Sunday Times
(S Times Jun 2007)
JOCK STEIN, the legendary Celtic manager, was denied a knighthood because of violent play by his team, newly declassified documents have revealed.
Government files dispel the myth that Stein was refused an honour because “he was not the right sort”. Rather, Harold Wilson feared the award would give the impression his government condoned the behaviour of Celtic players who took part in a game remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in Scottish football history.
The documents were not due to have been opened to the public until 2030, but were released following an appeal to the Scottish Freedom of Information Commissioner by The Sunday Times. They include detailed correspondence between government departments, which reveal that the failure to honour Stein, who was the first British club manager to win the European Cup in 1967, was more to do with civil service foot-dragging rather than a deliberate snub.
They reveal that Willie Ross, the Scottish Secretary, lobbied hard to have the Celtic manager knighted and that he believed it was anti-Scottish, rather than class, bias that denied Stein the honour. By the time Whitehall officials accepted Stein should be recognised, Celtic had taken part in a notoriously violent world club championship tie against Racing Club of Argentina in which four of their players were sent off for violent conduct, and their recommendations were rebuffed by Wilson.
The suggestion of a knighthood for Stein was first raised by Scottish Office officials on May 3, 1967, three weeks before Celtic beat Internazionale in Lisbon to lift Europe’s premier club trophy. However, officials regarded it as too high an honour for a club manager. The only other football manager to be knighted then was Alf Ramsey after England’s World Cup triumph.
It was suggested instead by Sir John Lang, the government’s main adviser on honours for sporting figures, that Stein should receive an OBE and that a knighthood should go to Robert Kelly, the Celtic chairman, who was also vice-president of the Scottish Football Association and a board member of the International Football Board, the precursor to Fifa.
Sir Douglas Haddow, Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Scottish Office, wrote back making clear that Ross would not countenance such a move.
“We would regard an OBE as quite inappropriate. Mr Stein is admittedly the manager of an individual football club but it is a club that has achieved something entirely without precedent in Great Britain,” he wrote.
“No doubt Mr Robert Kelly has also got considerable claims to recognition but we do not agree that the work he has done is far more impressive than the work done by Mr Stein. Our view is that Mr Kelly can wait and we should not be greatly concerned if he has to wait for considerably longer than one or two years.”
When, the following year, Matt Busby, was knighted after winning the European Cup with Manchester United, Lang wrote to Haddow describing the award as a “painful surprise”. William Weatherston, a Scottish Office civil servant, rejected claims that knighting Stein was condoning the bad behaviour of Celtic players.
During the bad-tempered game, which subsequently became known as the Battle of the River Plate, four Celtic players – Bobby Lennox, Jimmy Johnstone, John Hughes and Bertie Auld – were sent off.
Weatherston pointed out that Ramsey was knighted despite having “consistently included in his team players who are known to use doubtful tactics – only a few days ago an English player was sent off for kicking an opponent”.
Busby was described as manager of a team “with a long record of disciplinary offences”. Unlike Celtic, Manchester United had not made a habit of taking action themselves against players guilty of offences on the field.
Weatherson said it was “important that recognition is given where it is deserved and that Scottish claims should not seem to be less well treated than those in England”.
When Celtic reached the final of the European Cup for a second time, in 1970, Ross wrote to Wilson warning there was a growing, and damaging perception of anti-Scottish bias growing north of the border.
“There is, I find, a good deal of dissatisfaction, in Scotland over what is regarded as an undue proportion of honours for professional football going south of the border. Scottish teams are proving themselves fully the equal of English clubs,” he said. “When England won the World Cup in 1966 there was a very natural group of awards, including Ramsey’s knighthood. But when Glasgow Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967, we failed to recognise this by an honour for Mr Stein to whom, as manager, a great deal of the credit was due. His name was, I understand, removed from the New Year’s List at a late stage because of the unfortunate events in South America when, as holders of the European Cup, Celtic played an Argentine team in a match marred by misbehaviour on the field.”
However, Ross warned Wilson: “If Celtic win the European Cup for a second time on 6 May, I really do not see how we can avoid an award to Stein.”
Stein was finally awarded a CBE in recognition of his service to football. He collapsed and died at Ninian Park in Cardiff, aged 62 just after Scotland had beaten Wales in 1985 to qualify for the 1986 World Cup.
