When Jock met Herrera. Part One: The Invitation..by Matt Corr with Pat Woods…
The foundations which would underpin Celtic’s journey to glory in Lisbon in May 1967 were actually laid many years earlier. Most supporters of the club are aware of the group of quality young Celts who cut their teeth as professionals under the guidance of reserve team coach Jock Stein in the late 1950’s.
Far fewer, I suspect, will be aware of a meeting between Stein and the man who led Inter Milan into that fairytale European Cup final – Helenio Herrera – some 60 years ago, back in the autumn of 1963. Yet that meeting would ultimately be a crucial part of the chain of events which brought the two men into opposition at the very summit of the game in this continent within four years. It’s a fascinating scenario.
No man I know has spent more time delving into the life and career of Herrera than legendary Celtic author and historian Pat Woods, and I have been fortunate enough recently to have Pat share some of his wonderful stories with me. This is a case in point, but first the context.
The Scottish football landscape looked very different back in the summer of 1963. The early part of the new decade had seen Rangers, Kilmarnock and Dundee emerge as the strongest sides in the old First Division, with Bob Shankly’s Dark Blues winning the title in April 1962 and marching all the way to the European Cup semi-final 12 months later, before losing out to eventual winners’ AC Milan.
The Italians would prevail over Benfica in the final, played at a newly-glass-covered Wembley, so preventing Eusebio’s Eagles from taking a third successive European Cup back to Lisbon. Milan thus became just the third club to claim the crown, succeeding the five-time champions Real Madrid and back-to-back winners Benfica.
Back with domestic competition, Dundee’s defence of their Scottish title had produced a miserable mid-table finish in the spring of 1963, as Scot Symon’s Rangers edged out Willie Waddell’s Kilmarnock to reclaim the flag.
That was a third runners-up spot in four seasons for the Ayrshire club, however the entry rules around the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup would again exclude them from the invitations to compete in European football. Instead, that honour went to third-placed Partick Thistle and a Hearts side which finished two slots below them.
Jimmy McGrory’s Celtic were sandwiched between those two clubs in fourth spot, however they would take part in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup for 1963/64, a somewhat strange reward for a disastrous display in the Scottish Cup final replay at Hampden, where three Rangers goals saw a mass exodus from the King’s Park terracing as the long wait for a major trophy stretched into another campaign.
There would be no third successive European campaign that season for Jock Stein’s Dunfermline Athletic, who finished in eighth place in the table. The Pars had defeated solitary English representatives Everton in the autumn of 1962 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup before forcing a play-off with holders and eventual winners Valencia, following an incredible 6-2 victory over the Spaniards at East End Park.
Valencia had beaten Celtic in our first-ever European tie in the previous round and would progress again at the expense of the Fifers with a 1-0 home win in the deciding match. But Stein’s appetite for continental football had been stimulated whilst a player with Celtic, taken by the club to see Ferenc Puskas destroy England at Wembley back in 1953 then to watch the World Cup finals tournament in Switzerland the following summer.
It would be on the European stage that Jock would enjoy his greatest challenges and triumphs in the years ahead.
The new domestic season saw Dundee and Rangers once again take up positions at the top of the First Division, whilst the second tier was already looking like a two-horse race between Morton and Clyde, with their prolific strikers Allan McGraw and Harry Hood vying for the top goalscorer awards as a sideshow.
But Rangers’ hopes of emulating Dundee’s success in the European Cup of the previous season were effectively ended in the first game, a late Ferenc Puskas goal at Ibrox on Wednesday, 25 September 1963 giving them a mountain to climb against Real in Madrid two weeks later. By half-time in the Santiago Bernabeu, that lead had been extended to 5-0, Puskas duly completing his hat-trick in the second half as the Spaniards romped home 6-0 to inflict a humiliating seven-goal aggregate defeat on the old Govan club.
On the same evening, Celtic celebrated a first-ever success in a continental tie as they hammered another five goals past FC Basel without reply in front of what remains our lowest-ever home European ‘crowd’ of 8,000, to add to the 5-1 Cup-Winners’ Cup rout secured in the first leg in Switzerland three weeks earlier.
