Immediately after the European Cup Final, I took to the streets with my pals to play football. I was doing one of those commentating while I played routines. ‘And Gemmell shoots’ I shouted as I didn’t quite connect with the ball, kicked the ground and ripped the sole off my school shoes. My mother blames you to this day. My question is, do you think 47 years is long enough to hold a grudge?
I think 47 years is long enough to take your shoes to the cobblers. And, by the way, did you just say, ‘And Gemmell shoots’? Shouldn’t it have been,‘Gemmell shoots…and Gemmell scores’?.
A question for Tommy, my favourite Lisbon Lion! Do you still think the incident with Haller was the beginning of the end as far as your Celtic playing career?
No, not all. Celtic frowned on one of their players being sent off while on international duty, of course, and I was punished by being dropped for the League Cup Final against St.Johnstone. Remember, I was still good enough to be selected for the European Cup Final against Feyenoord in 1970. It was December 1971 when I finally left the club I loved, so there was a lot of football played with Celtic between the Haller incident on October 1969 and when I moved to Nottingham Forest.
Tommy, I’m too young to have seen you play in the flesh, but when I hear your name the first thing that comes to mind (as well as that goal in Lisbon) is thundering long-range shots. Is that something you could always do or was it a case of mastering the technique? Also, is there anyone else in your day or the modern game who you think could strike the ball harder?
It was a question of practice, hopefully, making perfect. I spent around 25 to 30 minutes after the usual training sessions at Barrowfield bombarding Ronnie Simpson or John Fallon with long-range drives. I worked on the technique throughout my career. I don’t know about anyone being able to strike the ball harder. It’s a lighter ball, for a start.
Which player in your professional career was the toughest opponent to play against?
Jinky in training! Seriously, Bestie was always a handful. I played against him in internationals and in friendless and he was always a real threat. Like Jinky, he had the heart of a lion. There’s no way the Manchester United legend was ever intimidated. A smashing wee guy on and off the pitch. And I can’t forget Wee Willie Henderson. The Rangers winger was one of the top players in his heyday.
I wasn’t lucky enough to have seen the Lions in the flesh (just a few short years ahead of my time), but it annoys me when I hear talk of Rinus Michels and Ajax being the founders of Total Football. I can only speak of the games I’ve seen on TV, but from the Final in Lisbon alone, I’d have to say Big Jock and you and your team-mates were the originators of Total Football. In the big scheme of things it’s not a massive headache, but have you any thoughts on this and outside of Scotland do you think that performance in Lisbon has not been given the weight in history that it should have done?
The Dutch got the credit for Total Football, but, you’re right, we were doing something similar at Celtic from the early days of Big Jock. He wanted players to play to their strengths and be comfortable when they were on the ball.
I could have been an outside-left if you look at the way we played. Bobby Murdoch was a genuine two-footed player who could easily have adapted to life on the left. John Hughes could perform on either flank as well as centre-forward. Willie Wallace, Stevie Chalmers and Bobby Lennox could also operate in wide areas.
And Wee Bertie kicked off his career as a left-winger before moving inside as a midfielder. So, yes, there was a lot of versatility in the team. Jim Craig didn’t score a lot of goals, but he did an awful lot of unselfish running up and down the right wing. And what can I say about Wee Jinky? He could roam all over the place and look the part anywhere.
He might have struggled at centre-half, though! I think Celtic got a lot of deserved praise throughout Europe for the way we performed in Lisbon. The name of the club may not have had the glamour of Real Madrid or Barcelona, but I think we proved once and for all on that unforgettable day that we were not a collection of country bumpkins from Scotland. We were a team of class and substance.
Question to Mr Gemmell in my best Jim White voice, ‘How come you’re so good?’ Thank you, Tommy, for nearly a full lifetime of pointing to the Big Cup and saying to Them, ‘Look what we won!’ Thank you, thank you and thank you again!
Thank you, too! Why was I so good? Very kind of you to say so. Personal accolades are all well and good, but I never lost sight of what I had to do in the Celtic team. I was part of a unit. I may have hit the headlines with the odd howitzer, but John Clark could have played as big a part in any victory in his quiet manner in the heart of our defence. He rarely got the headlines, but all the players knew what he provided on an exceptional and consistent basis.
Tommy, in his autobiography, Bertie Auld said he loved playing with you. Was he any good?
No, I believe he was well over-rated! No-one would have ever heard of him if it wasn’t for me doing all his work on the left-hand side of the pitch. Only joking, Bertie! What a player and what a left peg. He and Bobby Murdoch were the best midfielders I ever played with. Wee Bertie was the finished article – he could tackle, pass and shoot. Not bad for a guy with only one foot!
I was at the 3-0 Benfica game as an 11 year old when you scored that belter. My question is, ‘What was the feeling after that game, was it that we were comfortably through or did you expect a tough return leg?’
We knew it would be difficult in the Stadium of Light. Okay, we were three goals ahead, but Benfica were an attacking team who scored goals for fun in their national league. And no team with a player such as the great Eusebio could ever be written off. That was a hard night in Lsbon, but, thankfully I’ve got better memories of the Portuguese capital.
Tommy! Will chance my arm and ask two questions! You are one of the most successful Celts of all time, but, of course, the start of your career was a time of failure for Celtic. Even as late as 1964 Celtic seemed destined for continued mediocrity. As a professional in the early, early part of your career, what were your thoughts AT THE TIME about the club, the management and your own and Celtic’s future? Also, you often played behind John Hughes in your career. Big Yogi was another of my all-time favourites, but he struggled for consistency. At his best, one of the most exciting players I’ve ever seen, when off form, though…Anyway, can you recall any specific occasion when John made you go WOW? (In a good way lol).
