skip to main content

Celtic chairman compares current side to Lions

Updated / Thursday, 25 May 2017 09:47
The Lisbon Lions
The Lisbon Lions

Brendan Rodgers' current Celtic side have a "whiff" of the Lisbon Lions about them, according to chairman Ian Bankier.

On May 25, 1967, Jock Stein's Hoops became the first British side to capture the European Cup with a 2-1 win over Inter Milan in Portugal's capital city.

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Eva Bolander, hosted a civic reception at the City Chambers to mark the 50th anniversary of the achievement and Celtic representatives, including members of the Lisbon Lions, were in attendance.

Bankier drew favourable comparisons with Rodgers' side - who are unbeaten domestically since the start of the season and on the brink of a treble - and Stein's all-conquering team, recognised as the greatest to come out of Celtic Park.

"When you look at this team you get a kind of whiff of Lions about them," he said. "There is a togetherness which everybody notices and there is a confidence.

"The way the goalkeeper (Craig Gordon) participates in back passes, almost playing around with the opposition. There is real confidence there so there is a definite synergy there."

Bankier admits that Rodgers has more than matched the expectation of the Celtic board since taking over from Norwegian boss Ronny Deila last season.

The Northern Irishman guided the club into the Champions League, albeit they failed to get out of their group, and his side won 34 and drew four of their 38 Ladbrokes Premiership matches to clinch a sixth successive title.

And with the Betfred Cup already in the bag, Celtic will complete the clean sweep of honours in Scotland with a win over Aberdeen in Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park.

"We are honest enough to say he has exceeded expectation," says Bankier. "He is a magnificent and interesting individual.

"The thing that has impressed me most of all is his work ethic, his attention to detail and that of his staff, and that instils into the team.

"You can see the difference between last season and this season and the way the same players play the game and it is all down to Brendan."

Bankier confirmed that the former Swansea and Liverpool boss will have money available to bolster his squad in the summer but expects only "some tinkering".

"There is money within the constraint of our self-sustaining model," he said. "Qualification for Europe a second time makes that money significantly better.

"It is very much Brendan's department as to what he wants and whether he is going to let anyone go. I don't expect wholesale revolution but I do expect some tinkering."

LEGENDS

We take a look at the trailblazing team that made history at the Estadio Nacional and takes a look at what became of the players, all of whom were born within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow.

RONNIE SIMPSON
The goalkeeper enjoyed one of the most spectacular Indian summers in football after joining Celtic in 1964 from Hibernian, who were then managed by Stein. Signed as understudy to John Fallon, he forced his way into the first team and made his Scotland debut aged 36 in the 3-2 Wembley win over world champions England. Six weeks later he was a European Cup winner. After hanging up his gloves in 1970, he had a spell as Hamilton boss and served as a local councillor in Edinburgh. Glasgow-born Simpson died of a heart attack in 2004.

JIM CRAIG
The right-back began the 1964-65 season playing for Glasgow University while studying to become a dentist. He ended it in the Celtic reserves and he soon made the Parkhead club's first team, becoming a regular fixture in time for Lisbon glory. Craig, who went to primary school in the shadow of Ibrox, later became a dentist and the 74-year-old is still a regular at Celtic Park, often commentating for the club's TV channel.

TOMMY GEMMELL
Motherwell-born Gemmell signed for Celtic on the same night as Jimmy Johnstone in October 1961 and the pair caught the same bus back to Lanarkshire. The attacking left-back scored the equaliser against Inter and also scored in the 1970 European Cup final defeat by Feyenoord before leaving the club for Nottingham Forest a year later. He played for and managed Dundee before running a hotel and then becoming a financial adviser, having a brief stint as Albion Rovers manager too. He remained a familiar figure at Parkhead but died in March this year following a long illness.

BILLY McNEILL
Another Lanarkshire-born defender, the centre-back went down in history in Lisbon as the first British player to lift the European Cup. The Lisbon Lions skipper spent 18 years at Celtic as a player - making a club-record 790 appearances - and had two spells as manager, where his greatest achievement was guiding the club to the double in their centenary season, 1987-88. Nicknamed Cesar after actor Cesar Romero, who played the getaway driver in the original Ocean's Eleven, because he was one of the few players to own a car in the early 1960s. McNeill also managed Aberdeen, Manchester City and Aston Villa and later worked in television. McNeill's family confirmed earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with dementia.

