Ian Young was a good right back who came in just at the start of the glory years of Jock Stein, and but for the plethora of full backs around at the time would almost certainly have played at Lisbon. He was good enough, although possibly Jim Craig was just marginally better.
Some of you may not necessarily have thought that you had ever heard of Ian Young, however you will be partly mistaken as he is mentioned in the famous Celtic Song “Celtic, Celtic, That’s the Team for Me“. In that way, he is forever immortalised in Celtic supporters’ culture.
There’s Clark, McNeill and Kennedy the best there’s ever been,
Jimmy Johnstone, Murdoch, Chalmers, John Divers and John Hughes,
And sixty thousand Celtic fans who proudly shout the news.
##Celtic, Celtic that’s the team for me,
Ian first came into the team to displace the ageing Dunky MacKay in season 1963/64, although he had had a few games the previous season.
He was a grimly determined full back with a curious hunched sort of a run, and very soon won the affection of the support in that 1963/64 season when everything was good apart from the “death wish” about Rangers.
Things were bad in midwinter 1964, but Ian was seldom one of the players singled out for criticism, and Jock Stein made no effort to move him. He was thus a part of the great day of April 1965 and he played in the early part of the following season, winning the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish League, in the League Cup final earning a little notoriety for a robust challenge on Willie Johnston which showed the world that under Stein, no holds were barred.
It was towards the end of that season that he began to lose out to Jim Craig as right back, but he was a solid deputy. He ended his career playing for St Mirren.
David Potter
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Youngie was actually on Rangers’ books as a teenager before moving to Celtic. I was at that League Cup final and to describe the tackle on Johnston as “robust” is something of a euphemism. He absolutely blootered the guy. Now Johnston was a wee ned but he was a terrific player with lightning speed and a great finisher. However, he didn’t know whether he was in Mount Florida or Mount Everest for the rest of the game. Youngie went on to scare the shit out of Jim Forrest who was clean through on Simpson before catching a glimpse of our full back racing in to cover – talk about a bottle crashing, you just had to be there.
Yes, Ian Young epitomised a very different Celtic approach to a physical challenge in the mid sixties along with a new winning mentality which largely has remained ever since.