Four days later, there was another significant event in Celtic’s history, as 29-year-old Jamaican centre-forward Gilbert Saint Elmo Heron signed for the club. Gil had been playing in the USA with Detroit Corinthians, and apparently had come to Celtic’s attention during the recent tour, albeit the two clubs did not meet that summer.
Following a successful display in the club’s annual public trial match, Heron would become the first player of Afro-Caribbean origin to play first-team football for Celtic when he made his debut against Morton at Parkhead in a League Cup sectional tie on Saturday, 18 August 1951.
Gil scored the second goal in Celtic’s 2-0 win, and he repeated the feat in his third match, as the Hoops beat Airdrieonians at home by the same scoreline 11 days later. That winning run came to an end at Cappielow on the first day of September, amidst disturbing crowd scenes, as Morton beat Celtic 2-0 to come within one goal of knocking the Celts out of the competition. Still the Hoops would squeeze through to keep hopes of a first-ever success in the fledgling competition alive.
Gil would make way for the return of skipper John McPhail as Celtic’s League campaign began with a 2-2 draw at Motherwell the following Saturday, and indeed the Jamaican forward would not feature again in the first team until December. Heron would not be involved in the prestige friendly between Scottish and English national cup-winners Celtic and Newcastle United, played at Parkhead on Wednesday, 12 September 1951, where the sides shared six goals, the Magpies’ keeper being a 20-year-old Glaswegian called Ronnie Simpson.
Sadly, the inconsistency which dogged Celtic in the post-war years once again reared its head through the autumn. A dismal series of results, culminating in a 4-0 defeat by fellow-strugglers Queen of the South at Palmerston, saw the Hoops record just two wins in 10 League games to sit in second-bottom spot in the Division by the end of November, albeit with games in hand.
Jimmy McGrory’s men also faced the prospect of a month without suspended talisman Charlie Tully – ordered off against Third Lanark – whilst Rangers had ended dreams of an inaugural League Cup success in the Hampden semi-final the previous month.
And there was sadness off the pitch too, former Celtic manager Willie Maley paying tribute in the media to his dear friend Alec McNair, the legendary Hoops defender who passed away on 18 November 1951 aged 68. The now 83-year-old Maley expressed his regret that his medical condition prevented him from attending the funeral of Celtic’s record-breaking ‘Icicle,’ at which he was represented by his son and namesake. The Celtic players had worn black armbands at Palmerston a few days later as a mark of respect for Eck.
The last week of the month saw captain John McPhail head to New York on ‘personal business,’ having requested and been granted absence from training.
Despite assurances to the contrary, he would not return in time to feature against Partick Thistle at Celtic Park on the opening day of December, thus paving the way for the return of Gil Heron for what would prove to be his only League match and his fifth and final first-team outing in the Hoops.
Jim Lafferty, a centre-forward signed from junior side Arthurlie, made his senior debut on the left wing as early goals from Bobby Collins and Jimmy Walsh were enough to see Celtic win 2-1 and move up to a lofty 11th place in the table, 10 points behind League leaders East Fife.
In the later editions of The Evening Times, the transfer snippets threw up a gem with family connections for yours truly, as former St Mirren inside-forward Willie Jack was linked with a move from Albion Rovers to another unnamed Division B side. Willie is/was my uncle, and the anticipated transfer would eventually see him make a piece of football and family history at Hampden.
But before that would take place, the world of Celtic was about to change forever, with the introduction of a largely unknown defender currently plying his trade in South Wales.
For what would transpire over the next three decades, the announcement was at best low-key. The back page of The Evening Times of Tuesday, 4 December 1951 – my dad’s 26th birthday – ran with a small article headed:
“Celtic sign Stein from Llanelly – Former Albion Rovers Player for Parkhead.”
Celtic have gone across the Border to add to their playing strength, and Manager James McGrory announced today that they have signed John Stein, the former Albion Rovers centre half who has been playing with the non-league club Llanelly.
A strong, forcing type of player, he joined the Coatbridge club as a wing half from the junior Blantyre Victoria, and was previously with Burnbank Athletic. He did good work for the Rovers during his six-years’ service with them, and he has been south with Llanelly for about three years.
His wealth of experience and general ability should make him a valuable asset at Parkhead.
The arrival of Stein at Celtic squared off the circle in one of those strange quirks of fate that football often throws up, as he had made his senior debut against the Parkhead club as a trialist in a 4-4 draw at Cliftonhill back in November 1942, current Hoops skipper John McPhail a survivor of that clash.
