On Monday 15 May 1967 Celtic celebrated that season’s quadruple on Trophy Night at Celtic Park with a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock and all four trophies – The Glasgow Cup, The League Cup, the Scottish Cup and the League Championship trophy – were all there at Paradise, on top of a Shellys vehicle for the best ever half-time entertainment.

Jock Stein’s Celtic all conquering Celtic side took the acclaim of the Celtic support ,and incredibly just 21,000 supporters attended the match, quite remarkably.

Afterwards the Celtic players, who in ten days time were to play in the European Cup Final in Lisbon against Italian giants and bookies favourites Inter Milan.

Here are photos of that half-time trophy display and the players holding aloft Celtic’s greatest ever manager.  That’s not what this article is about though. The Celtic Star wants to show you some photographs of the Celtic players taken two nights later on Wednesday 17 May, a selection of individual shots of these Celtic players just eight days before they made history and became the Lisbon Lions.

Look at these photos and look into the players’ eyes and you will see the steely determination of winners.  You’ll enjoy this…our photos begin on the next page…

See Faither, Ronnie Simpson, on Wednesday 17 May, 1967  on the next page…

“The only worry I had out there in the Lisbon final was the danger of sunstroke.” Ronnie Simpson on 1967 European Cup Final against Inter Milan.

See Tommy Gemmell on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“The executioner of Inter, the man who smashed their defensive screen.”
L’Equipe journalist Jean Cornu

“Now Clark to Murdoch… in comes Craig… Gemmell… HE’S SCORED! A great goal… He’s done it!” Kenneth Wolstenholme (commentator) the European Cup goal by Tommy Gemmell.

“And that’s the goal that wins it for Celtic as Inter have to come out…” Kenneth Wolstenholme (commentator) on the European Cup goal by Tommy Gemmell.

“It just shows you – you do things the wrong way but they turn out correct.” Tommy Gemmell on scoring in the ’67 EC Cup Final.

“Probably his most famous goal was the equaliser in the European Cup Final, although with great modesty might I point out that he received such a perfect pass along the 18-yard line that his granny could have knocked that one in.” Jim Craig, from his euolgoy at the funeral of Tommy Gemmell.

“The Gemmell all-action reel would feature prominently a kick up the bahookie of Helmut Haller and a goal in the European Cup that came from a shot so thunderous it should have been followed by a shower of rain.” Hugh McDonald on Tommy’s world class shooting prowess.

Martin O’Neill: “I loved your goal in the European Cup final.” Tommy Gemmell: “Which one?”

“Ultimately the element that impressed most profoundly was the massive heart of this Celtic side. Nothing symbolised it more vividly than the incredible display of Gemmell. He was almost on his knees with fatigue before scoring that thunderous equaliser in the 63rd minute but somehow his courage forced him to go on dredging up the strength to continue with the exhausting runs along the left wing that did more than any other single factor to demoralise Inter.” Hugh McIlvanney on Tommy Gemmell in Lisbon.

See Billy McNeill on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

Billy McNeill on Lisbon 1967 as told to UEFA.com

Arrival – “We always had the attitude of you and us– we can beat you when we’re on top of our game. The very fact that the Italian club met us in the final was magnificent and as they came out of the tunnel they started singing, so we started singing louder than them and I think that is what helped us. We went out there and we just went into the game and took it with us.”

Support – “We looked at them and the people that had travelled out of Scotland were absolutely magnificent. It was Celtic supporter after Celtic supporter down to Lisbon, probably having never been anywhere out of Glasgow, but they wanted to be part of it and they certainly put on a story. It was marvellous.”

Pushing forward – “The fact they scored an early goal, that made it obvious for us. The only thing we could do was to take the game to them and that worked for us. And that was our style. They weren’t into our style and it worked for us.”

Going ahead – “That was magnificent– I’ve got to be honest with you, I can’t even describe how I felt at that particular moment, but we knew then. I started saying to the other players, ‘We’ve got to finish this game! Don’t let them into this game!’ They were gone, they were gone at that time.”

Final whistle – “The fans were doing a job, which encouraged us to do a job, but it was great. We set up having got our goals in the game and we never thought we were going to lose and it worked. That’s what hit us. We had done something that had never been done before and it was terrific.”

