Chalmers, Stevie – Passing & Obituaries

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Fullname: Thomas Stephen Chalmers

Died: 29 April 2019

Family's great sadness as Celtic legend Stevie Chalmers passes away

By: Newsroom Staff on 29 Apr, 2019 08:51
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IT is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Stevie Chalmers, our loving father and devoted husband to Sadie. The Celtic legend was surrounded by family when he sadly passed away early this morning (Monday, April 29).

In recent times Stevie endured the toughest of battles, but just as he approached every game in a green and white jersey, he tackled his long-term illness with much bravery and dignity.

Stevie, first and foremost, was a family man to his loving wife Sadie; their children, Stephen, Carol, Paul, Ann, Martin, Clare, grandchildren, great grandchildren and wider family members.

He was also part of a wider family and community. His place in history is assured as one of the famous Lisbon Lions who lifted the European Cup for Celtic in 1967 when Stevie scored the winning goal to defeat Inter Milan 2-1 in Portugal. He felt honoured and privileged to have played alongside the Lisbon Lions, and this camaraderie and friendship carried on long after their playing days as the team became lifelong friends.

Celtic was an integral part of Stevie’s life and he devoted much of his career to the famous Glasgow club. He was adored by Celtic supporters in Scotland and around the world, especially for his passion, loyalty and integrity. He felt humbled and honoured when inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Stevie was a role model for all, especially to his children growing up. In later years, he doted on his grandchildren and they, too, were a great source of love and laughter for Stevie.

In such times of sadness, we must celebrate a life lived to the full. As a family we ask that you remember Stevie with love and affection and take pleasure when recalling the many wonderful times he and his team-mates gave to us all through their wonderful skills on the pitch.

A true gentleman, who will be sadly missed by so many, but will never be forgotten… The legend lives on.

Brian McClair:

Stevie Chalmers – the man who scored Celtic’s most important goal

By: Paul Cuddihy on 29 Apr, 2019 09:31
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CELTIC Football Club is devastated at the death of Stevie Chalmers, one of Celtic’s greatest ever goalscorers and the man who scored the most important goal in the club’s history.

The Lisbon Lion passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at the age of 83, and the Celtic Family is once again mourning the loss of a club legend, following the death of Stevie’s team-mate and friend, Billy McNeill.

First and foremost, all our thoughts and prayers are with Stevie’s wife, Sadie, their children, Stephen, Carol, Paul, Ann, Martin, Clare, and their grandchildren at this extremely sad time.

Thoughts, too, go to Stevie’s football family and, in particular, his fellow Lisbon Lions as they mourn the loss of another of their own.

Stevie Chalmers scored 231 goals in 406 appearances for Celtic between 1959 and ’71, making him the club’s fourth top goalscorer of all-time. Only Henrik Larsson (242), Bobby Lennox (277) and Jimmy McGrory (468) have scored more goals for Celtic.

Yet that trio of legends can’t claim to have score the single most important goal in Celtic’s history. Stevie Chalmers can.

It came on Thursday, May 25, 1967 at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon. With just five minutes of the European Cup final remaining, Chalmers knocked home a Bobby Murdoch shot into the Inter Milan net to give Celtic a 2-1 victory, ensuring they became the first club from Northern Europe to lift the prestigious trophy.

It was the crowning glory for the club, the manager, the group of players he assembled and, of course, for the supporters who, just two years before, had seen their side finish eighth in the league. It also ensured that Stevie Chalmers’ name will forever be remembered with deep gratitude and fondness by Celtic fans.

Many supporters have, down through the years, made the pilgrimage to the famous stadium in the Portuguese capital where football history was made, standing on the spot where Stevie Chalmers connected with the ball, or re-enacting that moment. Only one man did it for real, and it accorded him legendary status.

Just like Celtic’s greatest ever goalscorer Jimmy McGrory, Stevie Chalmers was also a Garngad Bhoy, whose fledgling football career began in junior football with Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and Ashfield. However, his subsequent success as a professional with his beloved Celtic almost never came to pass as he was struck down by an extremely serious illness – tuberculosis meningitis – which was, more often than not, a fatal diagnosis.

Stevie, then 20 and a fit young man, fought for his life with characteristic tenacity and courage, with an intense period of treatment followed by recovery and recuperation that saw him spend six months in hospital. Thankfully, he made a full recovery and was able to resume his football career.

In February 1959, he signed for Celtic, and his arrival coincided with the emergence of youngsters such as Billy McNeill and John Clark who would soon be joined by the likes of Jimmy Johnstone, John Hughes and Tommy Gemmell. This group, who were given the moniker of the Kelly Kids after the then Celtic chairman Robert Kelly, would go on to form the spine of Celtic’s most successful ever team.

