The great Stein debate- from the inside

It’s natural that Jock Stein is the headline story to jump out of John Fallon’s book ‘Keeping in Paradise’.

The greatest manager that Scottish football has ever known totally transformed Celtic from a club slipping gently into it’s history into the biggest story in Britain, one of the leading lights in Europe and a source of unbridled joy for exiled fans scattered across every corner of the globe.

Celtic without Stein is a terrifying thought, before his arrival as manager in 1965 the club had won one post war championship. Who fancies one title success between now and 2035?

Stein redefined Celtic, knocked a group of players that looked lost into the Lisbon Lions, won nine titles in a row, reached four European Cup semi-finals and brought through a crop of players that included Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay and Lou Macari bolstered by Dixie Deans, Harry Hood and others who hit the ground running.

Just as importantly he left a legacy, one that is highly unlikely to be matched but for the generation of sixties baby boomer’s Celtic competed, matched and toppled the best that Europe had to offer while overcoming the odds on home turf to establish a dominance that generations of honest mistakes never got close to.

For every subsequent Celtic manager Stein is the benchmark. Martin O’Neill mentioned a different benchmark but it was the success of Stein that the Derry-man aspired to, reaching out for glory in Europe appealed to Larsson, Lennon, Sutton, Hartson, Lambert and Petrov.

With his statue now outside the main entrance to Celtic Park there is no getting away from the man from Burnbank, if he hadn’t accepted that invite in 1965 it’s highly doubtful if the merits or otherwise of John Collins, Ronny Deila and Kris Commons would be getting debated.

Underneath the greatness there is human frailty, Stein wasn’t perfect, honestly. He had his flaws. In a sugar-coated world those flaws would be ignored, forgotten about in the rosy glow of success. Those flaws don’t detract from his successes, not in the slightest but highlighting them helps paint the true picture of his time.

Alongside the glittering trophy count there was Racing Club and Feyenoord. It requires incredible success to suffer those set-backs but those chapters were painful for those that encountered them.

Goalkeepers were another weakness for Stein, a position he never fully understood or mastered. During his 13 years in charge of Celtic; Ronnie Simpson, John Fallon, Evan Williams, Dennis Connaghan, Ally Hunter and Peter Latchford were favoured with the same amount of ‘projects’ signed that never quite made the grade.

With clean-sheets from the Bernabeu and San Siro sitting alongside the 1969 treble on his CV, Fallon was at the centre of Stein’s success although far from a favourite.

After much persuading, alongside David Potter the goalkeeper from Blantyre has decided to put his story down in black and white, if it’s not what some people would like to read then unfortunately for them it’s the truth, from the inside.

As Celtic struggled in the first part of his career AC Milan and Real Madrid were literally from a different league as players and supporters suffered under Bob Kelly’s leadership with European disappointments matching the domestic tales of woe.

In April 1965 a light was switched on, Fallon helped Celtic win the Scottish Cup over Dunfermline and a generation were given hope. Few could have anticipated TWELVE domestic trophies over FOUR years plus the title of Champions of Europe. The previous seven years had been troph-less..

At one stage in the book it is mentioned how Jimmy Johnstone, Bertie Auld and Tommy Gemmell were given certain leeway, their failings and exuberances overlooked while Fallon, John Hughes, Joe McBride and Charlie Gallacher had other standards applied.

Fallon goes into those issues, in and out of the successes and personal disappointments in his career in a frank and honest manner that most Celtic supporters will welcome. If you wanted to know what it was really like in the glory years this book tells it like it is.

To this day Fallon still follows Celtic faithfully home and away, every defeat and set-back is felt sorely, no issues are missed out, he’s never found a fence to sit on or conformed.

It was certainly a book worth writing, it’s worth buying as well as the Christmas season of Celtic book launches gets underway. Keeping in Paradise shines a light inside our greatest days, Jock Stein made the club what it is in 2015 but it wasn’t entirely fun and games for those on the inside.

Pop into the Celtic Club on London Road after 12 today and pick up a signed copy of his book- don’t ask him about referees if you want to catch the kick-off of the Dundee United match.