The Story Behind Celtic’s Trip to Singapore in the Summer of 1977

How Metro Helped To Open SINGAPORE’S Football Dimensions in 1977 – And Jock STEIN’S Celtic was there… 

English powerhouse Arsenal, Scottish giants Celtic FC, and Yugoslavian titans Red Star Belgrade arrived in Singapore to give local football fans one unforgettable experience in the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament back in July 1977.

I doubt scenes like this would ever happen today when I prowled and read what I gathered from newspapers archives for details on the Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament which took place in July 1977, when three groups of footballers descended together at the old Paya Lebar Airport for the abovementioned quadrangular which was part of the “World of Soccer Cup” friendly tournament played in both Singapore and Australia.

“$24-MILLION WORTH OF TALENT”

Was how it was labeled by The Straits Times in their report when renowned footballers such as Malcolm “Super Mac” MacDonald, Liam Brady, Danny McGrain, and Vladislav Bogicevic were part of the contingent welcomed to the shores of the island by a “good turnout of fans at the airport”.

The Singapore leg was staged in a straight knock-out tournament that featured English powerhouse Arsenal, Scottish giants Celtic FC, Yugoslavian titans Red Star Belgrade, and the Singapore national team.

“NOTHING TO LOSE”

News of staging this one-of-its-kind tournament first surfaced in a Straits Times report on 27th October 1976 when the broadsheet headlined “Showdown of the soccer giants here?”.

In his letter, Reg Lambourne, the English entrepreneur behind the “World of Soccer Cup”, assured the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) that “Your association has everything to gain and nothing to lose, because our company will be paying for air fares, hotel and other expenses.”

What Lambourne and his company “World of Soccer”, which included former Arsenal manager Bertie Mee as part of the organising committee, wanted in return were those exclusive rights to the gate takings, broadcasting rights and other incomes from advertising.

Top European clubs like Bayern Munich, Ajax Amsterdam and Barcelona were some of the teams mentioned in the said article reported by the late Joe Dorai who months later filed the news that FAS agreed to the proposal by Lambourne with the confirmation of the participating teams in the likes of the English Gunners, the Scottish Bhoys, the Yugoslavian Zvezda and the Singapore Lions for the quadrangular in February 1977, similar news was carried by the now-defunct New Nation.

METRO TITLE-SPONSORED THE TOURNAMENT

In conjunction to mark its twentieth year in operation, the local leading departmental store Metro agreed to title sponsor the quadrangular by contributing $105,000 to the staging of the tournament.

DALGLISH IS MISSING IN ACTION

Amid the glittering array of stars lining up for the fiesta, one notable absentee stood out from the pack was Celtic superstar Kenny Dalglish, even though Lambourne claimed his name was on the telex message he received from London which listed who would be flying over.

However, Lambourne was informed prior to the Scots’ departure for Singapore that Dalglish chose not to travel with the team due to disagreements with manager Jock Stein, who telephoned Lambourne to let him know the shock withdrawal, as Dorai reported on 9th July 1977.

Another reason for Dalglish to stay away as he was “tired” of soccer, as shared by Stein upon his arrival in Singapore. (Dalglish had just returned from his tour to South America with the Scottish national team and this article on him suggested fatigue from that trip being one of the reasons why he opted out from the outing to Singapore and Australia).

Stein, who famously guided the Bhoys to claim British clubs’ first-ever European Cup victory in 1967, revealed he will take disciplinary actions against the star striker when the team returned from this Far East excursion.

It was not sure what “disciplinary actions” were taken, but Dalglish left Parkhead to join Liverpool on a then British transfer fee record of £440,000 which took place in the following month and had the 102-capped star went on to build a lasting legacy south of the border.

“UNCLE” CHOO SENG QUEE TOOK CHARGE

In the meantime, expectations were high on the Singapore national team in this quadrangular, especially after their heroics in the Pre-World Cup Qualifiers and clinching of the Malaysia Cup months earlier.

