When Willie Wallace signed for Celtic magical things happened

Willie Wallace…Lisbon Lion and so much more (Part 3)…

The beginning of season 1966/67 was a period of uncertainty for Hearts striker Willie Wallace. Having finished the leading goalscorer at Tynecastle since his arrival from Raith Rovers back in 1961, his requests for an increase from his original deal were continuing to fall on deaf ears. It is difficult to argue that his stock was anything but rising, however, in those days the power most certainly lay with the club, the Gorgie board refusing to budge, if you pardon the pun.

In addition to the three full international caps gained for Scotland whilst with Hearts, Willie had also been picked twice for the Scottish League select in that period. Those Inter-league matches were a big deal at that time, the clashes against the English, in particular, taken very seriously by all of the players involved. His first appearance at that level had been back on Wednesday, 8 September 1965, a 6-2 victory over the Irish League at Ibrox, Willie scoring twice in the first half to add to Andy Penman’s opener to put the Scots 3-0 by the 20th minute. Willie Henderson would later grab his own brace with John Hughes scoring from the spot.

Despite those goals, I would suggest that it was Willie’s second appearance for the Scottish League which would prove more significant in terms of his later career. The opposition on this occasion would be a huge step up in class, as the superstars from the English League awaited the Scots at St James Park, Newcastle, before 33,000 screaming Geordies, on Wednesday, 16 March 1966. The hosts included many of the men who would win the World Cup at Wembley within a few short months, local favourites the Charlton brothers, Alan Ball and Nobby Stiles, together with the wonderful Jimmy Greaves, at that time the best striker in the country.

The Scottish forward line included Celtic wingers Jimmy Johnstone and John Hughes and Dundee’s Andy Penman, whilst Willie would partner another Parkhead favourite for the first time, centre-forward Joe McBride.

Greaves would open the scoring before half an hour had been played, a lead the English held until the interval. However, it would be all change after the break. Within a minute of the restart, Penman had equalised, with McBride then adding a double before the hour to seal a tremendous 3-1 victory for the Scottish League. I often wonder if a certain Jock Stein was an interested observer, as Wallace and McBride tormented the best defenders that the highly-regarded English League could muster. Watch this space.

McBride was on fire again as the 1966/67 season opened with another League Cup sectional match between Hearts and Celtic, this time on Saturday, 13 August 1966 at Tynecastle. Seven days earlier, Jock Stein’s new League Champions had destroyed a full-strength Manchester United side by 4-1 at Celtic Park as the new Jungle was opened for business. They would continue to blow teams away for the foreseeable future, Joe McBride’s double in Edinburgh sealing a 2-0 victory as the competitive season got underway.

Fourteen goals were then scored in two home matches against the other sides in the group, Clyde and St Mirren, followed by a Bobby Lennox hat-trick at Ibrox as Rangers were humbled 4-0 in the Glasgow Cup before 77,000 spectators. Next up was Hearts, three days later, Joe repeating the medicine with another brace, either side of a Stevie Chalmers strike as Celtic eased home 3-0. And, quite incredibly, Joe McBride would score twice against Hearts for the third time that season, as Stein’s unbeaten team again won by 3-0 in the first League fixture between the clubs, played at Celtic Park on Saturday, 26 November 1966.

That would be Willie Wallace’s last appearance for Hearts against Celtic, and seven days later, he unwittingly wore the famous maroon jersey for the final time, in a 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle at Firhill, strike partner Alan Gordon rescuing a point after Tommy Rae’s early opener. The following Tuesday, he was contacted at home by Hearts manager John Harvey, enquiring if he would be interested in a move to Parkhead. Following some interesting negotiations at Celtic Park that evening, Tuesday, 6 December 1966, Willie Wallace became a Celtic player.

His Tynecastle record had been highly impressive. In terms of competitive matches, Willie had scored 131 goals in 248 appearances. That tally included five hat-tricks plus another game in which he had went one better with four goals. He would be a tough act to follow for Hearts.

Twenty-four hours after signing for Celtic, Willie Wallace would watch his new club claim a place in the quarter-final of the European Cup by repeating their 3-1 first-leg victory over French champions Nantes at Parkhead. He would then make his debut on the same pitch three days later, Saturday, 10 December 1966, partnering his old friend Stevie Chalmers for the visit of Motherwell in front of 40,000 spectators. Chalmers would grab the accolades on the day with a hat-trick, with Bobby Murdoch adding another for a 4-0 win. And there was another curious twist in the never-ending weave of Celtic connections, as the Steelmen’s own centre-forward, John ‘Dixie’ Deans, was ordered off for a bad challenge on Jimmy Johnstone. The two men would later become teammates and great friends, whilst Dixie would feature in the Willie Wallace story in the autumn of 1971. More to follow on that one.

