Our resident Lochee historian has picked up on a recent “discussion” between his beloved club and the national football body.
Celtic weren’t enamoured about the SFA’s decision to send a Scotland team abroad this coming summer to take on the likes of Costa Rica and Mexico.
Andy Walker, a fierce champion of all things Parkhead, opened: “The latest spat between Celtic and the SFA is a repetition of an identical situation in season 1966-67.
“The SFA were organising a world tour to countries in the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to play against teams, who, to be generous, were of Junior level.
“They expected Scottish teams, as normal, to supply players.”
Andy continued as he revealed: “Then-Celtic manager Jock Stein refused to entertain this idea.
“He told the Celtic board he did not want any of his players having their heads turned about tours as they would be focused on each round of the European Cup.
“The SFA persistently asked the club to confirm that players selected would be available.
“As Celtic proceeded through each round and beat Dukla Prague in the first leg of the semi-final, the SFA were still asking for players to go on tour.
“The national body argued that travel arrangements, visas, etc, were needed.
“Stein told his board emphatically that no player was going.”
Andy then gleefully stated: “While Celtic were winning the European Cup, Scotland were playing the likes of Hong Kong.
“After Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon against Inter Milan, Liverpool’s legendary manager Bill Shankly was the first to congratulate Stein.
“When Stein, on arriving back in Scotland, came down the steps from the aircraft, who congratulated him? John Lawrence, chairman of Rangers.
“When the party got back to Celtic Park, was an SFA rep there? No!
“Was this the start of Stein’s war with officialdom?”
Although the Shankly and Lawrence mentions have been well documented in the past, I have no files to confirm the SFA’s absence that night at Celtic Park.
So I’ll just have to take Andy’s word for that (unless YOU know otherwise!).
Andy concluded: “The SFA then would not allow him to accept the Manager of the Year award with a prize of £1,000.
“Club v country? The team which plays every week gets my vote.”
Initially, I could not trace a Scotland tour of the Far East during the dates Andy mentioned.
This, it turns out, is because it was a Scotland XI tour, not full internationals.
With the help of Andy, I’ve now got all the match details and they reveal some great Scottish players from the past who, perhaps, didn’t get the international recognition many thought they deserved.
I’ll share them with you in next week’s issue.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.