National coach “Uncle” Choo Seng Quee was persuaded to take charge of the team despite his decision to step down following allegations made by some players, as reported by the press.

Unfortunately, the wide gulf between Singapore and Celtic was clearly in evidence when the Glaswegians crushed their hosts by five goals without reply with Choo lamented to the press that the players did not play according to his instructions after their first outing.

Things were not much better when Singapore played Arsenal three days later, losing 5-1 in front of a crowd of 35,000. MacDonald scored his hat-trick with Dollah Kassim scoring the Lions’ only goal in the tournament.

MORE THAN $500,000 WORTH OF TICKETS SOLD

Initially, there was a fear that the tickets would be too expensive for the fans given the calibre of teams featured in this tournament, things were further complicated when the Customs department rejected the organisers’ request for exemption from entertainment tax.

New Nation reported Lambourne was willing to make the ticket affordable to the fans but with the 10 percent entertainment tax to be levied on his company for staging the tournament, “World of Soccer” was left with little alternative but had to price the tickets at a range to make it financially viable.

But after a slow start which saw the reduction in admission charges days later, those concerns were put to rest when the tournament proved to be a hit with thousands turned up to witness some top-quality football on display which they would usually read on the papers or watch on television.

JACK TAYLOR OFFICIATED BOTH FINALS

Shortly after, the contingent continued their journey to Down Under in Australia where a mini-league format was played that resulted in both Celtic and Red Star Belgrade finishing as the top two teams and facing each other again in the final as they did in Singapore days earlier where the latter beat the former 3-1.

In the duo’s rematch in Melbourne which was again officiated by Jack Taylor, the legendary English referee who took charge of the 1974 World Cup Final between West Germany and the Netherlands, the Scots beat the Yugoslavians 2-0 to gift Stein the last of his 31 trophies he won for Celtic in an illustrious career that spanned over two decades.

MORE THAN JUST MALAYSIA CUP

And how had this quadrangular benefited the Singapore fans who passed through the turnstiles during that period?

Perhaps, renowned football journalist Jeffrey Low summarised well with these words at the end of his report for New Nation after Celtic’s 5-0 win over Singapore.

Widely known to be the man who coined the term “Kallang Roar”, Low wrote “… the 5-0 defeat of Singapore could be considered a mild scalping that has at last opened the eyes of our home fans to another bigger dimension than just the Malaysia Cup.”

NOTHING FROM LAMBOURNE AFTER A PHONE CALL

Coming to this juncture, many may wonder if there was any follow-up from Lambourne who earlier announced his plans to bring in another group of top European club sides for the following year’s tournament?

A prowl through the archives unearthed this New Nation story (screenshot above) that revealed the Englishman had a phone conversation with Mrs Juliet David, the then advertising and promotions manager of Metro, on bringing back Red Star with Liverpool, Man Utd, and Ajax being approached.

However, there was no tangible plan in place to see the realisation of that plan in the subsequent months after the filing of the story by Low on 28 February 1978.

Results

• Grand Final: Celtic 1-3 Red Star Belgrade (17/7/1977)
(Bobby Lennox (PK); Vladmir Petrović, Filipović (2))

In July 1977 – ahead of season 1977-78 – Celtic embarked on a tour of Asia and Oceania. The purpose was to play in the World of Soccer Cup, a tournament held firstly in Singapore and then Australia. However before the Bhoys had boarded a plane the trip was placed under a dark cloud. Kenny Dalglish refused to travel as he manoeuvred his exit from Celtic, which happened the following month.

Those Bhoys that did make the journey started off in Asia. They played a Singapore Select – winning 5-0 – whilst Red Star Belgrade beat Arsenal. Celtic then played the Yugoslavs in the final but lost 3-1.

After this it was another long flight as the team went on to Australia, accompanied by the other two guest teams. For this second competition, an Australia XI would be the fourth side.