Homecoming – “It was magnificent. On our plane we never knew what was going to happen. We dropped into Glasgow airport and when we came along London Road to go into Celtic Park there were thousands of people, thousands of people wanting to see what was happening, and that was what struck us. That’s really what made us realise exactly what we had done and it was wonderful.”

See Bertie Auld, on Wednesday 17 May, 1967  on the next page…

“Just to be involved with a great football club like Glasgow Celtic was an honour, but actually to be part of that history, winning the club’s only European Cup fills me with pride.” Bertie Auld

See Jimmy Johnstone on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“I was always an entertainer. The pitch was my stage, the whistle meant it was showtime.”
Jimmy Johnstone

See Willie Wallace on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“It’s a fairytale, something you can’t write. To sit in and think about it now is unbelievable.”
Willie Wallace

“The game is all about opinions though and I don’t think that it is the way to go to rule Celtic out of winning a European trophy again. It’s hard, we won the European Cup in 1967 when we were the underdogs, and we could possibly have won it a couple of time more. Jock Stein never told us we couldn’t win it. Martin O’Neill got his team to Seville and was unlucky to lose the UEFA Cup Final to a team that went on to win the Champions League the next season. We can’t stop believing”. Willie Wallace

“I’m a Celtic supporter first and foremost, since the day I signed for the club and until my dying day. I’ve never kicked Celtic – except when I played against them!” Willie Wallace 

See Bobby Lennox on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“Bobby Lennox knows what it means to wear the Celtic jersey.” Billy McNeill

“If I’d had Lennox in my team, I could have played forever. He was one of the best strikers I have ever seen.” Bobby Charlton (ex-Man U & England) on Lennox

”But the Scotsman who gave me the most trouble was Bobby Lennox of Celtic. My testimonial at the Bernabeu was against Celtic as, of course, they were the champions of Europe in 1967 and, although I remember the Bernabeu rising to Jimmy Johnstone, I admired Lennox greatly.”
Legendary Di Stefano on Lennox

“I had hundreds of great moments in football, including scoring Scotland’s second goal in our 3-2 win over England at Wembley in 1967. It’s hard to pick a defining moment, although it would need to be from the same year when Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon. Which moment to choose, though? That’s even more difficult.

“Was it when the final whistle went after we’d beaten Inter Milan 2-1? Or was it when we got back to our hotel to kick-off our celebrations? No, I think I’d have to go for our homecoming, because it wasn’t we got back to Glasgow that the worth of what we’d achieved began to sink in.

“The funny thing is, I can’t even remember where we landed: Glasgow Airport or the old one at Renfrew. What I do remember is that hordes of folk lined the route all the way back to Celtic Park, where there must have been another 60,000 fans waiting to greet us. The atmosphere was fantastic. So many people were still outside later that we couldn’t leave by the front door. I’ve still got a photo of me going across the pitch to escape via the Janefield Street exit.

“We soon went to Madrid to play in Alfredo di Stefano’s testimonial and the papers were full of how Real Madrid would show they were the best in Europe. We won 1-0. Who scored? Err, Lennox, after Wee Jimmy Johnstone had beaten about 14 opponents.” Bobby Lennox on 1967, Lisbon and Di Stefano’s testimonial

“We thought it would be impossible. We had seen Real Madrid play and all those teams, Milan and all those and we thought they were magnificent.” Bobby Lennox speaking in 2003 about the players assessment of success in 1967

“I would still like to think I deserved more than the 10 caps I got, scoring three goals in six wins, three draws and only one defeat. It wasn’t a bad record but maybe I was a victim of the times.” Bobby Lennox on Internationals & Scotland Caps

See John Hughes on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“You know what? I would just want it to be known that I was a Celtic man.” John Hughes (2022)

”I had to fight to get a place on the plane because the doctor was worried that an ankle injury I had would swell up on the flight. But I was desperate to go – who wouldn’t be? – and the disappointment of not playing was still hard to take, even if it was tempered by the fact that I knew deep down that I wouldn’t have been able to play.” John Hughes

See Charlie Gallagher on Wednesday 17 May, 1967 on the next page…

“For years it galled me that the only thing people remembered me for was two corner kicks. Then my wife said: ‘Your name is in history for that’”  Charlie Gallagher.

READ THIS…Matt Corr with Pat Woods: When Jock Stein met Helenio Herrera – The Invitation