Stevie was following in the footsteps of his father, David, who had also been a footballer, playing for Clydebank amongst other teams. And it was during his time with the Bankies that he would take to the field alongside Jimmy McGrory, who was on loan at the club, allowing the young Stevie Chalmers to be brought up with countless stories about the skills of the Celtic legend.

Stevie made his Celtic debut on March 10, 1959, in a 2-1 home defeat to Airdrie. Some six months later, he made his second start and scored two goals in a 3-0 win over Raith Rovers at Starks Park. That 1959/60 season saw him score an impressive 15 goals in the campaign, establishing himself in the eyes of the Celtic support as a forward of great quality.

Over the next few years, he would enjoy incredible success with Celtic with the arrival of Jock Stein as manager in 1965, and he won four league titles, three Scottish Cups, four League Cups and, of course, the European Cup.

If Lisbon was the pinnacle, then there were many other highlights for the forward. He netted a hat-trick against Rangers on January 3, 1966, the first in the league by a Celt against the Ibrox club since Malky MacDonald did so in 1938. Billy McPhail had hit a treble in the famous 7-1 League Cup final win of 1957, while only Bobby Lennox in the Glasgow Cup and Harry Hood in the League Cup subsequently matched Stevie’s feat up until Moussa Dembele hit another league hat-trick in September 2016.

He also scored Celtic’s last goal in the 4-0 win over Rangers in the 1969 Scottish Cup final while in that same season, both he and his great friend, Bobby Lennox, scored five goals apiece in a 10-0 League Cup win over Hamilton Accies at Celtic Park.

His 231st and final goal for Celtic came on May 1, 1971 in a 6-1 win over Clyde at Celtic Park. It was the last time the Lisbon Lions appeared in a starting XI, although Ronnie Simpson only took part in the warm-up.

Stevie scored the sixth goal that day, and it was fitting that the man whose goal had effectively created the legend of the Lisbon Lions who should score the last goal for that famous team.

After Celtic, he spent time with Morton and Partick Thistle, before hanging up his boots. He would later become involved with Celtic Pools, while in recent years he was a regular presence at Celtic Park on a matchday along with some of his fellow Lions.

Fans would always be delighted to meet the Hoops legend, though Stevie, as he always was throughout his life, remained humble about his extraordinary achievements.

Rest in Peace, Stevie. You’ll Never Walk Alone.

PETER LAWWELL: We have lost a humble man who was a Celtic legend

By: Paul Cuddihy on 29 Apr, 2019 09:05
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CELTIC Chief Executive Peter Lawwell has paid tribute to Stevie Chalmers as the Celtic Family mourn the loss of the man who scored the most important goal in the club’s history. Stevie’s death comes just days after that of his team-mate and friend, Lisbon Lion captain, Billy McNeill.

Peter Lawwell said: “This is such terrible news, and on behalf of the club, I would first of all like to pass on my condolences to Stevie’s wife, Sadie, their children, Stephen, Carol, Paul, Ann, Martin, Clare, and their grandchildren.

“Stevie was a much-loved husband, father and grandfather, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this desperately sad time.

“This is a particularly devastating time for the Celtic Family, with the passing of Stevie Chalmers coming so soon after his friend and former team-mate, Billy McNeill. My condolences also go to the Lisbon Lions, already mourning the loss of their captain, and now grieving the death of another one of their own.

“Stevie Chalmers was a Celtic legend, and one of the greatest goalscorers this club has ever seen. Indeed, only three other legends in Jimmy McGrory, Henrik Larsson and Stevie’s close friend, Bobby Lennox, have scored more goals.

“However, there is only one man who is able to lay claim to having scored the most important goal in Celtic’s 131-year history, and that man is Stevie Chalmers.

“When Stevie steered the ball home with just five minutes of the game remaining in Lisbon’s Estadio Nacional to put Celtic 2-1 ahead of Inter Milan, he ensured that Celtic created football history as the first British team to win the European Cup.

“It also guaranteed his place amongst the pantheon of Celtic greats, forever loved and revered by supporters of all generations.

“Yet, whenever I was lucky enough to meet Stevie over the years, his humility gave little indication of his incredible accomplishments as a player, which saw him win four league titles, three Scottish Cups, four League Cups and, of course, the European Cup, in the course of scoring 231 goals in 403 appearances in the green and white Hoops.

“Like his team-mates, he remained a quiet, humble man, happiest in the company of his fellow Lions and his fellow Celtic supporters.