The following Saturday, 17 December 1966, saw Willie score his first goal for Celtic, and his second, as the Hoops destroyed Partick Thistle by 6-2 at Parkhead. The frightening firepower now available to Jock Stein is best illustrated by a front four of Stevie Chalmers, Willie Wallace, Joe McBride and Bobby Lennox, with Jimmy Johnstone a not-too-shabby option to come on from the bench. Chalmers also grabbed a brace on the day whilst Bobby Murdoch and McBride were on target, as was a young Arthur Duncan for the visitors.

The Christmas Eve visit to Pittodrie which followed would prove significant for Willie’s new strike partner, Joe McBride. Jock Stein had returned from a midweek visit to Madrid to watch Atletico lose a two-goal lead and the plot to exit the European Cup following a 3-2 play-off defeat by Yugoslav champions, Vojvodina Novi Sad, despite the visitors finishing the match with just nine men.

The Serbs would now be Celtic’s opponents in the March quarter-final. In the match with Aberdeen, Bobby Lennox would give Celts the lead before former Rangers and Dunfermline winger Harry Melrose equalised for the Dons, as the match ended 1-1. This would ultimately be the end of Joe McBride’s season, Scotland’s top goalscorer, with 38 goals from 29 games, injured in training shortly afterwards and failing to recover by the end of that incredible campaign. He would never enjoy that level of scoring record again in his career.

The calendar year then ended on another negative note, as Celtic’s unbeaten record, which had stretched from the beginning of the season, was blown away in three manic minutes at Tannadice. Celts had led 1-0 then 2-1, Bobby Lennox then Willie Wallace setting the Bhoys up for the two points, however, late goals from Denis Gillespie and Ian Mitchell consigned the visitors to a first domestic defeat of the season, on their 27th outing. This longstanding record was only beaten by Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic Invincibles in January 2017, some 50 years later.

There was a significant milestone on Saturday, 14 January 1967, Willie Wallace’s seventh game for his new club, as Jock Stein named the following line-up for the League game against St Johnstone at Muirton Park, Perth:

Ronnie Simpson; Jim Craig & Tommy Gemmell; Bobby Murdoch, Billy McNeill & John Clark; Jimmy Johnstone, Willie Wallace, Stevie Chalmers, Bertie Auld & Bobby Lennox.

Charlie Gallagher was an unused substitute.

This is the first occasion when the eleven Lions of Lisbon would start together for Celtic. Jimmy Johnstone opened the scoring just after the hour mark, then doubled Celtic’s lead six minutes later. Two late strikes from Stevie Chalmers and Bobby Lennox finished the scoring at 4-0.

With his registration for European football not completed ahead of the deadline for the last eight stage, Willie would have to watch from the sidelines as Celtic took on Vojvodina for the right to progress to the semi-final of the Champions Cup. The match in Novi Sad on the evening of Wednesday, 1 March 1967, saw Celts slip to only their second defeat of the season, Stanic scoring the only goal of the game following a mistake from Tommy Gemmell with 20 minutes remaining.

The return in Glasgow seven nights later is regarded as one of the all-time classic European ties at Celtic Park. As the match headed towards a Rotterdam play-off, Steve Chalmers goal on the hour levelling the tie, Billy McNeill’s soaring last-gasp header from Charlie Gallagher’s corner raised the roof from the old stadium as the dream remained alive for the 70,000 souls lucky enough to be in attendance.

Two days later, the draw paired Celtic with Czech champions, Dukla Prague in the semi-final. The Czech Army side had knocked out Ajax in the previous round, the Dutch having humiliated English champions Liverpool in round two, Shankly’s men beaten 5-1 in Amsterdam then requiring an injury-time equaliser to avoid defeat at Anfield. This would be a tough ask.

The semi-final first leg would take place on Wednesday, 12 April 1967, meaning that Willie Wallace’s first European game for Celtic would take place on his daughter Lynn’s first birthday. Who writes these scripts? Anyway, proud dad Willie celebrated the way he knows best, his two second-half goals giving Celts a 3-1 lead to take to Prague the following week, after Jimmy Johnstone’s opener had been cancelled by Strunc on the stroke of half time.

