LISBON LIONS Tommy Gemmell and Jimmy Johnstone signed provisional forms for Celtic on the same evening of October 7 1961.
Previously, they had been on nodding terms at Burnbank Technical College when Gemmell trained as an electrician and Johnstone prepared for life as a welder in 1960.
Writer Alex Gordon co-authored Tommy Gemmell’s autobiography, All The Best, published in 2014, and recalls the genuine fondness the defender had for his long-time friend.
Here, in another CQN EXCLUSIVE, we turn back the clock to present the second instalment of a three-part series of Gemmell’s affectionate reminisces of Celtic’s Greatest-Ever Player.
Please enjoy.
I STILL laugh at the memory of what became a ritual with the Wee Man when we both lived in Uddingston.
The window in my kitchen at the back of our house was actually quite high up. Anyway, one Sunday evening, around ten o’clock, I heard a noise at the back door.
‘Burglars!’ was my immediate thought. I tip-toed into the kitchen to investigate. And there at the back window was Jinky, standing on a dustbin, knocking gently on the pane of glass.
‘Let me in, Big Man,’ he said as if this was perfectly normal behaviour.
Goodness only knows why he didn’t come to the front door. Maybe that would have been too mundane and ordinary for my wee mate and he didn’t do mundane and ordinary.
‘How about a wee nip?’ he asked as I let him in.
We went through to the front room and had a couple of quick ones.
‘How about a drive doon the road?’ was the next question an hour or so later. I should have anticipated that one.
Jinky could have afforded a taxi or he could even have walked the short distance between our two homes, but he much preferred yours truly to take on the chauffeur’s duties.
I protested, ‘Jinky, I’ve had a couple of drinks, as well. I don’t want to get done for drunk driving.’
‘Ach, ye’ll be fine,’ came the reply. ‘Ah’m only minutes away.’
I said, ‘Look, I’ll give you the keys to my car and you can take it down the road and I’ll get it in the morning.’
There was an indignant reply. ‘Whit? And get me done for drunk driving!’
FOR MY NEXT TRICK…Jimmy Johnstone goes through his repertoire for Tommy Gemmell during their brief stint together at Dundee.
For whatever reason, this became a Sunday night ritual. Jinky balancing on a dustbin, tapping on the kitchen window and coming in the back door for a few snifters.
I realised I would be driving him home, so I went onto the soft drinks while my drinking partner put away a few nips. Then he would bounce to his feet, announce it was time for him to go and bark out his order.
‘Right, Big Man, get me doon the road.’
There was another time when some of the Lisbon Lions had agreed to play in a Charity Match in Iceland. We were all aware of Jinky’s fear of flying and he didn’t look too impressed when we turned up at Glasgow Airport in the morning to find two modest-sized planes waiting for us.
The big one was an eight-seater! The other was a six-seater. Jinky stared at them for a moment.
‘Ah’m no’ goin’ on wan of them,’ he said.
I assured him we would be fine and we would only be up in the air for about half-an-hour. Jinky seemed content enough to accept that. He sat up front in the six-seater and I parked myself behind him.
He was clearly nervous and his mood didn’t get any better when the door to the cabin opened and out stepped the pilot.
Jinky looked at this immaculately-tailored character with the gold braid on the cuffs of his jacket.
‘Are you the pilot?’ he asked.
‘I am,’ was the response.
‘Where’s the other pilot?’
‘There isn’t one. I’m flying solo.’
Jinky looked aghast. ‘That’s all we effin’ need. You’re the only pilot? What happens if you have a heart attack?’
‘Then you’ll need this,’ said the captain, handing Jinky a booklet. ‘These are the flying instructions. Don’t worry, they’ll tell you all you need to know about flying an aircraft.’
Jinky didn’t bother to look at the booklet and he was very quiet for the entire journey.
*TOMORROW: Don’t miss Part Three of CQN’s EXCLUSIVE series, ‘When Wee Jinky Met Big TG’