“These are the saddest of days for Celtic supporters, and the wider football world, as we mourn Stevie Chalmers’ passing and send our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

“Though as we do, we also remember everything Stevie Chalmers did for Celtic Football Club, and in particular, that special day of May 25, 1967 when Stevie scored his historic goal.”

Celtic Chairman Ian Bankier, paying his own tribute to Stevie Chalmers, said: “Our thoughts are with Stevie’s wife, Sadie, and their family, at this desperately sad time.

“We all mourn his passing, and it is another devastating loss, following so soon after Billy McNeill’s death.

“Stevie and Billy, along with the rest of their team-mates, achieved extraordinary success in the green and white Hoops, and it was Stevie who ensured that already great players became Celtic legends.

“That goal in the Estadio Nacional is the most famous and important in our history, and it still gives every fan goosebumps whenever we see it again.

“Meeting Stevie was always a genuine pleasure as a supporter, and while always aware of everything he did for our football club, it was his humility which always stood out.

“We will always be thankful for Stevie’s incredible contribution to Celtic as we also offer our support to his family at this time.”

Stevie Chalmers – that gentleman of Lisbon,’ David Potter

By Editor 29 April, 2019 No Comments
https://thecelticstar.com/stevie-chalmers-that-gentleman-of-lisbon-david-potter/How sad it is to have a write a tribute to the second Lisbon Lion to die in a week!

Hard on the heels of Billy McNeill comes the death of another true Celt, true gentleman and great player in Stevie Chalmers.

Stevie broke into the team in the really bad days of the early 1960s. He was lithe and sharp and had the ability to score goals. Indeed under better management, 1960-1964 would might been a totally different story for Celtic. As it was, Stevie did not do at badly. With Chalmers on the right wing and John Hughes in the centre, loads of trophies might have been landed. But we all know that they weren’t.

Yet Stevie was a hero of mine. Well dressed, polite to supporters and chivalrous to opponents, he was far from the stereotype of the rugged, less than totally intelligent football player as conceived by the media of the 1960s.

Yet he was tough as well. He had recovered from serious illness in childhood and had done his National Service when he came to Celtic Park in 1959 from the Glasgow junior side Ashfield, traditionally considered a Rangers nursery. He soon made his mark, although like everyone else he suffered the severe trauma of the defeat from Dunfermline Athletic in the 1961 Scottish Cup final.

He had a good season in 1961/62, but things went very wrong in 1963, and the supporters turned on him. I recall with bitterness a game against Dundee United, a week after the first game of the 1963 Scottish Cup final when everyone should have been backing the team and Stevie was playing hideously out of position on the left wing.

The whole thing was crazy, and I recall having to listen to the filth of the morons directed at my hero and having to hold back the tears of frustration as the team went down 0-3 to Dundee United. It was hardly the greatest of surprises when they went down 0-3 in the Scottish Cup final replay as well.

Stevie had lost confidence. It took him time to recover it, but when he did, the goals began to come again. On the day that we at last beat Rangers in September 1964, he had a brilliant diving header to score the first goal, and then in a League Cup quarter final when the team was down 0-2 from the first leg to East Fife, Chalmers scored five in the second leg – all of them crackers and well worth watching if you can find them on You Tube (see below).

And then came Stein. On the right wing the day of Billy’s great header against Dunfermline, a great hat-trick over Rangers in early January 1966 and of course the winning goal at Lisbon. My mind went back those 4 years to that game at Tannadice, and I wonder what those “supporters” thought of him now. I hope they had the grace to apologise and admit they were wrong about the man who scored 228 goals for the club.

He was used more sparingly by Stein in later years, but he still had his moments like the goal he scored in the 1969 Scottish Cup final. In later years he went to Morton and Partick Thistle, but he was always a Celt, at one point co-ordinatingThe Celtic Pools with the Celtic View saying that Stevie would come to your house if you wanted to become an agent.

I know of several people who had no intention of becoming an agent, but could not resist the possibility of a visit from that gentleman of Lisbon.

It has been said that Billy McNeill was “what Celtic was all about”. Might I suggest that Stevie Chalmers might also be included in that category?

RIP Stevie Chalmers

David Potter

Stevie Chalmers: The man who survived tuberculosis against all odds – thanks to Rangers fan
Remaining Time -0:10
Angus Wright
Published: 12:11 Monday 29 April 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/stevie-chalmers-the-man-who-survived-tuberculosis-against-all-odds-thanks-to-rangers-fan-1-4916940Stevie Chalmers, the scorer of Celtic’s most important goal, had a gift for upsetting the odds.

Chalmers completed the comeback as 11 men from within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow beat favourites Inter Milan 2-1 to win the European Cup in 1967.

