, we must strive to live a life of faith, to follow Christ.
The image of Christ hanging on the Cross with the good thief to His right and the bad thief to His left, serves as a reflection of the Last Judgement: The good will be to His right, the bad to His left. The line of the just, those who will be saved, is forming behind the contrite thief; the lost are lining up behind the impenitent thief.
In this sense, we can choose today whether we wish to be saved or not.
Make your choice now. We are all sinners. The difference is that the good thief and Dutch Schultz repented. The bad thief did not. Which thief do you choose to follow?
Sixteen roads to Golgotha
03:18 on 10 September, 2012
You ( and like most poor lost souls on CQN) need to get perspective man.
These days thiefs get 100 hours community service and probation.
If we were to crucify every thief ..come on..its not like we’re short on paid psycopathic nail hammerer volunteers like but whose gonna pay for all those nails!? eh? who? the government? taxpayers?
FFS! Get a grip!
and I dont mean round the wrists!
The Calm Calculus of ResiJews.
Fact.
The contour integral around Western Europe is zero coz all poles are in Eastern Europe.
From Kenny Clark in The Sun..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alan Hutton is another who can count himself lucky he wasn’t sent for an early bath.
His ‘tackle’ five minutes before half-time on Milos Ninkovic could so easily have resulted in a straight red. It was two-footed, it was off the ground and it was dangerous.
Most referees would have flashed the red, so I was amazed Eriksson didn’t even book Hutton.
Yes, you can say Hutton won the ball. In Scotland we love — even expect — to see those sorts of tackles. Meaty, you might call them. But all across Europe it’s virtually outlawed.
Hutton got lucky the referee was from Sweden. Had he been from one of the Latin countries, the Aston Villa man would almost certainly have made the walk of shame.
I don’t think he could have had too many complaints either.
In the modern game there is no place for that sort of tackle.
The Scotland players need to wise up and adjust accordingly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So which is it,Kenny?
“No place in the modern game” or “In Scotland,we love it”
Right, heading to Mactan International in 15 minutes or so…………. Three hours in a taxi……….
Then……….
Cebu-Hong Kong-Helsinki-Manchester-Glasgow………..
Arriving at 14:00 in Glasgow Central if I make the train connection from MIA……tight for time and pre-booked but hey, can always get the next one……….
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
Morning Celts
DBBIA thoughts were with you last week and especially on Friday.
Jobo, DJBee, sorry to hear of your loss, a terrible blow but stay strong Bhoys.
Vinny
It seems the spirit of Craig Whyte lives on. The company that will run the hit the crossbar competition for Sevco is registered to a hairdressing supplies warehouse in Troon!
CRAIGWHYTECSC
Bobby m curled up Kathleens giving him a lugfull
modern football
http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/celtic-2-helsingborg-0/
I ain’t making this up – on talk sport yesterday they said if you run a club badly you can expect to go bust !
BMCUWP
I think we know the answer- healy’s tackle on the uber talented Forrest when the RFC*(tax fraudsters) when in semi existence
JACKIE MAC
Spooky-that was the very one that crossed my mind!
WHITEDOGHUNCH
Thanks for that-only saw the first half as I had to leave for work.
Early starts on a Wednesday.
Saw your wicked wheeze to nobble the quiz opposition by offering them a taxi. Good thinking,bud.
.
WhiteDogHunch..
Thanks for the Recommendation.. I was a Wee bit Suspicious whit the Momo’FuKu part..
But alas I’m in Melbourne..My Greek mate here has 2 Japanese Resturants so I’ll Defo give him the Heads up..as one is Up at the Snow.. So Not far from Sudney..
Thanks Again
Summa
Rest in Peace Mr Stein, your Celtic made our hearts race…
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
So which one is it Kenny? Across Europe it is virtually allowed but
those blond blue eyed Swedes allow it but those dark Latins don’t!!!
As poor a piece of writing as you will find today…
I knew I should have gone to Napier College..
Hail Hail
Leaving thailanf today.. Arrive singapore 23:00 ad dont fly to oz until 16:30 tomarrow.
Would i be aswel just staying in an around singapore ?
Hear the airport is very good. Dont really want to book into hotel somewhere for less than 12hrs
Morning all. Dreary once again here in North Ayrshire.
Any news on our injured players?
Is Phil’s book top of the bestsellers’ list yet?
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous hillbillies the day?