Coatbridge teammates of Jock over the years would also include some notable names, South African centre-forward Dougie Wallace being one. He was spotted by Aberdeen manager Paddy Travers whilst the Dons were touring his country back in the summer of 1937, following their defeat by Celtic in the Scottish Cup final. In 1938, by now the manager of Clyde, Travers brought Wallace to Scotland and the following year the South African opened the scoring as the Shawfield outfit beat Motherwell 4-0 in that season’s Scottish Cup final to win the trophy for the first time in their history.
Wallace left Albion Rovers after their relegation from the top-flight in the spring of 1949 to join Llanelli as player-coach, his successor up front at Cliftonhill being…my uncle, Willie Jack. It would be Wallace who would tempt Jock Stein to follow him to South Wales, as the Reds sought to gain League status. Llanelli failed to gain election to the Football League in 1951, having finished fifth in the Southern League in their first campaign back at that level since the mid 1930s. They had also failed to gain access 12 months earlier, whilst playing in the Welsh National League.
Another of Jock’s teammates was wing-half Tommy Anderson, who joined Albion Rovers from Motherwell in 1949. Six years later, Tommy led Clyde out at Hampden as Paddy Travers again took the Bully Wee to the Scottish Cup final. Their opponents in April 1955 would be cup-holders and League champions Celtic, captained by none other than Jock Stein, a photo of both former Rovers men leading their teams out hanging in the Jock Stein Lounge at Celtic Park to this day! It’s a funny old game is football, although Celts would not see the funny side of a last-gasp Archie Robertson equaliser directly from a corner which set Clyde up for a midweek win in the replay and a second Scottish Cup success for Travers, himself a former Celt and one-time contender to succeed Willie Maley as the club’s second manager.
As a further aside, when Harry Hood left Clyde for Celtic in March 1969, the respective managers were Archie Robertson and Jock Stein. The pair had or would become great friends.
The signing of John ‘Jock’ Stein by Celtic was a major surprise, so much so that legendary Celtic historian Pat Woods told me that some journalists contacted the club to confirm the accuracy of the story. Much was made of the fact that the Hoops already had three established centre-halves in Alex Boden, Jimmy Mallan and John McGrory, however, closer inspection would have shown that all of that trio had struggled with injury throughout the opening half of the season. Manager Jimmy McGrory referred to the new man Stein as “an insurance policy” and confirmed the need for Celtic to have “an experienced man standing by.”
Newspaper reports on the day after Jock’s signing stated that Stein would make his debut for Celtic in a Division C clash with Dundee United’s reserves that Saturday, where he would potentially come up against his former Llanelli teammate Neil Fleck, who had returned to Scotland in September. Division C was the third tier of the Scottish League set-up, established after the second world war, and comprised mainly of reserve teams from the top two Divisions supplemented by a small number of clubs who would largely join an extended Second Division a few years later, such as East Stirling, Stranraer, Berwick Rangers, Brechin City and Montrose. Curiously, Celtic’s second-string played in the North-Eastern section rather than the South-Western group, the only club from the west of Scotland to do so.
in any case, the fans present at Tannadice that afternoon would not get a first glimpse of Jock as a Celt. On Saturday, 8 December 1951, 72 years ago today, a back injury to regular centre-half Alex Boden saw 29-year-old Stein make a first-team debut in the Hoops against St Mirren in the driving rain at Parkhead, whilst Jim Lafferty replaced Gil Heron at centre-forward, with skipper John McPhail returning to the side but in the unusual position of outside-left. The Celtic line-up for what would prove to be an historic occasion was as follows:
CELTIC: Andy Bell; Sean Fallon & Alex Rollo; Bobby Evans, Jock Stein & Joe Baillie; Bobby Collins, Jimmy Walsh, Jim Lafferty, Bertie Peacock & John McPhail.
Jim Lafferty followed up his debut goal against Partick Thistle seven days earlier with a double as the Hoops won 2-1 to edge above Queen of the South into 10th spot in the table. On the same afternoon, a former Celtic legend also made his bow for a new club, Jimmy Delaney turning out on the right wing for Falkirk in their Division B clash at Station Park, Forfar, the Cleland genius having made the switch to Brockville from Pittodrie 24 hours after Jock Stein joined Celtic. The Bairns earned a 2-2 draw to stay on the heels of leaders Clyde, whose striker Billy McPhail – brother of Celtic’s John – was the country’s leading marksman at that point.
An interested spectator at Celtic Park that day was the man responsible for bringing Jock Stein to Celtic, and thus for changing the course of the club’s history forever. In the second part of this article, we’ll look at him in some detail.
Hail Hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter/X @Boola_vogue
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