Celtic’s first game in Australia was a repeat of the Singapore final as they faced Red Star Belgrade. The match – held on 21 July 1977 – took place in Melbourne’s Olympic Stadium in front of 20,000 fans.

Celtic hoped to gain revenge for their final defeat. On a warm night – although much cooler than the searing Asian heat – the Celts played a defensive game to thwart Red Star attacks.

For most of the time the scores were tied but the match came to life in the last ten minutes. The Slavs took the lead on 82 minutes through a Savic goal. Celtic pressed for an equaliser and in the 88th minute cheered as Roddie MacDonald knocked home a cross ball from Johnny Doyle.

However this was not the final piece of excitement. One minute after Celtic scored they were down to ten men. Red Star’s Busko Lukic punched Pat Stanton who retaliated; both men were sent off.

Still, Jock Stein was pleased with the Celts’ performance against a top side, saying “That was the best result this club has had in the past ten years.”

Next up for the Celts were Arsenal on 24 July 1977. This match was held in Sydney’s Cricket Ground and thousands of fans turned out. The fixture proved very exciting, with the plaudits especially going to Celtic’s Paul Wilson.

The opening third was played at a breakneck speed, four of the game’s five goals being scored during this time. Wilson put the Celts ahead after five minutes but Malcolm Macdonald equalised five minutes later. Within eight minutes Wilson had again given Celtic the advantage.

On 31 minutes a Ronnie Glavin penalty made it 3-1 for the Glasgow men, the score which remained at half-time. Although Pat Rice halved the deficit on 61 minutes, the Bhoys claimed a 3-2 win. The only downside for Celtic had been an injury to Alfie Conn.

Following the match came the tournament’s most controversial moment. Arsenal players Malcolm Macdonald (who scored against Celtic) and Alan Hudson broke club rules by going out for drinks. As a consequence they were sent back to Britain, shocking all of the London club’s players.

Celtic’s next opponents were an Australian national select side. Once more the match was held at Sydney’s Cricket Ground; 13,000 people watched the encounter. Although Celtic were expected to easily win, the match proved to be much tougher than this.

Nine minutes into the second half, Celtic got the goal which gave them a 3-2 victory. Newspapers argued about the scorer; some named Ronnie Glavin whilst others credited Paul Wilson. Either way, it was another win for the Bhoys, continuing their undefeated Australian run.

Following Celtic’s three games (two victories and a draw) they sat atop the mini-table, with Red Star Belgrade in second place. This meant that Celtic and the Yugoslavs would once more meet in the tournament final.

For this game, Celtic again headed back to Melbourne; 20,000 supporters joined them in the city’s Olympic Stadium on 31 July 1977.

So far on the tour Celtic had played Red Star twice; this led to a defeat and a draw. Today would prove to be a different outcome. The Bhoys defended well in the first half and took the lead just on half-time thanks to Roddie MacDonald. An Edvaldsson strike with 16 minutes to go sealed a 2-0 win.

As a consequence of victory, the Bhoys received a trophy and £20,000 cheque. The cup is not remembered by many fans but has an interesting place in Celtic history.

In spite of the Hoops hoping that this Asian and Australian jaunt would push them on for a positive season – including European success – it proved to do the opposite. The previous season’s double was forgotten as the Celts ended up with nothing; Rangers however won the treble.

This led to a profound moment for Celtic. At the end of the 1977-78 season, Jock Stein vacated the manager’s office, turning down an offer to become a Celtic director. He was replaced by then Aberdeen manager Billy McNeill, whose first season would end in glory when ‘ten men won the league’.

Jock Stein of course led Celtic to unparalleled levels of success; ten league titles, eight Scottish Cups, six League Cups and, of course, the European Cup. However it turned out that the World of Soccer Cup was be the last competition he would win as Celtic boss.

As Ange prepares to lead his men into an Australian competition, hopefully the rest of this season will be more akin to Celtic’s 1978-79 season, and not what happened immediately after our first ‘Down Under’ tournament!

Hail Hail History

Thanks again to The Celtic Wiki.