Good to see Andy Murray is playing another fine
Scotsman in a Grand Slam final – ole Jokovic
Clark is right about one thing: there is an abberational attitude in Scotland of “get tore into them”. Personally, I don’t think that it is so much from the support but from coaches who don’t know any other way. The big problem here is that the MIBs allow such an approach to go unpunished when it is Celtic players on the receiving end.
Mo Bangura could win ole Charlie’s crossbar challenge
Yes sirree.
Good morning friends from a pretty grey and damp East KIlbride.
Thanks again for all of your kind wishes over the weekend. Luckilly my mum’s funeral has been quickly arranged for this Wednesday although a fair bit of running around to do over the next couple of days. Keep the site nice and tidy mind.
Thanks again.
Jobo
Good morning fellow Celts from sunny Renfrewshire
Apologies if this summary from Barca site has already been posted here:
———
Benfica, Spartak Moscow and Glasgow Celtic are all huge teams in their respective countries and will be facing FC Barcelona in the UCL group stage. Here we take a brief look at each of them:
Benfica: Familiar faces
The runners up in last year’s Portuguese championship are the side with the strongest continental track record out of FCB’s three opponents. Double European Cup winners in the 1960s, Benfica currently employ a number of players that have Spanish Liga experience. Manager Jorge Jesús’ squad includes Nolito (ex Barça B), Garay, Rodrigo, Javi García (ex Real Madrid), Aimar (ex Valencia) and this summer’s star signing Salvio (ex Atlético Madrid). The side also features Witsel and Cardozo, who lead the midfield and attack respectively. Last season they very nearly put eventual champions Chelsea out of the competition in the quarter finals.
Spartak: Emery the main danger
The third seed in the group is one of Russia’s powerhouses. Although they haven’t won a major honour for nine years, Spartak have been improving of late. Recent reinforcements include Källstrom, Romulo, former Espanyol man Pareja and Nigeria’s Emenike, who dazzled last season with 13 goals in 22 games. But perhaps the most important acquisition is not a player but the coach, Unai Emery, who did such a good job at Valencia and knows all about making life difficult for Barça. But the man in charge of the Muscovite club never managed to beat Barcelona with his previous club, nor with Almeria before that, his overall track record being four draws and six defeats.
Celtic: the new king of Scotland
Although they have 11 fewer league titles than their eternal rivals Rangers, these are happy days for the green and white half of Scotland’s biggest city. For economic reasons, their protestant rivals have been forced to disband and are now starting all over again in the Scottish Third Division. With Rangers out of the way for at least the next three years, Celtic look set to dominate the domestic championship like never before, which means manager Neil Lennon will be able to focus almost his entire attention on his club’s European campaign. Applying their typically physical but direct approach, their strengths include Wanyama in midfield and Greek international Samaras up front.
—-
Tough task, but I have great expectations
DickensCSC
“Winning was important, but it was the way that we won that has filled me with satisfaction.”
Jock Stein passed away 27 years ago today.
“We did it by playing football; pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads.” Jock Stein.
Jock Stein :-
“Immortal!”
HH
Jock Stein – A 90 Minute Documentary
Outstanding show about Scotland’s Greatest ever sportsman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-H22iuRg-A&feature=gv&hl=en
From the excellent Celtic Wiki
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Jock+Stein+-+Quotes
Jock Stein – Quotes
“Football is nothing without fans”
Jock Stein
“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.”
Jock Stein
“My proudest moment? Every Friday morning when I look at the board at Celtic Park and see my name on the team sheet for tomorrow’s game.”
Jock Stein (when a Celtic player & team captain)
“Unlike many other Celts, I cannot claim that Celtic was my first love … but I can say that it will be my last love.”
Jock Stein in a speech at a Supporters night in 1995
“If I can achieve for Celtic what I have achieved for Hibs, then I feel I will have done well for them”
Jock Stein on becoming Celtic manager, possibly his only understated remark!
“The secret of being a good manager is to keep the six players who hate you away from the five who are undecided.”
Jock Stein
“I enjoy being manager here, because I like the people who support us.”
“Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don’t shrink to fit inferior players”
“I’d far rather talk about players, they are the people who make things happen. “
“You’re too fond of Charlie Gallagher and Harry Hood. You wouldn’t win a league with 11 Charlie Gallaghers or Harry Hoods. “
“There is no substitute for experience ”
“Have the first issue ready for the week after the [Scottish] Cup Final and leave a blank space on page one for a picture of the boys with the Cup!”