The following morning, Willie Wallace’s dream season continued, as he replaced the injured Jimmy Johnstone for that weekend’s Scotland’s match against the Auld Enemy at Wembley Stadium, additional spice added, as if any were required, by the fact that England had remained unbeaten since becoming World Champions at the same venue the previous July. Willie had assumed that he would be joining the Scotland party as a reserve, only to be stunned as new manager Bobby Brown named him as a direct swap for Jinky in his old right-wing berth, a role he had not carried out for several years. This would be Wallace’s fourth full international cap, and his first as a Celt.

The Scotland team tasked with ending England’s undefeated run on Saturday, 15 April 1967, lined up as follows:

Ronnie Simpson (Celtic)

Tommy Gemmell (Celtic)

Eddie McCreadie (Chelsea)

John Greig (Rangers)

Ron McKinnon (Rangers)

Billy Bremner (Leeds United)

Willie Wallace (Celtic)

Denis Law (Manchester United)

Jim McCalliog (Sheffield Wednesday)

Jim Baxter (Sunderland)

Bobby Lennox (Celtic)

Ronnie Simpson at 36 years-old that day became the youngest-ever Scotland debutant, with Gorbals-boy Jim McCalliog, 16 years his junior, the other player making his first appearance for his country. England fielded their World Cup-winning team with only one change, which hardly weakened them, Jimmy Greaves replacing Roger Hunt in the white number eight shirt.

It would indeed be a wonderful afternoon for Willie and his Scotland teammates, Denis Law giving Scotland the lead midway through the first half, after Gordon Banks had parried Wallace’s shot in front of the lethal hitman. The score remained at 1-0 until 12 minutes from time before Bobby Lennox added a second for the visitors. With six minutes remaining, makeshift striker Jack Charlton pulled a goal back for England, only for Wallace to play in McCalliog for a dream debut goal. Geoff Hurst made it 3-2 just before the end, however, seconds later, we had beaten the world champions. The afternoon is best summed up by the Scotland players, with Jim Baxter to the fore, toying with the home team on their sacred turf.

In midweek, Jock fielded the Lisbon Lions starting eleven for the second time for the League match with Aberdeen at Parkhead, a dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup Final just ten days later. The Dons fielded a familiar face from Willie’s past at centre-forward, his old friend from their teenage days in Kirkintilloch with Kelvinside Thistle then Kilsyth Rangers, Jim Storrie.

Storrie had made his name in the late 1950’s as a high-scoring striker with Airdrieonians, prompting Leeds United manager Don Revie to bring him down to Yorkshire in 1962. He would win promotion to the English First Division with Leeds at the end of the 1963/64 season, then march all the way to Wembley for the following season’s FA Cup final, the Peacocks captained by former Celt Bobby Collins and featuring Billy Bremner, finally beaten by an extra-time goal from another Scot, the wonderfully-named John St John (known as Ian), after Bremner had equalised Hunt’s 93rd-minute opener. Storrie would then join Eddie Turnbull at Aberdeen in February 1967, before finding himself in that season’s Scottish showpiece against Celtic.

The conditions at Parkhead on the night of Wednesday, 19 April 1967 were hardly conducive to good football, high winds on a sodden pitch, so perhaps it was no surprise that the match ended goalless, as Jock Stein’s men edged another point closer to retaining their League title.

Six days later, Celts were in European Cup action again, facing Dukla in Prague, defending the two-goal lead given to them by Willie Wallace a fortnight earlier. Jock again named the Lions line-up albeit in a different formation. Stevie Chalmers would play as a lone striker with five players strung out across the midfield. Willie was given the specific task of marking former European Footballer of the Year Josef Masopust out of the game, something the Czech master did not appreciate, as witnessed by the face slap handed to Willie at the end of the 0-0 draw which confirmed Celtic’s place in the final of the European Cup. In fairness, Masopust would later apologise to Wallace before handing him his match jersey in the dressing-room afterwards, as this season of seasons continued to reach new heights for the 26-year-old Celt.

The following Saturday, 29 April 1967, marked another red-letter day in the Wallace calendar, as he rolled up to Hampden with 126,000 others for his first Scottish Cup final experience. Celtic’s opponents were Aberdeen, allowing Willie a quick chat and wind-up with his old pal Jim Storrie before the game.

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About Author

Having retired from his day job Matt Corr can usually be found working as a Tour Guide at Celtic Park, or if there is a Marathon on anywhere in the world from as far away as Tokyo or New York, Matt will be running for the Celtic Foundation. On a European away-day, he's there writing his Diary for The Celtic Star and he's currently completing his first Celtic book with another two planned.

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