As always, Pat Woods had a couple of additional insights into the events of that evening.
“Herrera watched live TV coverage of the Rangers return match in the Bernabeu that night in his Milan flat. And regarding that 8,000 crowd for Celtic’s home match with Basel, there were two major factors for that. Firstly, the tie was already won due to the earlier result in Switzerland, and also it was monsoon weather in Glasgow that evening – wind and torrential rain – which forced habitués of the terraces to seek shelter in the Jungle.”
Another Scottish side would be in action that night against Swiss opposition. Hearts had blown a two-goal lead against Lausanne-Sport a fortnight earlier to start the second leg at Tynecastle all-square, the Gorgie men massive favourites to go through.
But it took a last-gasp equaliser from Johnny Hamilton to save their blushes as the teams again shared four goals in Gorgie. The Swiss then won a coin toss for home advantage in the play-off, Willie Wallace recovering from flu to take his place in the Hearts forward line.
Wallace would score one goal and have another ruled out for offside in extra-time as this time Hearts fought back from 2-0 down to level the tie again after 90 minutes, but the final word would go to the Swiss and it would be Lausanne who progressed to meet eventual winners Real Zaragoza in the second round.
And the feel-bad factor was not confined to the clubs, with the cream of Scotland’s international set-up going down 2-1 to Ireland in Belfast four days earlier, on Saturday, 12 October 1963.
The inspiration for what happened next has been credited to Drew Rennie, Features Editor at the Scottish Daily Express. His approach was simple yet innovative. With Scottish teams falling behind their Continental masters, why not approach the greatest coach on the planet to share his knowledge with our own managers and trainers?
Helenio Herrera had managed the great Barcelona teams of the late 1950s and was now busy building an empire at Inter Milan, whom he had led to the 1962/63 Scudetto, ahead of Juventus and European champions AC Milan.
That would see the Nerazzuri enter the European Cup for the first time, their inaugural tie against English champions Everton settled by a single goal scored by Brazilian winger Jair in the San Siro in late September. Within weeks of that success, Herrera was approached and agreed to share his insights with Scotland’s finest coaching talent.
The man tasked by Drew Rennie with meeting Helenio Herrera at the Inter training camp was Express Features writer George Reid, who would later carve out successful careers in both broadcasting and politics – at one time he was Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament – which saw him knighted in 2012.
Following that visit, an open invitation was issued to Scottish managers and trainers to meet Herrera in Milan and observe his methods at first hand at the newspaper’s expense. Here is the article in full, as written by Reid on his return from Milan in the Scottish Daily Express of Thursday, 17 October 1963, and kindly sent to me by Pat Woods.
Challenge to Scots Soccer – Day Four
Hearts lose, the gloom spreads – but now the world’s master coach points way to success
One, two, three – GOAL!
by Helenio Herrera, talking to George Reid
Dateline: MILAN, Wednesday
If Scot Symon of Rangers or any other Scottish football manager accepts Helenio Herrera’s fantastic offer (see Page 1) I can tell him that he will go home with a completely new concept of how to train his team if it is to beat the continentals.
Today, this master coach invited me to Inter Milan’s training ground near Linate Airport. Let me describe what I saw and learned there. But first I should explain that, for Herrera, coaching is a twofold business: both physical and mental.
“Any team can be physically strong,” he says. “But many teams are mentally rotten. They already have the seeds of decay in them.”
I drove to Linate at 9.45 in the morning. The “squadra” (first team) and “allenatore” (trainer in sports) were already on the field, stripped, shaved and ready for action. But Jair, the £130,000 outside-right, arrived with me. Herrera immediately bawled him out for his three-minute lateness.
“A player must not only be ashamed of himself,” says Mr. H.H. – who is known to players as Il Severo (the strict one) – “his teammates must be ashamed of him too and make him sit up.”
