“Charlie Gallagher? What a Player!” – Little Credit for Jock Stein as Charlie and Celtic part company

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This is certainly true of miners who play football. Jock made his debut in the middle of World War II for Albion Rovers. Neither in the mines, nor on the football field was life easy for him, and he was little more than a solid centre half. He himself described himself jocularly as a “passable” centre half – something that can of course mean two things! When he moved to Wales, it appeared than his footballing career was coming to an end, but then by a happy set of chances, he found himself at Celtic Park – absolutely not where his family would have wanted him to go – became captain, won the Coronation Cup in 1953, then a League and Cup double in 1954, but sustained a bad ankle injury in 1955 which compelled him to give up the playing side of the game. His sole International honour was in a Scottish League International game against England at Stamford Bridge – and England won!

Former Celtic manager Jock Stein, standing with trophies and photo of Celtic football club.

His managerial career before he came to Celtic in 1965 was a success, and this continued. But he had seen the hard side of life too. He had lost games – in particular the 1955 Scottish Cup final against Clyde gave his a deep-seated distrust of goalkeepers – and competitions, (any Manager, player or supporter will have a few disappointments in his life) but there was still very little in Stein’s background to justify the paranoia that he
sometimes seemed to suffer from as far as some players were concerned.

As to why he did not like Charlie Gallagher, we cannot tell. One could find reasons why he did not like some of his other players, but the inoffensive, hard-working, never-complaining Charlie was a man to whom it would have been difficult to take a dislike. Perhaps Stein wanted him to show a little more of the devil in him, because, ironically, he sometimes seemed to like some of his bad boys. Jimmy Johnstone, for example, did enough on several occasions to earn himself the sack or a transfer to some English club, but Stein went the extra mile for him. Tommy Gemmell more than once asked for a transfer, and to an outsider, it often appeared that he and Stein were at daggers drawn. Yet the mutual respect was there. Bertie Auld likewise could get himself into trouble on and off the field, but always managed to keep the affection of his Manager.

Perhaps it was the sheer inoffensive nature of Charlie Gallagher that made Jock Stein not like him. There was certainly no rational reason, other than perhaps that Gallagher was one of the few of the Kelly Kids that had been unknown to Stein when they met up at Celtic Park. But Stein’s dislike of Gallagher would be shown up in an incident when Gallagher was playing for Dumbarton. We shall read this story in due course, and it is a story that shocks and horrifies those who profess a liking for Jock Stein.

And yet, even the players who do not speak highly of Stein as a character all unanimously admit that they would have been nothing without him. Had Stein not been appointed in 1965, the subsequent history of Celtic would have been a lot less pleasant. It is difficult to imagine Celtic winning a European Cup, for example, and indeed the likelihood is that Celtic would have ended up in perpetual decline, not unlike the English example of Newcastle United who have now not won an English trophy since 1955.

Yet Newcastle’s fans have stayed loyal. Celtic’s might not have. In January 1965 there were ominous signs that a lot were not coming back.

The truth is that Celtic, to survive as a major Scottish power, had to appoint Stein in 1965. It is also true that most successful men, not only in football but also in every other walk of life, have to have a ruthless streak. This Stein certainly did. Whether it can be used to justify the way that he treated men like John Hughes, John Fallon and Charlie Gallagher is open to question, to say the least.

So what would have happened to Gallagher without Stein? He might have retained his place on the Celtic staff, he might have even won back his first team spot, but without Stein there probably would have been no, or very few medals. He might have departed to Dumbarton or Partick Thistle or Kilmarnock a lot earlier than he eventually did. It would have depended on who the new Manager might have been. He might have been just as ruthless and nasty as Stein – but with a lot less of a football brain. Who is to say what might have happened with a new Manager, or in the real nightmare scenario of Mr Kelly keeping the status quo?

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About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

1 Comment

  1. For someone who was only a small child in late 60s this has been an education for me. Thank you David.