Jock Stein on the new “Celtic View” in his first season as manager
“I think it is important to win a match, but I think what is even more important is the manner in which you win.”
“The most pleasure any manager can get is seeing everyday boys joining the Club as youngsters and growing into men and giving themselves a better social standing than they could ever have dreamed of previously.”
“You go down that pit shaft, a mile underground. You can’t see a thing. The guy next to you, you don’t know who he is. Yet he is the best friend you will ever have.”
Jock Stein on the miners
(Before a European Cup game to Hunter Davies (an English Journalist) touring round Celtic and Rangers grounds who was commenting on Celtic’s unpretentious surroundings compared to Rangers more “cathedral-like stadium”)
“Ach, Rangers are alright, but they still haven’t invented blue grass.”
“25% of our [Celtic’s] managers have been Protestant!”
Jock Stein on being appointed manager of Celtic, when pointed out with headlines in the papers and by people that he was the first Protestant manager of Celtic (he was only the 4th in the clubs history (retold by Hugh McIlvaney)
“Is it alright if he’s very cheeky that ah can skelp ‘em?”
Jock Stein jokingly to Billy McNeil’s family as he convinced them to let him sign for Celtic (as told by Billy McNeil)
“We weren’t Orange but we were staunch!”
Jock Stein on his family background to Hugh McIlvaney
(from BBC life story program on Jock Stein 2007)
“If they were interested in what I had to say they would get here in time. The door stays shut!”
Jock Stein on barring late coming journos to his press talks
“I think we could win everything in front of us. I think this could be a season to remember.”
Jock Stein to various players at the start of the 1966/67 season, quoted by Archie MacPherson
“Jock, if there were two players, one Catholic and one Protestant. Who would you sign?”
“The Protestant”
“Why?”
“Because I know that Rangers would never sign the Catholic”
(winding up Rangers FC over their bigoted signing policies)
“Predicting scores is a mug’s game – I’ll leave that to Alec Cameron!”
Jock Stein chides about Alec Cameron, a journalist who was very biased to the Huns
“Surely there are enough Celtic songs without introducing religion or politics or anything else?”
After 1972 game against Stirling when he jumped into the Celtic crowd to stand up to individuals singing sectarian songs
“I lost some friends when I made the move, but if that’s what matters to them, then they’re not really friends at all.”
(On his move to Celtic which led to him being shunned and dismissed by his old ‘friends’)
“This terrible tragedy must help to curb the bigotry and bitterness of Old Firm matches. When human life is at stake this kind of hatred seems sordid and little. Fans of both sides will never forget this disaster.”
Jock Stein from the Celtic View on the Ibrox Disaster of 1971
“It is up to us, to everyone at Celtic Park, to build up our own legends. We don’t want to live with history, to be compared with legends from the past. We must make new legends.”
Jock Stein (After winning his first league title as Celtic manager in 1966)
“We all end up yesterday’s men in this business. Your’re very quickly forgotten.”
Jock Stein in Archie MacPherson’s book “The Great Derbies: Blue and Green” (1989)
“The best place to defend is in the opposition penalty box.”
“There is no excuse for a professional footballer not to be 100% fit.”
‘I feel we have the players fit to wear the mantle of champions of Europe. I have told them so. Now it’s up to them.’
Jock Stein after beating Vojvodina Novi in the QF of the European Cup, 1967
“We send Murdoch down to the health farm at Tring to lose some weight and the main result is that we are polluted with bad tips from the wee jockeys he meets there.”
Jock Stein joking to Hugh McIlvaney about Bobby Murdoch’s weight control
“If you’re good enough, the referee doesn’t matter.”
“It’s not religion that’s the problem – it’s the lack of religion!”
“You go down that pit shaft, a mile underground. You can’t see a thing. The guy next to you, you don’t know who he is. Yet he is the best friend you will ever have.” – Jock Stein
“I’m happy where I am, I like the people I work with, I like the players and the directors of this club but most of all I like the fans and to see them happy makes me happy,so I’m very happy here.”
When asked about Man Utd showing interest in getting him to manage at Old Trafford in early 70’s
“There’s nothing wrong with losing your temper for the right reasons.”
Jock Stein’s advice to Alex Ferguson, as re-told by Alex Ferguson in an interview in Jun 08 who was speaking about his own infamous temper
“I’m sorry to leave but I just could not be a saleman!”
