In Lisbon, Serge began to earn his corn by negotiating a cheap, private Bed & Breakfast deal with a local family; and our intrepid four spent the rest of the time in the lead up to the game socialising with the locals and the rapidly swelling hordes of Celtic fans – mainly, though not solely, in the ‘British Bar’, which had been pretty-well annexed for the duration by a clientele that was, perhaps, of a less than fully imperialist persuasion.
As a reward for his companionship and enterprise, Serge was offered and eagerly accepted the unfortunate Jim McGuire’s match ticket; and he was blown away by the passion and welcome of the Celtic masses that day.
Luton CSC on their way to Lisbon
At the triumphal conclusion, he dutifully stood guard over Billy, Joe and Matt’s belongings, as they got swept up in the spontaneous, joyous pitch invasion that ensued in the aftermath of the final whistle. Celtic had gained a new fan – one, possibly unique, in that perhaps the only game he ever attended resulted in them raising the greatest prize of all. The post-match parting was highly-charged and emotional, as Serge went off in pursuit of his new life on the high seas and the guys went out on the town to toast the new European Champions.
During the boisterous after-match carousing, they bumped into Neil Dunn, a cousin of Billy’s, who subsequently smuggled them into his hotel, where they gratefully spent their most luxurious night of the whole trip – mind you, that wouldn’t have been hard! As an interesting aside, Neil’s uncle, Jimmy Dunn, played over 400 times for Leeds United between 1947 and 1959. He was rated the best full back he had ever seen by none other than the great John Charles – high praise, indeed!
The following morning, Friday 26th May 1967, Billy and co joined the scrum at the British Embassy, exhausted (even despite the comfort of the previous night), hungry and penniless; and in quest of whatever could be provided. They were rewarded with an overnight B&B voucher and a through rail ticket home to Glasgow Central, via London Victoria and Euston, departing the following day.
On arrival back in Glasgow on the Monday, the uncanny run of good fortune that had characterized the whole trip continued. Without a coin to their name as they trooped down the Hope Street ramp from Central Station, the three weary travellers wondered how on earth they were going to get out to Rutherglen.
As if on cue, a motorist who had spotted their Celtic regalia drew up and asked if they were on their way home from Lisbon. Eager to hear first-hand of the miraculous happenings in the Estadio Nacional, he ushered them and their baggage into his vehicle and happily diverted from his own road home to Paisley, to whisk them straight back to Ru’glen … nice and slowly, of course.
Honestly, you couldn’t make it up!
From John Traynor and Tony Griffin (In the Heat of Lisbon, 2017)
Many more Lisbon stories to come on The Celtic Star. If you want to tell us your own Lisbon story please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. The book sold out, the story of the Jock Stein t-shirt is quite incredible. If you don’t know it we’ll tell it again soon.
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