The Glasgow team

Thirty nine years ago a British soccer team won the European Cup for the first time: Glasgow Celtic veterans Billy McNeill and Tommy Gemmell look back at their triumph in Lisbon.

Craig Fitzsimons, 02 Jan 2007

"Time flies” rues Billy McNeill, captain of the legendary 'Lisbon Lions', the Glasgow Celtic team which, in 1967, made history by becoming the first side from these islands to lift the European Cup. “This season is the 40th anniversary, it’s quite poignant. And it does nae seem like it. It seems like it happened yesterday.”

His team-mate, Tommy Gemmell, also allows himself a fond, nostalgic smile at the memory. McNeill, Gemmell and the other surviving Lions recently returned to the scene of their greatest triumph, an excursion which brought all the memories flooding back.

As Gemmell says: “It was a wonderful occasion, and it reminded us that what we did that night will last forever. Most of us have been back umpteen times since, but this was the first time we’ve all been back as a collective. And it was made more emotional by the fact that all the fans were there. There must have been about three thousand of them, and as you know, they’re quite a sight when they all get together.”

The occasion was tinged with sadness, the boys’ beloved team-mate James Connolly Johnstone died this March aged 62 after a long battle with motor neurone disease. As McNeill explains: “We’re getting used to the sadness and the grieving, cause Jinky wasn’t the first to go. We’ve now lost three of the Lisbon team, Ronnie Simpson, Bobby Murdoch and now Jinky. We cannae forget him, and every time we get back together again, we do end up talking about him. And invariably, someone comes up with a new Jinky story you’d not heard before.

All the players that were involved, and their wives, and their widows, have been invited out to Dubai by the Celtic Supporters’ Club, we’re all going next week. So the widows have not been forgotten, we involve them as much as we can. That’ll be a nostalgic trip altogether.”

The Celtic eleven that made history that year are widely remembered as one of the greatest teams ever to bestride a football pitch. During a period of unprecedented supremacy under the guidance of legendary manager Jock Stein, the “Celts” won nine Scottish championships in a row (1966-1974) in an age where the league’s competitive stock was far higher than it is today.

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