Newspaper headline on Jock leaving Celtic after being asked by the board to “move up” to the board level to become in charge of the club pools!
On Lisbon 1967 and Winning the European Cup
“My time will come!”
Jock Stein to John Mackenzie of the Scottish Daily Express, prior to European Cup final 1967 after enduring snubs and mind games from opposite number Herrera (Inter Milan Manager)
Stein’s inspiring pre-match battle cry was:
“If you’re ever going to win the European Cup, then this is the day and this is the place. But we don’t just want to win this cup, we want to do it playing good football – to make neutrals glad we’ve won it, glad to remember how we did it.”
Jock Stein before the game 25th March 1967
“Tell me, the 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock mass are all ticket?”
Jock Stein joking to Hugh McIlvaney on the surge of Celtic fans coming to Lisbon to see the team play in the European Cup Final (retold by Hugh McIlvaney)
“I am now going to tell him (Herrera) how Celtic will be the first team to bring the European Cup back to Britain. But it will not help him in any manner, shape or form: we are going to attack as we have never attacked before. Cups are not won by individuals, but by men in a team who put their club before personal prestige. I am lucky – I have the players who do just that for Celtic”
Jock Stein 23rd May 1967
“We must play as if there are no more games, no more tomorrows…”
Jock Stein, shortly before kick off in Lisbon
“We don’t just want to win the European Cup. We want to do it playing good football, to make neutrals glad we won it, pleased to remember how we did it.”
Jock Stein before the European Cup win in 1967
“Coming here you’ve made history, go out and play to you capability and enjoy yourself.”
Jock Stein to the players as they were to go out to play in the European Cup Final (1967)
After wining the European Cup
“We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football.”
“There is always a time to move on.”
“This team will never be beaten!”
Jock Stein to Bill Shankly on bus back, overheard by Bertie Auld
“There is not a prouder man on God’s Earth than me at this moment. Winning was important, aye, but it was the way that we have won that has filled me with satisfaction. We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads. Inter played right into our hands; it’s so sad to see such gifted players shackled by a system that restricts their freedom to think and to act. Our fans would never accept that sort of sterile approach. Our objective is always to try to win with style.”
Jock Stein, 1967
Interviewer : “What a wonderful season!”
Jock Stein: “Aye, but what do I do next year?”
“We hope that the next hands on the European Cup are yours”
Prophetic words from Jock Stein to Matt Busby in 1967, as he received the BBC Sports team of the year award form him in 1967 (Man U under Matt Busby ended up winning the European Cup in 1968)
On Scotland
“‘Old Firm supporters went to internationals to cheer three players, boo two, and ignore the rest!”
Jock Stein on the Scotland fans in the 1950’s
“After all, we’re a small country. The Finns and Norwegians, you don’t get them saying ‘We’re going to win the World Cup’.“
World Cup in Spain 1982 about Scotland fans
“We do have the greatest fans in the world but I’ve never seen a fan score a goal.”
On others
“There should be a law against him. He knows what’s happening 20 minutes before anyone else.”
on Booby Moore, West Ham and England Defender from 1960s, (quote from 1969))
“I don’t believe everything Bill tells me about his players. If they were that good, they’d not only have won the European Cup but the Ryder Cup, the Boat Race and even the Grand National!”
on Bill Shankly the then Liverpool Manager
Quotes about Jock Stein
“I am proud to say that I knew Jock Stein as a manager, as a colleague and as a friend… he was the greatest manager in British football… men like Jock will live forever in the memory.”
Alex Ferguson
“I always thought Jock Stein was the perfect international manager. But you (England) don’t have anyone like that. You don’t have Jock Steins, you’ll never have a Jock Stein.”
Alex Ferguson
“He would have been well within his rights to glorify himself in some way but that simply wasn’t Jock’s style. He was also a very intelligent man who played the press brilliantly. I remember one day down at Turnberry, he invited me to join him at the press conference to which he turns up about 10 minutes early and plonks himself down on a chair outside the room. Along come the hacks and Jock starts, just loud enough for them to hear. ‘Here’s such and such coming, big gambler . . . this one’s having it off with so-and-so’. He knew everything about them and they all knew that he knew.”
Alex Ferguson story about Jock Stein (from RedIssue Man U fanzine)
“For people like myself, he was the precursor of all the deeds and challenges we needed to aim at and be like Jock Stein. He would never take the praise himself. It was always about the players and how great the team were. That magnanimity tells you everything about him. He always used to say to me to keep your dignity at the end of games. He kept his humility and his feet were always firmly planted on the ground.”
