Happy 80th birthday, 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.

The two clubs had met twice previously in this showpiece, both matches bringing their own slice of history. In 1937, Hampden had witnessed what remains the largest crowd ever assembled for a club fixture in Europe, 147,365, as Celts won 2-1 in what was the Dons first cup final, Aberdeen at that time playing in gold-and-black vertical striped jerseys. On that same day, 24 April, 17 years later, Jock Stein had captained the Bhoys to their first League and Cup double for 40 years, since the time of Maley, with an identical scoreline, Sean Fallon grabbing the winner that afternoon in front of a miserly crowd of only 130,000! Both Stein and Fallon would poignantly be in the Celtic dugout on that afternoon in April 1967.

Aberdeen’s cup final day had got off to the worst of starts, with manager Eddie Turnbull confined to bed in his Gleneagles hotel with a stomach ailment, and largely thanks to Willie Wallace, it would not improve as the afternoon wore on. The striker struck two opportunist goals either side of the interval to win the Scottish Cup for Celtic, completing a cup double for the club and himself, following his League Cup success with Hearts against Kilmarnock back in 1962.

There was then the opportunity for both player and club to complete the domestic treble in midweek, as Celts welcomed Dundee United to Parkhead for a rearranged League fixture on Wednesday, 3 May 1967. With the Hoops requiring just a single point to retain their Championship crown, there was a carnival atmosphere in the east end, as the majority of the 44,000 supporters turned up for the party.

Dundee United had been the only team to beat Celts domestically that season and had added another huge scalp with their home and away victories over Inter-Cities Fairs Cup-holders, Barcelona. There are times when football just defies logic and tonight would be another of those. As in the Hogmanay game at Tannadice, Celtic would lead 1-0 and 2-1, this time with goals from Tommy Gemmell and Willie Wallace, before two late United goals produced the same 3-2 outcome. There would be no point and no title party for Celtic that evening.

Both would follow three days later, as Celtic travelled to Ibrox needing a draw for the flag. On a miserable day, 78,000 supporters made their way to Govan, including James Bond and our arch-villain, Inter Milan boss Helenio Herrera, whose side awaited the Hoops in the European Cup final, due to be held in Lisbon later that month. Having made two changes from the Cup Final team against Dundee United, Jock reverted to the Lions eleven once again, the fifth outing for this band of very special brothers.

Four minutes before the interval, Sandy Jardine broke with script, lashing the ball past Ronnie Simpson from the edge of the box, however, within seconds, Jimmy Johnstone had equalised, following up after the ball had come back off the post to force it home. With 16 minutes to play, the little genius won the title for Celts with a truly iconic goal, weaving in from the right touchline before exploding a shot high past Norrie Martin in the Rangers goal with his standing foot. It was a goal fit to win any game and the memory of the ball coming back out of the net to stick in the mud will live with me forever. The Ibrox side now required two goals to stop the party. They would get one from Roger Hynd late on, however, as the final whistle blew, Celtic’s first-ever Treble had been secured at Ibrox.

Four nights later, Willie found himself on the bench for the first time as an international player as Scotland took on the USSR in a friendly match at Hampden, Wallace one of an unprecedented seven Celtic players in the twelve who would take the field. One of those, Tommy Gemmell, had the misfortune to open the scoring at the wrong end in the 17th minute, the Soviets than making 2-0 just before the interval, as Medvid beat Ronnie Simpson.

Wallace would replace the great Denis Law at half-time, however, try as he might, neither he nor any of the other Scottish forwards, Jimmy Johnstone, Jim McCalliog or Bobby Lennox, could find a way past the wonderful Lev Yashin in the USSR goal, as Willie’s fifth full cap ended in a disappointing defeat. Billy McNeill and John Clark had been the other two Celts to start at Hampden that evening.

There would be one more domestic game before Lisbon, a Monday night home fixture with Kilmarnock on 15 May 1967, to complete the League programme. An unusual-looking Celtic team, featuring Billy McNeill in number eight shorts, would win 2-0, Bobby Lennox and Willie Wallace on target for the green-clad Bhoys, the latter’s 21st goal in just 29 games for Celts. As an aside, Gerry Queen played in the Kilmarnock team that night. He will feature in Willie’s career summary later.

Ten days later, it was the big one. The biggest of them all.

On Thursday, 25 May 1967, Jock Stein fielded the eleven Lions together for the sixth and most poignant time, in Lisbon’s Estadio Nacional to face Internazionale of Milan in the European Cup final. The experience of the two clubs at that level could hardly have been more different. Inter had been European and World Champions in two of the three previous years, and had already eliminated the holders, Real Madrid, from this season’s competition, beating them home and away in the quarter-final. By contrast, underdogs Celtic were competing in the major European club tournament for the first time.

But football is football.

That evening in Portugal is the stuff of legend, as Celtic produced perhaps the best attacking performance ever seen at that level, coming back from the loss of an early penalty to blow Inter off the park, the match finishing 2-1 following goals from Tommy Gemmell and Stevie Chalmers in the last half hour. In truth, the score could have been anything, Willie Wallace particularly aggrieved after a blatant foul on him by the incredible Italian goalkeeper Sarti went unpunished! As the fans flocked over the moat and onto the pitch at the end, the incredible truth could be realised…

…Celtic are the champions of Europe.

So let’s walk through the Willie Wallace checklist for season 1966/67…

Signed for Celtic Check
Scored a double in your European debut for the club Check
Played in a winning Scotland team at Wembley Check
Scored a double in your first cup final for the club Check
Won your first Scottish Cup Check
Won your first Scottish League championship title Check
Won the European Cup Check

Not bad, Willie.

If only you’d played in a winning side against Real Madrid in the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Thirteen days after the glory of Lisbon, Celtic travelled to the cathedral of football to take on six-time European champions Real Madrid in a challenge match in honour of the now-retired Alfredo Di Stefano, regarded by many as the finest footballer of all-time. The 1966 European champions were keen to put the new upstarts in their place, however, just as with Inter Milan, they would find this fearless group of fabulous footballers too hot to handle.

Jock had left several of his European Cup-winning side out of the starting eleven. It made little difference as their replacements slotted into their roles perfectly, Celts dominating proceedings against the old masters with a swagger and arrogance which would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. Long before the second half was through, the Real defenders were refusing to challenge and be embarrassed yet again by the peerless Jimmy Johnstone, his incredible display topped off as he set up the winner for his pal, Bobby Lennox. As the final whistle blew, 120,000 Spaniards rose to applaud the red-haired genius, standing centre-stage with the ball raised in one hand above his head. If Carlsberg did football images…

Beat Real Madrid in the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu Check.

To be continued…

Matt Corr

READ PARTS 1 & 2 OF ‘WILLIE WALLACE, LISBON LION AND SO MUCH MORE’ BY MATT CORR BELOW…