But he won his biggest battle more than a decade earlier after contracting tuberculosis meningitis aged 20 and given just weeks to live.

• READ MORE – Stevie Chalmers, Celtic legend and European Cup winner, dies aged 83

His survival was hailed as a “triumph of modern medicine” and he went on to fulfil his dream of playing for Celtic, scoring 231 goals and winning 15 trophies.

Born Thomas Stephen Chalmers on Boxing Day 1935, the youngest of five siblings was introduced to football during his early years in Glasgow’s east end.

Chalmers would head the ball against the wall of an air raid shelter and practise with his father David, a factory worker who formerly played for Clydebank alongside Celtic’s record goalscorer, Jimmy McGrory.

He left school aged 14 and worked in a tool shop and furniture warehouse, but his goal was to become a footballer. He played for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and featured in FA Cup preliminary rounds for Newmarket Town during national service at RAF Stradishall, but fell seriously ill following his return to Glasgow. Tuberculosis bacteria had entered the fluid surrounding his brain and spinal cord.

Chalmers spent six months in Belvidere Hospital, next to Celtic Park, but found a saviour in Peter McKenzie, who pioneered the treatment of draining spinal fluid. Dr McKenzie later told Chalmers he was the first of his patients to get out alive and presented the case as a “triumph of modern medicine” during conferences in North America.

Speaking to The Scotsman in 2012, Chalmers recalled his treatment. “I didn’t know what it was, or what it meant for me,” he admitted.

“I was getting lumbar punctures; kneeling on the bed, a nurse holding me in position while a doctor went in with his syringe,” he recalls. “Boy, that was tough, although in the early days I still didn’t think my condition was too serious. “Then I noticed how my fellow patients kept disappearing. The curtains would be dragged right round their beds before they were wheeled away. I wasn’t allowed to do very much which for a young sportsman was hard.

“When no one was looking I’d drop my legs over the side of the bed to try and get them moving. I’d like to think my good health and fitness helped me. 
“I know that Dr Peter McKenzie helped me. He was the head consultant at the Belvidere and after I’d made a full recovery he let me see a film he’d made of my treatment which he was going to show round Canada and the United States. 
“He told me that no one with tuberculosis meningitis had been walking out of the hospital alive. I suppose I was his star patient.”

After rediscovering his fitness by road running and chasing after buses, Chalmers played for Ashfield and won Scotland Juniors honours in January 1959. Weeks later he joined Celtic despite receiving bigger financial offers from elsewhere.
He scored on his Old Firm debut – the 1960 Scottish Cup final – and would be congratulated for the goal in a letter from Dr McKenzie, a Rangers fan, again hailing him as “a triumph of modern medicine”.

However, Celtic were beaten in the replay and the Light Blues went on to win the trophy.

• READ MORE – Interview: Stevie Chalmers, Celtic legend

Chalmers soon became a regular goalscorer but the early 1960s were barren years for Celtic with chairman Robert Kelly often overruling Jimmy McGrory, then manager, on team matters. He would go into work early to hone his skills, believing that his illness meant he had to work harder than his team-mates, but he was ordered to leave the ball alone and run round the pitch. Chalmers grew disillusioned but never thought of leaving.

Things changed dramatically when Jock Stein took over as manager in March 1965, having been promised full control. Celtic won the Scottish Cup a month later – their first trophy in eight years – and kept on winning as the tactically-shrewd Stein utilised Chalmers’ pace and movement.

The high point came in May 1967 when Chalmers’ deft touch in Lisbon completed a clean sweep of trophies and continued his record of scoring in every round of the club’s first European Cup campaign.

Chalmers later said: “That goal has brought me nothing but happiness. My only tinge of regret is that my father never got to see it; he had passed away shortly before we got to the final in Lisbon. 
“It would have been lovely for him to see that.”

Obituary: Stevie Chalmers, Celtic striker who scored the 1967 European cup winner

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17604733.obituary-stevie-chalmers-celtic-striker-who-scored-the-1967-european-cup-winner/Celtic striker who scored the 1967 European cup winner

Born: December 26, 1935;

Died: April 29, 2019

THOMAS Stephen “Stevie” Chalmers, who has died aged 83, was a former Celtic and Scotland striker who had a unique place in Scottish sporting history as the only Scotsman, playing for a Scottish club, to have scored a European Cup-winning goal.

Chalmers' 85th minute touch onto a Bobby Murdoch shot was the goal which beat Inter Milan, in Lisbon's National Stadium in the 1967 final, and ensured immortality for him and his ten team mates – The Lisbon Lions.