Alex Ferguson (2008)
“When I worked as a toolmaker in the middle of winter,” Ferguson, who was a shop steward at the Remington Rand typewriter factory, adds, “I remember touching the steel first thing in the morning. It’s absolutely freezing. You can burn yourself it’s so bloody cold. And yet these people built the best ships in the world. You can over-romanticise these things, but they do have a real part to play in forging a person’s character.”
Giving them what? “Determination. Then you think of the miners; men such as Stein and Shankly. I remember Stein saying something I think was fantastic. We were driving to Glasgow during the miners’ strike [in the mid1980s] and they were shipping coal in from Belgium, these scab drivers. Big Jock stopped them. He looked at them, and said: ‘I hope you’re proud of yourselves. You’re doing people out of a living.’ None of them said a word. Then he said to me: ‘This is an absolute bloody disgrace. You go down that pit shaft, a mile underground. You can’t see a thing. The guy next to you, you don’t know who he is. Yet he is the best friend you will ever have.’ ” Ferguson pauses for a moment. “All of these things congeal in your character. And they never leave you.”
Alex Ferguson (2008), Interview with The Times
“It was as if the king had died. In football terms, the king had died. (Alex Ferguson on Jock Stein’s death in 1985)”
Alex Ferguson
“He came to Celtic not just to manage them, but to battle for them.”
Archie MacPherson on Jock Stein
“Jock, do you want your share of the gate money or shall we just return the empties ?”
Bill Shankly to Jock Stein after the 1966 CWC tie with Celtic at Anfield
Bill Shankly to Jock Stein in the Dressing room just after they won the European Cup (1967)
“Jock, you’re immortal now!”
Jock Stein in turn just laughed…
“If he has useful players he trains them the right way, and he encourages them to do what they are best at, not to mention the other wee things you need in your game. Jock would then merge these things together. It’s a form of socialism – without the politics of course.”
Bill Shankly on Jock Stein
“A great manager, my pal for years. a great man as well,with a heart of gold who’d give his last shilling. Aye, Stein he’s the best!”
Bill Shankly on Jock Stein
“The greatest manager in the history of the game. You tell me a manager anywhere in the world who did something comparable, winning the European Cup with a Glasgow District XI.”
Hugh McIlvaney (journalist) in his documentary “Busby, Stein and Shankly: The Football Men 1997”
“As I head into the Stadio Olimpico three-and-a-half weeks from now, it will be with the hope that the contenders soon to take the field can inhabit the creed expressed by the mighty Jock Stein shortly before he led Celtic to British football’s first victory in the European Cup 42 years ago. “We can be as hard and professional as anybody,” Jock told me, “but I mean it when I say we don’t just want to win this cup. We want to win it playing good football, to make neutrals glad we’ve done it, glad to remember how we did it.””Hugh McIlvaney, on Sunday’s Times on-line.
“The problem for us is that Big Jock and his players spoiled it for everyone who came after them…”
Lou Macari, on becoming Celtic Manager (1994)
‘I’ve got a vivid memory from 1965, when it was announced he was coming back from Hibs, of Billy McNeill saying, ”Oh thats fantastic! Wait and see how things change now!”.’
John Divers, 1995 on the return of Jock Stein to the club as manager.
“Mr Stein was an imposing figure. I was in awe when I first met Mr Stein, and I thought I was all through my playing career. He meant something to every player. Whether or not they liked him as a person he was loved for what he did for their careers. How big an influence was he? How long is a piece of string? He was a nice man. A nice, nice man. You don’t remember the things your dad did to you that were bad. You remember the nice things like Christmas or your birthday. Maybe Mr Stein could give you stick, but it was forgotten outside the dressing room. He taught me so much. He hurried things up for me.”
Danny McGrain on Jock Stein
“He had the knowledge; he had that nasty bit that managers must have; and he could communicate. On top of that he was six feet tall, and at times he seemed to get bigger when he was talking to you. He had everything that a great manager needs. Nothing ever went by him. He was the best.”
Graeme Souness
“I’ll tell you this, a hundred years from today all of us will be forgotten, no matter who we are and how important we think we are. No one will remember us. But Jock Stein will be remembered. He made Celtic, and he was the greatest manager Scotland ever produced. I’m just glad I have such great memories of the man.”
