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Fullname: John Fallon
aka: ‘Peter’ (nickname, see anecdote below)
Born: 16 August 1940
Birthplace: Cambuslang, Scotland
Signed: 11 December 1958
Left: 29 February 1972
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Celtic 1-1 Clyde, League, 26 Sep 1959
Internationals: n/a
Biog
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“How can you not love Celtic and the Hoops jersey?”
John Fallon (2019) |
John Fallon was a goalkeeper for Celtic, and was a member of the famous Lisbon Lions of 1967. John Fallon was taken on as a junior by Celtic, and soon was promoted to cover for the famously eccentric keeper Frank Haffey. John Fallon played his first full game for the Celtic first team in 1959 and replaced Haffey completely in 1963.
However, in spite of a successful European campaign in 1964, he lost his place as first choice keeper to the more experienced Ronnie Simpson after Jock Stein arrived as manager. He good-naturedly understudied Simpson for the next couple of years, playing only occasionally against “easy opponents.” When interviewed, he said that it was more nerve-racking sitting on the bench as substitute than it was being on the field.
John Fallon’s first Celtic success came in the Scottish Cup final of 1965 which Celtic won 3-2. A Celtic man through and through John was seen swinging wildly on the crossbar at the Kings Park (Celtic) end as he celebrated Billy McNeill’s dramatic last minute winner, however he lost his place in the Autumn of 1965 when Ronnie Simpson took over. Ronnie Simpson is regarded by many as possibly our greatest ever goalkeeper, so it was to be a difficult task to make his way back into the side ahead of Ronnie.
In the European Cup final of 1967, played in Lisbon, between Celtic and Inter Milan, Fallon, who, as goalkeeper, was the only substitute allowed at the time, and sat out the entire match. He is thus the only Lisbon Lions player not to have actually played. Some people unfairly, leave him out of the Lisbon Lions entirely but this is partly as in those days there were no substitutions in matches except for injuries so substitutes weren’t regarded in the same way as they are now, but also as he actually only played in one single match the whole season (a 2-0 win over Kilmarnock in May 1967).
John Fallon did play one small part for the Lisbon Lions. As the substitute at Lisbon, he was famously sent out early to claim the bench nearest the half-way line as a shrewd psychological move by Jock Stein to show Inter Milan that this Celtic team were defiant and not going to be bullied by anyone. “We Shall Not Be Moved“! Indeed.
Disgracefully, chairman Sir Robert Kelly ordered Jock Stein to take back the European Cup medal from John Fallon as he did not play in the final. Bit outrageous as John Fallon was in the squad for the final and so should have had the courtesy to be awarded a medal. In fairness to Bob Kelly, it can be argued that actually John Fallon had not played once for Celtic that season in the European Cup run and only once for the first team domestically, so receiving a European Cup medal would be excessive for just being the required goalkeeping substitute on the day.
In any case, having been handed the medal it should never have been taken back. If it was an error to hand him a medal in the first place, then that is where the control should be reviewed, and not in actions against John Fallon. However, he was to receive an official replica medal later that year as Celtic requested additional medals, and in April 2019 he had the original medal returned to him. So much respect to the later board for this.
Despite the deputy role in Lisbon, John Fallon went on to have the privilege of playing in the great Alfredo Di Stefano’s testimonial match in Celtic’s famous 1-0 win and had a marvellous game in the Bernabeau in June 1967.
After the European triumph, Celtic reached the final of the World Club Cup the same year. They were in a two-leg final against Racing Club of Argentina. While warming up for the second leg, a brick (Sir Robert Kelly says it was a “flat iron bar“) thrown or catapulted by a member of the crowd, struck Simpson on the head. With Simpson unable to play as a result, Fallon was called on to keep goal in a bad-tempered second leg, and an even more bad-tempered replay.
Although Celtic lost the return leg, and the subsequent play-off in Uruguay, amid accusations of extreme foul play from the Racing players (an accusation later backed by UEFA), Fallon distinguished himself with a string of saves which caused one commentator to remark: “If that’s the reserve keeper, what must the other guy be like?”
Back to domestic matches, on January 2nd 1968, John Fallon had a bad experience against Rangers at Parkhead when he lost two soft goals and received a lot of criticism following the 2-2 draw. However, he showed great strength of character by not letting it affect him later on and Celtic won the title again despite that result.
After Simpson received a shoulder injury in 1968, John took his place and duly picked up League Cup and Scottish Cup winners medals, against Hibs and Rangers respectively, both in April 1969. In the Rangers final he had a notable performance and this helped to heal the wounds of 1968. At one point he made a fine save and turned round to the Celtic fans behind him to give them the thumbs up to which the fans cheered loudly. In this game he received a lot of heavy challenges from Rangers players who tried to unsettle him but showed immense restraint. He also had a fine game in the San Siro as Celtic gained a fine 0-0 draw against AC Milan in March 1969.
According to Sir Robert Kelly in his book Celtic, when Celtic tried to get the second leg declared void because of the Simpson incident, Racing Club used John Fallon’s heroic performance as their counter argument, and the result stood. Baffling as what else was Fallon meant to do in the match?
After Simpson’s retirement, Fallon was the number one Celtic keeper and he won another League Cup medal in the 1-0 win over St. Johnstone at Hampden in the final of October 1969. However after Evan Williams joined from Wolves John lost his place although he did play four games in Celtic’s march to the 1970 European Cup final in Milan. He played his last game for Celtic on 12th December 1970 and he moved to Motherwell in 1972, then moving on to Greenock Morton and retiring from active play shortly after.
John Fallon never played for Scotland, so in retrospectives isn’t often ranked amongst the nation’s greatest keepers, but he is to date the only Scottish keeper to have played in two World Club Cup final matches, so deserves a greater hearing.
John Fallon was a Celtic man through and through who gave his all during his time at Parkhead and was appreciated greatly by the Celtic fans of that era. He can still be seen at Parkhead following his beloved Celtic, and has contributed to Celtic articles & documentaries highlighting injustices against the club & support during his time as a player.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1958-72 | 114 | 14 | 36 | 20 | 184 |
| Shut-outs: | 32 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 61 (33%) |
Honours with Celtic
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Quotes & Anecdotes
“How can you not love Celtic and the Hoops jersey?”
John Fallon (2019)
1) John Fallon was the back up keeper to Ronnie Simpson during the Lisbon Lions era and was the Celtic substitute in Lisbon.
He was famously sent out early in Lisbon by Jock Stein to claim the bench for Celtic nearest the half-way line – a shrewd psychological ploy by Jock designed to show the Italian superstars that Celtic were up for it and were not going to be bullied by anybody.
When asked one time to reflect on John Fallon as a keeper, Bertie Auld (again at the wind-up) came away with the line:
“John Fallon is the only goalkeeper I know who uses the nets to stop the ball!”
Ouch! It was well seen they were good friends.
2)
“We called him Peter after a character called Peter Brady in the popular television series The Invisible Man. Fallon, who could be some shotstopper when he was on form, would often go AWOL. The defenders would look round and think, ‘Where on earth has our goalkeeper gone now?’ I think he enjoyed a wee walk about his goal area when it might have been a better idea to remain on his line.”
Bertie Auld in his biography on John Fallon
3) From 2018 on Twitter
Michael Kelly (ex-Celtic Director): “I think to be a Lion you have to have played in Lisbon. No subs then.”
John Fallon: “Excuse me Michael, I was official sub goalie, registered with Europe and your Uncle got my winners medal taken off me by JS.”