It was fitting that the relatively unsung Chalmers should administer the coup de grace. He was Celtic through and through, born and raised in the club's heartland of Glasgow's Garngad. His father David had played alongside Steve's future team manager, the great Jimmy McGrory at Clydebank, but he never achieved his ambition of wearing the hoops.

So, when, on 6 February, 1959, Stevie, after a distinguished junior career with Kirkintilloch Rob Roy and Ashfield, and appearances for the Scotland Juniors side, signed for Celtic, it was a dream come true for father and son.

He made the first of his 406 first team appearance a little over a month later, in a 2-1 loss at Airdrie. These were difficult days for the club. Manager McGrory was frequently over-ruled by chairman Sir Robert Kelly on team selection, and there was rarely consistency of performance or selection. Celtic then were down among the also-rans, although, in the reserves, under Jock Stein, the seeds of future triumphs were being sown.

Even after the Lisbon triumphs, Chalmers, who in his autobiography, Steve Chalmers – The Winning Touch, published in 2012, admitted to an often difficult relationship with Stein, was never a shoo-in for the main striker's role. In the early days he was competing with John “Yogi” Hughes, then along came Joe McBride, Willie Wallace and, towards the end of his 12 years at Celtic Park, the young Kenny Dalglish.

Okay, that Lisbon goal was special, but the other 227 he scored for the club – including, in 1966, the first Celtic hat-trick in an Old Firm game since before the Second World War – lifted him to third in the all-time Celtic scoring charts behind McGrory and Chalmers' fellow Lisbon Lion, Bobby Lennox. He now lies fourth, demoted by Henrik Larsson. These goals came at 0.56 goals per game, above the 0.5 gpg benchmark for a top striker.

What Chalmers did bring, and Stein recognised this, was a rare understanding of the “fore-checking” role, a tactic more often seen in ice hockey, whereby, when a team loses possession, their furthest forward player immediately puts pressure on the opposition, enabling the ball to be won back quickly and another attack started. Today, they call it pressing the ball – Chalmers was doing this for Celtic long before other clubs cottoned on.

HeraldScotland: He was also as a player who began as a winger, the master at creating space for others by drawing defenders out of position to cover his runs.

Like many Celtic greats, he was, notwithstanding the competition from the likes of Denis Law and Ralph Brand, probably under-capped by Scotland, winning only five, and scoring three goals – 0.6 gpg, again above that 0.5 benchmark.

He scored just 28 minutes into his Scotland debut, against Wales in the 1963-64 Home Internationals, scored again in his next match, a 3-1 Hampden win over Finland in a World Cup qualifier. His third Scotland goal came in his fourth international, a 1-1 draw with Brazil, at Hampden, in June, 1966.

Chalmers had given Scotland a first-minute lead against the reigning World Champions, but he got the big prize at the finish, when he exchanged jerseys with Pele. That number ten Brazilian strip was a cherished memento of his career.

It was amazing that he even reached the heights he did. As a 20-year-old, he was given little chance of surviving after he contracted tubercular meningitis. He was given three weeks to live, but, against the odds, he pulled through. The specialist who treated him during his six months in Belvedere Hospital, close to Celtic Park, Peter McKenzie, ironically a Rangers supporter, used the film he made of Chalmers' successful treatment to demonstrate to other specialists that the disease could be beaten.

Read more: Celtic legend and Lisbon Lion Stevie Chalmers dies

Chalmers sustained a broken leg in the 1970 League Cup Final win over St Johnstone, and, thereafter, he played few games for the club, prior to moving on to become a player-coach at Morton, then winding down his career with Partick Thistle in 1975. However, he did later in a playing cameo, achieve a previously unachieved boyhood dream, by turning out for his local junior team, St Roch's – McGrory's old junior team.

Appropriately, his final goal for Celtic came in a special match, when Stein, in a rare moment of sentimentally, knowing one or two would be leaving the club at the end of the season, sent out the entire Lisbon Lions for one last game, against Clyde, at Celtic Park. They won 6-1, with Chalmers getting the sixth goal.

The Chalmers tradition of playing senior football carried on into a third generation. Son Paul, while he did reach the first team, failed to establish himself at Celtic, but gave sterling service to other Scottish clubs, such as St Mirren and East Fife, and in the English Leagues with Bradford City and Swansea.

In retirement, Chalmers and his wife Sadie moved to Troon, where he golfed and, as befits one of the quieter of the Lions, enjoyed life. He was always, however, warmly welcomed when he went up to Celtic Park, performing match-day hosting duties with several of the other Lions.

Essentially, Steve Chalmers was a quiet man, who did his talking on the pitch. But, for such a quiet man, he certainly caused a rumpus with that iconic Lisbon goal.