JOHN CLARK
Nicknamed 'The Brush', Clark was the sweeper behind McNeill - both men were born in Bellshill. He first joined Celtic in 1958 and the 76-year-old is still there, working at the Lennoxtown training ground and on matchdays as the first-team kit man. He managed Cowdenbeath, Stranraer and Clyde before returning to Celtic, where he was a regular in the dugout until very recently.

BOBBY MURDOCH
Described by Stein as "just about the best player I had as manager", Murdoch's passing ability was a key feature of the Lions and his nickname 'Chopper' also signified his hard side. He spent 11 seasons at Celtic Park before playing for and later managing Middlesbrough. Murdoch, who was from Rutherglen just down the road from Parkhead, later had a spell as a publican. Murdoch was the first of the Lions to die, after suffering a stroke at the age of 56 in 2001.

BERTIE AULD
The midfielder epitomised the fearless approach of the Lions, starting a rendition of 'The Celtic Song' in the tunnel as the Inter team watched in bemusement. The former Birmingham player's intervention helped settle the nerves of his team-mates and more than likely unsettled his opponents. The Glaswegian later managed the likes of Partick Thistle and Hibernian and remains a much-loved figure among his fellow Celtic supporters. The 79-year-old showed he had not lost his singing prowess at this season's Betfred Cup final with a table-topping, glass-thumping performance inside a Hampden executive box.

JIMMY JOHNSTONE
The most naturally-gifted of the Lions, 'Jinky' was voted the club's greatest ever player by fans in 2002. The winger mesmerised many a top team other than Inter and weeks after the Lisbon triumph he stole the show in Alfredo Di Stefano's testimonial as Celtic defeated Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. The 23-times capped Scotland international struggled to deal with his Celtic exit in 1975 and battled with alcohol problems. He returned to Celtic in a coaching role in the 1980s after finishing his playing career with spells with the likes of San Jose Earthquakes, Sheffield United, Shelbourne and Dundee. Johnstone was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, campaigning to raise money and awareness to fight the condition, and lost his battle in 2006. He is immortalised in a statue outside Celtic Park.

BOBBY LENNOX
Hugely popular with the Celtic fans, Lennox spent 19 seasons playing for the club, minus a few months in the United States. He was the last Lion to retire as a player, in 1980, and stayed on in a coaching capacity at Celtic Park. He won 25 major trophies during his time with the club - almost a quarter of Celtic's total - and his 277-goal haul is second only to Jimmy McGrory in the team's scoring charts. Hailing from Saltcoats in Ayrshire, Lennox was the only one of the Lisbon Lions to have been born more than 10 miles from Parkhead. The 73-year-old is still a familiar face at the ground, where he works as a matchday host.

STEVIE CHALMERS
The man who scored the winner, Chalmers was told he had three weeks to live as a 20-year-old when he contracted tuberculosis meningitis, but was one of the first Scots to survive the illness after being given pioneering treatment. Four years later in 1959 he joined Celtic from Ashfield Juniors and had to wait six years for his first trophy, but then enjoyed unprecedented success. Glasgow-born Chalmers scored three goals in five Scotland appearances and netted 231 times in 12 years for Celtic. He later played for Morton and Partick Thistle before running an off-licence business and then becoming a sales agent for the Celtic Pools. Chalmers, whose son Paul played for Celtic, suffered a heart attack in the late 1980s but celebrated his 81st birthday on Boxing Day last year.

WILLIE WALLACE
The prolific goalscorer joined Celtic six months before Lisbon in a club record #30,000 transfer from Hearts. With Joe McBride suffering a bad knee injury weeks later, 'Wispy' formed a partnership with Chalmers which carried Celtic to a clean sweep of trophies. Wallace, from Kirkintilloch, netted 134 goals in five years for Celtic before moving to Crystal Palace in 1972. He rounded off his career in Australia, where he still lives, but the 76-year-old was at Celtic Park for a game earlier this year.

More stories on

Read Next