Another Lion is lost

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arana peligrosa
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Another Lion is lost

Post by arana peligrosa » Fri Mar 03, 2017 1:51 am

It was with a level of shock that I learned today of the passing of one Tom Gemmell, a man who needs no introduction and was part of the immortal team selection that traveled to Portugal one summer night in 1967 and with it, Glasgow Celtic had the distinction of being the United Kingdom's first winning European Cup name.

The timing is atrocious, now a few weeks short from the 50 year anniversary (and Gemmell himself scoring one of the two goals in the win over Inter Milan) and sadly won't be a part of the festivities and passed on too soon of on occasion it would have been an honor to relive.

It's not necessary to be an admirer of Glasgow soccer, or even of an age to not recall his past accomplishments and stature - but realize only, the game today lost another ex-pro who provided so much to one club and over time, reached legendary status.

Sincere condolences to his immediate family at this time.

http://www.celticfc.net/news/12168

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marko69
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Re: Another Lion is lost

Post by marko69 » Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:11 am

saint jude wrote:It's not necessary to be an admirer of Glasgow soccer,
And thank the sweet mother of Jaysus for that eh?!

RIP Tommy....... you were indeed a Scottish legend.

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phily bon bon
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Re: Another Lion is lost

Post by phily bon bon » Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:37 pm

One of the greatest Lisbon lions.

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Charnwood
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Re: Another Lion is lost

Post by Charnwood » Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:10 am

I will never forget that European Cup Final in 1967 which is my earliest memory of any European Cup Final played and the first I ever watched from start to finish on TV.

Absolutely brilliant achievement against one of the top teams of that era. Tommy certainly deserved his legendary status and will long be remembered especially for his equalising goal in Lisbon.

RIP Tommy.

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arana peligrosa
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Re: Another Lion is lost

Post by arana peligrosa » Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:33 am

This is taken from a sports magazine some years back that provided a section from that months publication, dedicated to the teams exploits. -


The date was 27 May 1967. It’s significance ? It was the night Jock Stein took Celtic Football Club into the pantheon of football greatness ; the night Scottish football swept past the masters of Europe by playing fluent, attacking football to bring the European Cup to Britain for the first time.

Celtic were playing Inter Milan is Lisbon and Inter, well-versed in the art of European success (winners in two of the three previous years), fancied themselves against a team comprised of players all famously, culled from within 30 miles of Glasgow. Inter may not have had too many plaudits with their ultra-defensive style of play, but they won plenty of games with it. The onus, then, lay on Jock Stein and his men to unlock the ‘catenaccio’ system devised by the Moroccan coach Helenio Herrera, then the highest paid manager in world football.

Celtic went a goal behind but stepped things up to stage an unrelenting assault on the Inter goal. And in the second half the Inter goal was bombarded by crosses and shots. It says much for the quality of Inter’s goalkeeper, Sarti, that the Scots managed to score just twice.

Jim Craig Celtic right full-back

“We had the only bus driver in whole of Portugal who didn’t know the way to the stadium. You know how it is when you’re sitting on the bus for any length of time before a big game. It can be a bit nerve-wracking - we used to feel the nerves at home, coming up from Seamill to Hampden to meet the police escort at Barrhead”

“Well, this guy was going in the wrong direction and suddenly all the players started shouting : “Hey, boss, why is everybody else going the other way ?”. So we arrived quite late at the ground and I’ve always believed that the driver taking the wrong road actually helped us because the nerves were gone by the time we got there”

“And then, underneath the stadium - you’ve got the picture this - Ronnie (Simpson) looked an old man, even older without his teeth ; Bertie (Auld) walked like a cripple and wee Jimmy (Johnstone) was a midget. We came into the tunnel and the Italians were standing there wearing a beautiful vertical blue and black strip, cutaway boots, oiled thighs gleaming in the sun and all that”

“This group of odd allsorts came out opposite them and wee Jimmy is shouting to the defender Faccheti - and this is perfectly true - he’s shouting : “Haw, big man, efter the gemme, swap the jerseys”. And Faccheti’s looking at us and saying “What the …. ?”

“If any neutral had seen us they would have said we had no right to win, but we did win and I’m eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of all that”

Jimmy Johnstone Celtic midfielder

“After the first 20 minutes I was thinking : ‘Are these guys kidding us ? When are they going to start to play ?’ Because we were running them ragged. We could have beaten them 10 - 0. Sarti had a game that was unbelievable. At half-time we knew we could win even though we were down 1 - 0, because of the number of chances that we had made.

“Another thing was the temperature - we’d never played in that in our lives and these guys were used to it. It was about 75 degrees, it would have burned a hole in your head. We felt the heat but it didn’t affect us. I think we were all so carried away that it didn’t matter about the heat or anything. The crowd was behind us and everybody was motivated. It was a great occasion”

Tommy Gemmell scorer of Celtic’s opener

“I should actually have had my behind kicked because I shouldn’t have been there scoring the goal in the first place”

“The golden rule was that if one full-back was up, the other one should be round covering central defense, and it was Jim Craig who cut the ball back for me. But there was no need (to cover) because they only had one player in our half, against our two defenders. If they’d had two, I would have had to stay back.

“If you look at the game on film you’ll see an Italian defender comes out to attack the ball as Jim Craig squares it to me but he stops and half turns two yards from me. If that guy had taken one more pace he could have changed the whole course of Celtic’s history. They could have broken away and scored a goal and I would have been castigated because there was no way I should have been there in the first place. Sometimes rules are made to be broken”

“As soon as I scored that goal the Italian players heads went down. They didn’t want to know after that. They knew the writing was on the wall”

Billy McNeill Celtic captain

“I’m blank about the end of the game. I remember a scramble with all these people. I remember Ronnie dancing about and Bobby (Murdoch) rushing to get his teeth, but after that I don’t remember much until we got back to the dressing room.

They told me I would have to go and collect the Cup, and Sean Fallon and I had to go right across the pitch and up through the terracing. It was a shame there was no true presentation because all the players were entitled to be there and they were all entitled to parade the Cup. The emotions were far too intense to remember. I did have to fight my way across the pitch but I wish I was doing it all again tomorrow.

“All I ever wanted to do was play for Celtic and be successful with Celtic. The two go hand in hand, I make no bones about it ; that moment was like dying and going to heaven as far as I was concerned”

Hugh McIlvanney journalist

“The preparation for this final and the winning of it were impregnated with Stein’s personality. It was hard work appearing so relaxed and the effort eventually took it’s toll on Stein when he made a dive for the dressing rooms a minute before the end of the game, unable to stand any more. When we reached him, he kept muttering : “What a performance, What a performance”

“It was left to Bill Shankly, the only English club manager present, to supply the summing-up quote. “John,” Shankly said with the solemnity of a man to whom football is a religion, “you’re immortal”

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marko69
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Re: Another Lion is lost

Post by marko69 » Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:35 pm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Again, RIP to the legend.

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