He is survived by Sadie, children Stephen Jnr, Carol, Paul, Ann, Martin and Clare and his grand-children.

MATT VALLANCE

The Stevie Chalmers I knew embodied Celtic’s spirit of solidarity and community

The Times Newspaper Apr 2019
Scorer in Lisbon Lions’ 1967 European Cup win found strength in unity, Matthew Syed writes

When I think of Stevie Chalmers, I don’t just think of a fine footballer. I don’t just think of a remarkable man who overcame a bout of tuberculosis meningitis as a 20-year-old, spending six months in hospital and coming close to death, before signing for Celtic two years later and scoring the winning goal in the 1967 European Cup final.

I don’t just think of how much has changed since those days, a time when players such as Chalmers, who died yesterday, earned a few quid a week, lived in single-enders, and whose wives experienced little of the glamour associated with being a WAG. “We had none of that,” Sadie, his wife, told me. “Our first home was a tenement in Dennistoun . . . We had oneroom that served as a bedroom, kitchen and living room, and the toilet was outside on the landing.”

Instead I think about the concept of “community”. That was the word that seemed to reverberate through our conversation when I first got to know the great-uncle of my wife, Kathy. One of his first memories was hunkering down with his fellow Glaswegians in a shelter during World War Two, and when he started playing football, the game was defined by solidarity between team-mates, and between players and fans.

Chalmers would win his highest fame among the “Lisbon Lions”, scoring the second goal in that 1967 final, helping Celtic to become the first British team to win that special honour by beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Portugal. But it was the make-up of that squad that remains so vivid: 15 players, each born and raised within 30 miles of Celtic Park, coached by a fellow Scot in Jock Stein who was not only an innovator in tactics, but had the wisdom to nurture a sense of community.

When you read the memoirs of Sir Alex Ferguson, you gain an insight into how social solidarity emerged from the dense tenements of Scottish industrialisation. The former manager of Manchester United has argued that one of his strengths was tying the human instinct for connection to the beautiful game. “That’s team spirit,” he would say to new players, “when you give your life to someone. No one at the club ever wins a thing without the other ones.”

The Celtic side that triumphed in the European Cup had this spirit. They were not just a group of players who shared the same employer. They were not just united in receiving a pay cheque from the same institution. No, they were Celtic. Their identity was bound up with the club, with the city, and with each other. “There was an incredible togetherness,” Chalmers once told me. “Stein was a coach with a brilliant tactical brain, who changed things around a lot . . . But he realised that one of our biggest strengths was our unity, which he nurtured.”
“It wasn’t just the players who were close to each other, but also the families,” Sadie said when I interviewed her in 2017. “John Clark, Billy McNeill and Jimmy Johnstone used to get a lift every day into training from Jock Stein, who would meet them in his car at the bus stop. Stevie always used to room with Bobby Murdoch when they went away. You could have the team in a room with 500 people at a club function and, within minutes, they would be sitting together as a group, sharing stories. It is like a family more than a football club.”

Chalmers was a modest man, but he could occasionally be tempted to share his memories of the final of 1967, a night when Celtic shocked Inter, a team coached by the fabled Helenio Herrera, and masters in catenaccio. Stein’s stroke of genius was to negate the man-marking of the Italians by instructing his players to run into unusual positions, freeing up space for the full backs to charge forward. As Chalmers put it in his autobiography: “With Willie Wallace and Bobby Lennox making similar runs and with our full backs overlapping, it is easy to see how the Italians’ finely tailored marking system was rapidly coming apart.”

Chalmers continued to play in Celtic green and white for four years after that unforgettable night, before leaving the club, and ultimately working in the pools and hospitality departments. He remained physically fit (and very handsome) into his eighth decade, a single-figure handicapper at golf, a game he came to love.

It wasn’t until his mid-seventies that the family noticed the first signs of dementia, possibly caused by the heavy footballs used in his day, and his deterioration was swift and cruel. When Rita, my mother-in-law, posted on the family WhatsApp group last week that Stevie was critically ill, the family braced themselves. The past few years have been tough for Sadie, who has cared for the man she loves, but who has had to witness the slow seeping away of memory and identity.

Chalmers will be remembered as the man who scored that most celebrated of goals, but also as a wonderful father, husband, uncle and friend. In that interview in 2017, Sadie said: “I regularly sit down with Stevie and we look at photo albums of his grandchildren, and black and white shots of him playing in his Celtic strip. “Every now and again, there is a flicker of recognition. ‘That is me, isn’t it?’ he will say. ‘Yes, that’s you, darling,’ I reply. ‘You were a wonderful, wonderful player.’ ”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/spor … -c3rsj586f

John Clark: Stevie will never be forgotten

http://www.celticfc.net/news/16101
By: Joe Donnelly on 30 Apr, 2019 17:31
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THE sad passing of Stevie Chalmers earlier this week marked another huge blow to the Celtic Family and to world football. It was, of course, the forward’s goal which saw the Hoops beat Inter Milan 2-1 on May 25, 1967 to win the European Cup.

