Jock Stein: Legendary manager remembered 40 years on from tragic death during Scotland game

Tributes are being paid to legendary football manager Jock Stein 40 years on from his death.

The European Cup and nine-in-a-row winning Celtic boss passed away in Cardiff on September 10, 1985, while leading Scotland to the cusp of the 1986 World Cup.

Stein was 62 years old when he collapsed in the dugout at the end of the national team’s 1-1 draw with Wales that secured a play-off spot for the tournament being held the following summer.

Despite the result taking Scotland a massive step closer to their fourth consecutive World Cup, it was one that was marred with sadness as the news spread to the Tartan Army that the manager had passed away.

And what should have been a triumphant journey home full of celebrations turned into one of mourning and disbelief that the larger-than-life figure wouldn’t be there to take them to Mexico 86.

Stein’s assistant Alex Ferguson would take the reins for the play-off victory over Australia and the three group games against Denmark, West Germany and Uruguay.

Scotland once again failed to get out of the groups after a draw with the South American side, who played most of the match with ten-men, in the final group game.

However, the results paled into insignificance to that fateful night in Cardiff a year earlier when the country lost a statesmen like figure who had elevated Scottish football to the highest of heights.

Stein the player 1940-1957

Stein worked as a coal-miner after leaving school at 15, and continued to work in the mines during a playing career that took him from Albion Rovers in Coatbridge to Llanelli Town in Wales, before returning to Scotland for his big break at Celtic in 1951.

As a tough-tackling defender, he quickly became captain of the Hoops and led them to a famous Coronation Cup victory in 1953 when they defeated Arsenal and Manchester United en route to the final, where they played Hibernian in front of 117,000 fans at Hampden Park.

In the following 1953/54 campaign, he captained Celtic to their only league title in 28 years, with the previous title coming in 1938 and the next not arriving until he returned as manager in 1966.

A 2-1 Scottish Cup Final over Aberdeen secured a famous double for the club in 1954.

However, despite this success as a player, it was in the dugout that he really made his name and became an “immortal” figure in world football.

Stein the manager (Dunfermline and Hibernian)

After hanging up his boots he was put in charge of the Celtic reserves for three years before being appointed manager of Dunfermline Athletic in 1960.

In his first full season at the Pars he guided them to their first ever Scottish Cup title with a 2-0 victory over Celtic at Hampden in May, 1961.

In the following campaign, he took Dunfermline to the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup and finished fourth in the league, earning a place in the 62/63 Fairs Cup where they defeated Everton and recorded a famous 6-2 win over Valencia.

Results at East End Park started to attract the attention of the bigger city clubs and he was appointed as Hibernian manager in 1964.

However he would only last one full season at Hibernian before Celtic came calling to bring him back to Parkhead in March 1965.

Unprecedented Celtic success and the Lisbon Lions

His return to Celtic turned into a match made in heaven with a string of achievements that still standalone in the footballing world.

Despite the club going through a barren spell before his arrival as manager, the turnaround was instantaneous, and he guided the club to their first Scottish Cup win in eleven years just two months after his appointment when Billy McNeill scored the winning goal in a 3-2 final victory over Dunfermline.

The following season would see them become champions of Scotland again for the first time in over a decade, but the glory wouldn’t end there as they continued their journey to dizzying heights never seen before or matched since.

The 1966/67 campaign remains the jewel in the crown of Celtic Football Club and Scottish football as they swept all before them to win all three major domestic trophies, the Glasgow Cup, and, of course, the biggest prize of all in the European Cup.

26/05/67 SEASON 1966/1967 The European Cup is paraded before seas of delerious Celtic fans. SNS Group

With a team whose names still roll off the tongue of every Celtic supporter, even nearly 60 years later, Ronnie Simpson, Jim Craig, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Tommy Gemmell, Bertie Auld, Bobby Murdoch, Jimmy Johnstone, Stevie Chalmers, Willie Wallace, and Bobby Lennox secured their place in the history books by defeating Italian giants Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon to lift the biggest prize in club football.

That famous victory meant Celtic became the first team from the UK to become champions of Europe, and they remain the only Scottish club, and indeed the only club from a country with a population of less than ten million to lift the “big cup”.

Not only that, Celtic were also the first ever club to win the UEFA recognised treble of domestic league, domestic cup, and European Cup, and remain the only side to win a quadruple of all three plus the other main domestic trophy of the League Cup.

And it was achieved with a home-grown team born within a 30-mile radius, in what remains a record to this day, with Saltcoats-born Bobby Lennox the only one brought up outside the Greater Glasgow region.

They reached the final again three years later, by defeating English champions Leeds United at Hampden in front of a still-standing record crowd for any UEFA competition, before falling to a 2-1 defeat to Feyenoord in Milan.

Stein would lead the Hoops to another two European Cup semi-finals, with a penalty shoot-out defeat to Inter Milan in 1972 and controversial loss to Atletico Madrid in 1974, denying them another shot at the final.

In 1974, Celtic clinched their ninth league title in a row, becoming the first team to do so. Stein is still the only manager in the history of British football to win nine consecutive top-flight titles.

After Celtic

Stein left Celtic in 1978 to take up the challenge of managing Leeds United in the English top-flight.

However, his tenure at Elland Road would last less than a year when the SFA came calling for him to replace outgoing manager Ally Macleod.

He led the national team to qualification for the 1982 World Cup, but despite a 5-2 win over New Zealand and a 2-2 draw with the Soviet Union, Scotland were knocked out on goal difference as a result of a 4-1 defeat at the hands of an impressive Brazil side boasting great names such as Zico and Socrates.

On 10 September 1985, Stein died at Ninian Park in Cardiff, immediately after Scotland drew 1-1 with Wales on the way to qualifying for the 1986 World Cup.

10/09/85 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER WALES v SCOTLAND NINIAN PARK Scotland manager Jock Stein (right) talks with Welsh star Robbie James before kick off. SNS Group

Now, 40-years on from his death, his legacy remains intact in Scottish football and beyond and some of his achievements will likely never be equalled.

After that sunny day in Lisbon back in May, 25, 1967, then Liverpool manager Bill Shankly remarked that Stein was now “immortal” and those words still ring true to this day as his achievements are celebrated by generations of Celtic supporters.

A statue of him holding the European Cup trophy now takes pride of place outside the main entrance to Celtic Park, with a stand also named in his memory.