First up, I was chuffed when Celtic signed me. I always dreamed of playing for Motherwell, but thank goodness that never happened. Celtic may have been in a bit of turmoil at the time, but they were still a massive club. People kept referring to them as ‘a sleeping giant’ and I just wanted to play my part in helping to bring them out of their slumber!
I always saw my future at Celtic.
I never hankered after a move and was only too willing to do what was necessary to get the club back to its rightful place at the top. Big Jock gave the place a real shake when he arrived and deserves great credit for that. There was no longer any interfering from above in team matters. It’s was Jock’s way or no way.
Yogi could be exciting and exasperating, but what a player when he was on form. To be fair, he was more often brilliant than not. He caused defences no end of hassle when he was on song. At times he was unstoppable. I recall his one-man show against Rangers in January 1966 when we were trailing 1-0 at the interval. Yogi ran amok in the second-half, shredded the right side of their rearguard and they fell apart. Stevie Chalmers, with a hat-trick, Charlie Gallagher and Bobby Murdoch scored in a fabulous 5-1 win.
Inconsistent? Name me a player who was 100 per cent consistent.
I have two questions for Mr Gemmell. Do you think that Celtic will ever appear in another European Final? And even mediocre, modern-day players make far more money than you did in your prime, do you resent this?
I’m assuming you mean the Champions League Final. That’s the big one and that’s where Celtic deserve to be although, of course, the UEFA Cup Final in Seville will always be a great memory and an incredible feat in reaching that stage. What a pity we lost!
I would like to think it is possible for Celtic to grace another Final in the top-flight competition, but, obviously, it would be an extremely difficult task. I can always hope and dream. As regards the cash flying around football at the moment, I have to say I don’t resent the current players their good fortune to be operating in an era when satellite TV is pouring millions into the game. Good luck to them.
When I was playing, we were earning more than the working man. Mind you, I wasn’t looking for untold riches when I kicked off. I think I started with £7 and that rose to £12, then £18 and up to £25 before the basic wage was pegged at £40 while I was still a young player. Remember, too, there were bonuses on top plus appearance money. And, thankfully, we started getting a lot of win bonuses from 1965 on!
Regarding your goal against Feyenoord in the Final in Milan. Was that one you had worked on in training? Was it knocked back to you to give you more room to score? I am surprised more teams do not use this as a way of getting more room to get the ball up and over a wall or through it as your shot did? Or were you just aiming for the referee’s backside?
We worked on that routine in training every day. When we were awarded that free-kick and Bobby Murdoch stepped up to take it, I knew exactly what he was going to do. No, I didn’t aim for Italian referee Concetto Lo Bello’s rear end, but I have to say it was a very strange place for him to stand behind the Feyenoord wall. I’ve never seen a referee adopt that position since. He did a good job of getting out of the way of my shot, didn’t he?
What importance did Jock Stein put on trophies? Did he set out to win them all or was there a slide rule of trophies that Celtic would play for? Outwith European success, which trophy win or match gave you the most satisfaction as a player? My auld man met you once at a Player of the Year dance in Newcastle. He had somehow blagged his way into the function and was giving you stick about your nose and you said to him, ‘I might have a big nose, but you have a big mouth!’ Still tells that story to this day. I think he took great pleasure in a Lisbon Lion having the banter with him. The Lisbon Lions are not heroes to him they are gods!
Big Jock sent us out to win EVERY game. It didn’t matter if it was a Cup Final or a friendly, he expected his team to be victorious in them all. So, he didn’t pick and choose – he wanted EVERY trophy EVERY year. As I have stated elsewhere, the 1965 Scottish Cup win over Dunfermline gave the players a lot of confidence and got the club back on the trophy-winning trail after being in the wilderness for far too long. Yes, that ‘you’ve got a big mouth’ was my normal reponse to the cheeky buggers who had a go at my hooter!
Tommy, I’ve just come across a photograph taken shortly after Celtic had beaten Hibs 6-2 in the 1969 League Cup Final. You are holding a bottle of beer and sporting a moustache! Can you tell us about that game and that moustache?
I didn’t have that moustache for too long. I grew it as a sort of experiment. It had as many colours as an average rainbow! The game against Hibs was fairly memorable – Jim Craig scored one of his rare goals for the club that afternoon. Bobby Lennox hammered in a hat-trick and Willie Wallace and Bertie Auld got the others. We were leading 6-0 with about 10 minutes to play when Hibs got their consolation goals. That was a very good win for us because the Edinburgh outfit were really strong at the time. They had players such as Pat Stanton, John Blackley, Peter Marinello, Peter Cormack, Jimmy O’Rourke and Eric Stevenston in their line-up. They were a nice team to watch, but they had no answer to Celtic that afternoon.
Tommy Gemmell! WOW! Just WOW! I wish I could think of a question worthy of the man! Have you ever been star struck, Tommy?
Yes, when I was a kid I used to watch Motherwell train. They were known as ‘The Ancell Babes’ after manager Bobby Ancell. I would rush from my house down to Fir Park to snatch a glimpse of my heroes. The club let the local youngsters in to see the players going through their routines. What struck me was the lack of ball work. It seemed all the players were asked to do was run round the pitch about one hundred times without stopping! They had stars such as Ian St.John, who joined Liverpool in 1961, Pat Quinn, Andy Weir, Andy Paton, Archie Shaw and Willie Hunter. I was in total awe of those guys.
Questions from Celtic Supporters. Answers from Tommy Gemmell.
David Faulds – Editor