Pat Crerand
“Quite often I would go home from training at Barrowfield with bumps and bruises. Training under Big Jock was competitive.”
Bobby Murdoch
“Jock Stein put us on the park afraid of no one.”
Bobby Murdoch
Other anecdotes
1)
I remember during the school holidays me and some of my pals used to walk from the gorbals to celtic park to see the players and get some autograghs i must have been about 9 at the time ,Big Jock gets out his car coming back from barrowfiield,as where the player i asked big jock for his autogragh and he said to me: “hey son wit day yi want ma autogragh fur its they guys there you want to sign yer book.” He gave me a wee pat on the head and a smile ,so away i went to the players for autographs happy as can be.
(Geezerbhoy of the KStreet forum Apr 2006, source)
2)
Me and my mate went down to CP on the afternoon of the Dynamo Kiev game ( season 67/68 ), Jock Stein was standing at the front door, I approached him and said that my mate had never seen the EC up close, so was there any chance of a look. The big man looked at my mate and said ” We cannie be hivin that, come wi me the baith ae ye.” He took both of us into the trophy room and showed us the big cup. He spotted someone walking past the room and went after him. He came back a few minutes later with a photographer from the Evening Citizen and told him to take a photo of us with the trophy. He also told the snapper to get our names and addresses and to send us a photo each, (the rotten barsteward never did send them) and added that he would have to go as he was quite busy. We both thanked him and left with a sense of awe.
To me that was a sign of the mans greatness, on the afternoon of the most important game of the season he could take time out for some fans.
(From “Ally Les Verts” of the KStreet forum May 2007 Source)
3)
Another wee story about the big man.
As I was born and raised just across from Barrowfield training ground a few of us used to go and watch the training sessions. The players played a game whereby they could only touch the ball twice, one to trap/control and then pass.
This day Tommy Gemmil and Big Yogi had started to argue and Big Jock Stein came over to find out what had happened, it went like this.
BJS ” Whits gone on here.”
T.G. ” Yogi’s cheatin, boss , he’s touched the ba’ three times.” (which he did)
Y. ” Naw ah didnae, boss, he’s makin it up tae get a free kick.”
BJS ” Carry on Yogi, nae free kick.”
T.G. ” Ats no fair boss he did touch it mair than he’s sayin.”
BJS ” Ach everybody knows catholics don’t tell lies.”
(From “Ally Les Verts” of the KStreet forum May 2007 Source)
4)
Jim Black told a nice story on Radio Scotland.
One day after a game, Archie Gemmill, as captain, asked manager Jock Stein “Would it be ok to ask the hotel manager to open the bar?” Big Jock looked at him. “Well, you’re the captain. Tell me, do YOU think it would be ok?” Gemmill, sensing there was something wrong said nothing.
He was never selected by Stein again.
5)
Rangers had just won the league cup one nil the day, and later Jock Stein was walking down Sauchiehall St with esteemed journalist Hugh McIlvaney. Rangers fans passing by goaded the pair. Jock Stein turned to Hugh McIlvaney and highlighted this as what differentiated Celtic fans from Rangers fans. With them it was “We’ve won, you’ve all lost!”. With Celtic fans all are invited to the party! A beautiful story and a wonderful example of the Celtic ethos and culture to contrast against the Huns.
Story retold by Ian McGarry on Radio 5 Live on 9 July 2012
Sixteen roads to Golgotha @ 3:18
“Good Thief”, is it, eh … ?
There follows a wonderful vignette about the original (i.e. scripturally inspired, yet Celtic-minded “Good Thief”, as written by the incomparable Tom Leonard during the Jock Stein era):
THE GOOD THIEF
heh jimmy
yawright ih
stull wayiz urryi
ih
heh jimmy
ma right insane yirra pape
ma right insane yirwanny us jimmy
see it nyir eyes
wanny uz
heh
heh jimmy
lookslik wirgonny miss thi gemm
gonny miss thi GEMM jimmy
nearly three a cloke thinoo
dork init
good jobe theyve gote the lights …
proudbhoy
the airport is fine.If you are at all interested in horses or a good day out go to the track..
If you have female company they will cost you a small fortune at some of the best shops in the world.
eat here http://www.marinabaysands.com/Singapore-Restaurants/Celebrity-Chefs/Guy-Savoy/
Proudbhooy
I’m on form today
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/846963