The Linate programme ran like this:
9.45 – ROUND THE TRACK
“Running is bad,” says Herrera. “It develops the wrong muscles. I only use it as a warming-up exercise.”
9.50 – GROUPS OF THREE
Herrera calls this “Centripetal training.” The players fan out in threes, each with a ball, round Herrera in the centre of the field. They stand like cricketers tossing the ball to one another. The idea is that no-one knows where it is coming from next. They take it on the chest, the foot and the head. There are screams from Herrera if anyone slows down.
The purpose?
“On the field the ball comes from every angle: the player must learn to take it automatically, without stopping to think. That, I think, was Johnny Haynes’ great fault. Stopping is all right for 10-year-olds, not for an England international captain.”
10.10 – THE BIG RUSH
Here the players move up and down the field in line jumping, shaking their legs, doing side twists. They never stop. This is how Continentals get that extra second off the mark.
And always Herrera is out in front. Always he is shouting encouragement, always doing everything he asks his men to.
“They never know what exercise is coming next,” says this magnificent 47-year-old athlete, “so it keeps them awake.”
And woe betide anyone stupid enough to misinterpret the maestro’s commands.
10.30 – GOAL GETTING
This consists of putting Sarti in goal, Herrera on the penalty box with a dozen balls, and everyone else on the midfield line. Herrera shouts two names at random – say, the Spaniard Luis Suarez and centre-forward Beniamino Di Giacomo – and they must pass the ball in three moves into the net. I saw Di Giacomo unfortunate enough to try a fourth kick: and from the penalty box came the cry:
“Ae-ae-ae-ae! Four kicks and the fort is closed. Now do it in three.”
This is basic training for the three-pass-and-into-the-net Continental attack. It is the only way to burst open a European defence.
“The unlikelier combination of names I call out the better,” says Herrera. “No-one knows who will play with whom next time I shout. But then no-one knows next game either. Football is full of surprises.”
But “goal-getting” is also a chance to practise the “signs” – the twist and side steps – on the field which I wrote about yesterday.
“Mazzola!” The ball is pushed to this inside-right, he wiggles his left arm, and outside-left Corso knows that he must cut in and be in the centre for the scoring pass.
“If you practice this “anticipation” it becomes automatic on the day,” says Herrera.
10.55 – BREAK
11.05 – INDIVIDUAL TUITION
This lasts 30 minutes, for example. All one-footed players practice together, with the other foot.
Herrera lines up six balls and shoots them at keeper Sarti constantly. He must save each one and be back on his feet before the next comes. No wonder he is as lithe as a panther.
Constant flicking and volleying – this is where continental mastery comes from.
Watching these blue-and-black-shirted men is, in fact, like having 10 Stanley Matthews on the field at once.
And what does it all add up to? The Herrera plan, can, I think, be summed up like this:
1. The old 2½-hour training session is finished.
“Players get bored too easily. The training is too repetitive. Players are rather like babies. You must say: “Look. Here is something new to do.”
2. It should be replaced with rapid 70-minute sessions, with 10-minute breaks between.
And I mean rapid! Herrera is not happy unless “eight” attacks are mounted every minute during the “goal-getting” session.
And during the “big rushes” everyone moves at a steady trot. They NEVER stop.
3. The manager should get into a track suit and train with his men.
Herrera grinned. “Sure, I like to look natty. But I, too, must sweat. I must suffer. I must never ask them to do something which I cannot. You do not lead your men from behind. You see, sometimes I ask them for the impossible. They do it. And why? Because they respect me – me at 47 – for I share with them. A manager who sits at a desk in a suit and smokes is just a grown-up boy trying to run a company.”
4. All training must be done with the ball.
“In Britain,” he says, “sometimes I think you’re trying to train athletes, not footballers. All this ‘One, two,’ ‘Up, down,’ develops the wrong muscles. Like dumbbells it produces runners and jumpers. That is not the way to get stamina, speed and body control. Football is scoring goals. The essence of my training is to teach a man to control the ball and put it anywhere he wants. He must take it automatically: and he must know exactly what he will do with it.”