And his friend and fellow Lisbon Lion, John Clark, said the news of Stevie’s passing was doubly hard to take, having lost another Celtic legend in Billy McNeill last week.

Despite the shock that follows bereavement, Clark is nonetheless determined to remember a friend, a good man, a prolific striker and a club legend.

“Although Stevie was ill for some time, it was still a real blow when I first heard the news,” said John Clark. “With Stevie, I think it was especially shocking because your mind is still there with Billy. But it’s really hard for the family, for his wife Sadie and the Chalmers family. It’s a real blow and a real shock.

“When you think of everything that makes someone a good guy, that was Stevie. He was also a great golfer, and I genuinely believe if he hadn’t become a footballer, there was a career in there for him in golf. He’s very articulate, and he was very precise in everything he done.”

Clark stressed that despite the Lisbon Lions’ success, he and his team-mates came from working class backgrounds and have maintained that level of humility ever since. He described Stevie as a hugely-talented striker who excelled under the guidance of Jock Stein.

As for Stevie’s Lisbon winner, Clark never tires of reliving the goal in conversation. He added: “You cannot forget that goal, it’s as simple as that. It was a typical, off-the-cuff striker’s goal. Stevie was alert, he was sharp, he was fast, and you we’d spent time practicing that sort of move at training. We knew that if you played balls from wide positions, getting bodies into the box could result in a goal.

“The best thing about a goalscorer like Stevie is that they’re always alert. That’s what makes them good forwards, and that’s what made Stevie such a special player.

“Look at last weekend, too – our number five, Jozo Simunovic, scored a header that Billy himself would have been proud of, on the 67th minute. I think the big man must have some pull upstairs! Both Billy and Stevie are such a huge part of Celtic’s history, they’ll never be forgotten. They’re in the history books forever, and they’re part of the club’s greatest history.”

Addio a Stevie Chalmers, leader del Celtic che faceva sognare

https://www.ilfoglio.it/sport/2019/04/30/news/addio-a-stevie-chalmers-leader-del-celtic-che-faceva-sognare-252135/
Guida dei Lisbon Lions, se ne è andato il giocatore che aveva contribuito al mito della squadra scozzese che aveva dominato anche in Europa

di Emmanuele Michela

30 Aprile 2019 alle 20:16
Addio a Stevie Chalmers, leader del Celtic che faceva sognare

I Lisbon Lions

C’è un aneddoto curioso – ma pure ricco di significato – che affiora dalla gioventù di Stevie Chalmers, l’ex campione del Celtic degli anni Sessanta morto ieri. Aveva appena vent’anni quando, nel ’55, si ammalò di meningite tubercolare, un male che poteva essergli fatale e che per sei mesi lo costrinse in ospedale: a lottare con lui c'era il dottor Peter McKenzie che seguì una cura innovativa per tentare di salvare quel giovane calciatore. Furono settimane terribili, a tu per tu con una malattia che all’epoca non dava speranze di vita: "Quando nessuno mi guardava, buttavo le mie gambe di là del letto per tentare di muoverle", racconterà il calciatore. "Mi piace credere che la mia buona salute e la forma fisica mi abbiano aiutato". Si salvò Chalmers, e McKenzie promuoverà la sua terapia in giro per il mondo – nessun altro paziente era riuscito a uscire vivo dall’ospedale, all’epoca, dopo avere contratto quella meningite. Il medico, che era tifosissimo dei Rangers, non sapeva però che aveva salvato la vita a quello che diventerà uno dei migliori calciatori di sempre. Chalmers, 261 partite coi Bhoys e 155 reti in 12 anni, oltre a essere un fuoriclasse era pure un gentleman, e non romperà mai i rapporti col luminare, nonostante lo sport li volesse contro. "Il mio successo è il suo successo", gli scriverà anni dopo, in seguito all’esordio con gol nel suo primo Old Firm, ovvero il tanto combattuto derby della città di Glasgow.

Chalmers sale in cielo esattamente una settimana dopo il suo capitano Billy McNeill. Bomber il primo, leader il secondo. Entrambi nel Celtic più forte di sempre, quello che i tifosi dell’Inter più stagionati ricorderanno per la Coppa Campioni persa dai nerazzurri nel ’67 a Lisbona. I meneghini arrivavano da tre edizioni in cui avevano dominato l’Europa, con due successi (’64 e ’65) e una semifinale (nel ’66, persa col Real poi campione) sotto il "mago" Herrera. Insomma, pareva certo che quegli 11 scozzesi nati tutti a poche miglia dallo stadio di Parkhead dovessero soccombere, come per altro il gol precoce di Mazzola sembrava confermare. Poi la partita cambiò, i biancoverdi pareggiarono con Gemmell e a 7 minuti dal termine Chalmers si trovò sulla traiettoria del tiro di Bobby Murdoch per insaccare il gol più facile, ma pure il più prezioso, della sua carriera.

Nacquero lì i Lisbon Lions, un marchio che sa di mito, tanto da diventare il nome di una delle gradinate dello stadio del Celtic. Un mito come le maglie biancoverdi intonse, tanto belle da non volere numeri sulla schiena ma solo sui pantaloncini, perché le hoops – così diceva il presidente dell’epoca, Desmond White – "non si prestano ai numeri". Un mito che sa perfino di beffa per il pallone britannico, che aveva sì inventato il football ma fu costretto a vedere una squadra scozzese, per di più dall’animo cattolico e irlandese, essere la prima rappresentante dell’isola a vincere un trofeo continentale. Un mito come il treble, un concetto che in Italia conosciamo come triplete, nostalgico tuffo di gloria per i tifosi dell’Inter e ossessione per gli juventini. Gli scozzesi c’erano arrivati già nel ’67, vincendo per primi in Europa campionato, Coppa di lega e Coppa Campioni in un’unica stagione, scrivendo – forse senza sapere quale peso avrebbe avuto tale en plein – un pezzo della storia del pallone.

Il dramma è che il tempo corre più dell’imprendibile Jimmy Johnstone, e di anno in anno i ragazzi che fecero l’impresa del ’67 muoiono. Per i tifosi del Celtic, i Lisbon Lions restano un passato sempre aureo ma pure malinconico, lontano da un oggi ben diverso, che – anche a causa del fallimento dei Rangers del 2012, con successiva retrocessione in quarta serie – vede i Bhoys dominare facilmente il campionato, ma poi soccombere alla prova europea. I britannici hanno un rapporto con gli eroi dei propri club che è sempre profondo: silenzio e sacralità, come di fronte a un nonno che racconta una guerra sportiva che ognuno di noi avrebbe voluto combattere. E quando sabato scorso, nel match contro il Kilmarnock, il Celtic si è fermato per ricordare Billy McNeill, l’atmosfera allo stadio è stata unica.

"Hail Cesar", il saluto del popolo bianconero al suo capitano, in campo per 486 partite in 18 anni coi biancoverdi, per poi tornare da allenatore a Parkhead. Pensare che quel soprannome, “Cesar”, nacque grazie a un film: McNeill era andato al cinema con alcuni compagni di squadra per vedere "Colpo Grosso", con Frank Sinatra e Cesar Romero, che nella pellicola recita la parte del conducente d’auto. McNeill, l’unico del gruppo ad avere patente e macchina, si trovò addosso il nome di quell’attore, che lo ha accompagnato nei suoi exploit in biancoverde e ha dato il nome alla sua terza e ultima autobiografia (devi averne di cose da raccontare in tanti anni di Celtic). "Vincere potrebbe essere stato per la Scozia, ma sicuramente non per la Gran Bretagna… È stato per il Celtic", furono le sue parole sul successo di Lisbona, giusto per dare il senso – anche sociale e politico – a una vittoria che va più in là di quel trofeo che il capitano sollevò al cielo.

Tratti e cartoline di un calcio che in Scozia non c’è più, terra che col football ha sempre avuto un rapporto tutto suo: una nazionale da poche gioie, due club che si odiano ma che si tengono in piedi a vicenda, una marea di altre squadre "piccole" ma ruspanti e una teoria di straordinari allenatori quasi inspiegabile. Ci sarà un motivo se certi maestri del pallone come Ferguson, Dalglish, Shankly e Busby sono cresciuti a nord del Vallo di Adriano? Jock Stein, il manager di quel Celtic, era uno di loro. Aria burbera e bel calcio, fango e velocità. Era andato dietro al pallone per fuggire da una vita nelle miniere di carbone, come toccava a tutti gli uomini del suo paese, nel Lanarkshire. Coi Bhoys fu giocatore, allenatore delle riserve e poi tecnico della prima squadra. Non lo volevano perché sarebbe stato Scrisse la storia diventando il primo manager protestante della squadra cattolica di Glasgow, e portandola sul tetto d’Europa.