5. Basic training should be kept down.
“I’m often asked: ‘What do you do when your team is off form?’ I think many Scots coaches make the mistake of trying to train their team back to fitness. This is crazy. Usually what is wrong is something mental. The answer to poor form is less training. For example, I take my team to the spa at San Pellegrino in the mountains and – ooph – nature does the rest. You see, every footballer should be automatically fit as part of his job.”
And here Mr. H. H. showed me the last of his “aids:” a vast fitness chart hung above every player’s locker. It records his weight, height, measurements, and weekly check-ups by team doctor [Angiolino] Quarenghi. The minutest changes are shown as enormous.
“I also regulate a player’s vitamins and liquid intake – never more than one glass of water and one glass of wine.”
6. Four hours’ rest after every training session.
“This is essential for their body’s fitness.”
7. Natural skill comes first.
“Sometimes I think that is Puskas had been a British player, all his training woiuld have been aimed at making him two-footed. In his case, I make an exception. He has only one foot, but – wow – what a foot!”
8. The manager must watch over his players 24 hours a day.
“I must be able to say when they sleep, when they work and when they go home. That is what they are paid for.”
He is horrified to hear that Jim Baxter and Billy Ritchie of Rangers commute daily between Glasgow and their homes in Cowdenbeath and Polbeth.
“How can they think football? How can they live football when they’ve got to travel so far? Always after a game I keep my team together. We go off to the hills for a day and work out our mistakes. It is good training.”
This leaves only the mental half of Herrera’s methods. He subscribes firmly, I think, to the Gestalt theory: If you start with 10 men and train them properly you will eventually have a whole team.
“I have no room for brilliant individuals. They can ruin the whole balance of a team, and months of work. I like your team spirit in Britain.”
Briefly, his psychology runs like this: You can tell them they’re good. You say – and Herrera can, for he’s bought almost £1,000,000 of players in his day –
“You cost so much you must be the best.”
You give them all the perks. This, for example, was a standard Inter wage last season: £3,000 signing-on fee; £22 weekly wage: £4,000 match bonuses and incentive pay.
Dress them in freshly kept track suits. You get them a wonderful flat. You look after them in every possible way.
And generally everything boils down to the fact that Herrera is in complete control of the lives of his men – social, personal, emotional and financial. The men have a great reputation; he can’t fail.
Everything has been thought out, you say. Every angle has been covered. It’s OK you say. You’re bound to win.
And the nice thing is that when you are Helenio Herrera, allenatore and master coach, you can probably say just that.
There is a sub-article contained within the main piece, supported by a photograph of Scottish Daily Express sportswriter John Mackenzie with the original European Cup. Given that there are another two such trophies in the background, that would have to have been taken in the Santiago Bernabeu, where Real Madrid would have had five European Cups at that time. The article is headed THE DREAM – can it come true? And by now we know the answer to that.
It’s a poignant and prophetic read, looking back six decades later, as you can see below.
Express sportswriter John Mackenzie holds the European Cup, coveted trophy of football’s greatest club tournament.
And that is as close as the trophy is likely to come to Scotland unless our clubs change their ideas radically.
The first Scottish club big enough to seek ideas abroad, to take the advice of men like Helenio Herrera, could make a Real name for itself in Europe.
Who will lead the way?
The Daily Express offer to visit Helenio Herrera in Milan was accepted by two of the brightest managerial prospects in Scottish football, Kilmarnock’s Willie Waddell and Jock Stein of Dunfermline Athletic.
What happened next?
Watch this space…
Hail, Hail!
Matt Corr, with thanks to Pat Woods for provision of the article and his insights on it.
Matt Corr’s new book Majic, Stan and the King of Japan is out now and Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain that season, has written the foreword for us.
You can get a signed copy (by John Hartson and Matt Corr) of the hardback version direct from Celtic Star Books by clicking on the image below. It’s also available an an e-book via Amazon Kindle and please note that all colour photographs that appear in the beautifully presented printed hardback book are also available in the Kindle version of Majic, Stan and the King of Japan…
