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Yogi bares all on Stein and battle with cancer
The Scotsman
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/yogi-bares-all-on-stein-and-battle-with-cancer-1-3397664
Published on the 03 May 2014
John Hughes has had a career and a life full of near misses and the catalogue is almost as long, twisty and dramatic as one of those thunderous charges up the left wing which exemplified his contribution to the Celtic cause, excited the faithful in the Parkhead Jungle and inspired one of Scottish football’s most evocative chants – “Feed the bear, feed the bear, feed the bear…”
He was nearly a sprinter, or at least running was his only interest as a kid in Coatbridge. “The 100 yard dash and I wasn’t bad in the 220 either,” he says. “The teacher who ran school football, Vincent Bradley, wanted me in the team. I said: ‘But, sir, I don’t even like football’. He said: ‘You will by the time I’m finished with you’.”
He nearly scored what might have been the winner in a European Cup final – 1970, against Feyenoord in the San Siro – and even though he has never watched a recording of the defeat and never will, he is convinced it was the reason Jock Stein ended his 11-year stint with the club, when he was 11 goals short of a double-century.
He nearly won Goal of the Season playing for Crystal Palace, but a typically slaloming run and dynamite shot against Sheffield United eventually placed him runner-up to Ronnie Radford (the one for non-league Hereford United which helped dump Newcastle United out of the FA Cup; probably it was the youthful parka-clad charge across the gluepot pitch which was the clincher there).
And he nearly shared a team-bath with blue-movie actress Fiona Richmond but by the time Palace manager Malcolm Allison contrived his publicity stunt Hughes had moved on to Sunderland for a long-cherished hook-up with his younger brother Billy, only to be crocked 15 minutes into his debut. He would never terrorise right-backs again.
He nearly came a cropper running pubs, facing up to extortion threats and Crocodile Dundee-type knives, and sometimes the only response was to laugh: “I got held up at 11 o’clock in the morning once when there was nothing in the till. ‘Look pal,’ I said, ‘why don’t you put the shotgun down, take off your balaclava and have a pint of heavy and we’ll say no more about it’.”
Hughes was nearly on the pitch in Lisbon, nearly a member of the immortal, false teeth-sporting, uncologned, Glasgow-and-environs XI who won the European Cup in 1967. Getting injured before the final against Inter Milan haunted him for a long time and he used to say it was the worst moment of his life.
But what happened six years ago changed his perspective, made him realise that it’s only a game.
I meet the original Yogi – well, that was Hanna-Barbera’s cartoon bear, forever ursine about in Jellystone Park, but you know what I mean – at his semi-detached in Sandyhills, Glasgow with the personalised-plate Audi in the drive and photos of the grandweans peeking out from behind the Greek columns in the sitting room. He is 71 and looks well. There’s a bit more beef about him than in his pomp, when there were still 14 stones, but at 6ft 2ins he can carry it. His father made breeze blocks – “He was a big man” – and so is Yogi, who must be glad to have the weight back after his cancer scare.
“It started with a sore ear and then a growth was discovered on my tongue,” he says, “When I was told it was cancerous I had a whitey.” Another near miss; he could have died. “My son Martin is a consultant at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and he was with me went I went there for my test results. He only told me recently that my chances of surviving had been 25 per cent.” And at this the colossus sheds a tear.
“I’m glad I didn’t know that, otherwise I might not have made it. Ken McKenzie of the ear, nose & throat department said it was my stoicism that pulled me through. I guess I’ve always been stubborn, but Ken was amazing: great sense of humour and such humility. I lost my hair, my teeth and four stone in weight, with tubes stuck up my nose the whole time. Pals would say, ‘My, Yogi, you’re looking great’, but I knew they didn’t really think that. I got used to the baldy – my wife, Theresa, reckoned I fancied myself as Kojak – and I was determined the cancer wasn’t going to beat me.”
Other ailing footballers will be pleased he did. “I was visiting my old Celtic pal John Divers in hospital the other day. He’s got dementia. I always tell him he’s a dirty, rotten, crabbit so-and-so. His wife Liz says it’s the only time he laughs. The amazing thing about JD is that he played football, scored more than 100 goals for Celtic, despite suffering from bad circulation. Folk thought he was lazy; a surgeon told him when he was 20 that he had the legs of a 70-year-old. But this was kept from the club otherwise he’d have been let go.”
Then there’s brother Billy, a fine player in his own right, just as lethal a striker and an FA Cup winner with Sunderland, who had the chance to follow Hughes into Parkhead but feared he would struggle to escape the comparison. “Now Billy’s got cancer; he’s in a bad way. It started with his prostate and he’s terrified it’s going to spread to his bones. I had a long chat with him last night. His wife Linda says he listens to me. We’re all hoping for the best, praying for it.”
Hughes, of course, is a green-blazered member of the regularly-reconvening survivors of Scottish football’s bright and shiningly greatest club achievement. I say “of course” but he hasn’t always enjoyed Lisbon Revisited. “I was sick to miss the final, to be there and not play. Folk say ‘Wasn’t it great?’ but having to watch was absolutely dreadful. I was happy we won but I immediately felt detached from it and that never changed.”
Surely the guys put an arm round his shoulder, reminded him of the part he had played and commiserated. “I don’t think anyone did. They were caught up in the emotion. Football doesn’t work like that; it’s a selfish game. But I don’t blame them. Maybe I was churlish, not enjoying the reunions, but I did think that only if you were a wonderful human being – and I’m certainly not – could you turn up at these events and go: ‘This is fantastic’.
“I have to say, too, that at one time I might have been excluded from them. There was a move to formalise the Lisbon Lions and make money out of ’67 and some who shall remain nameless suggested it should be just the 11 who played. I thought that was nonsense. By that logic Willie Wallace would have been included having played three games in the competition and me with my five games would not. Anyway, the fans complained – they wanted to see everyone.”
Now Yogi is laughing. “Me and Bertie are pally now but do you know that when we played I complained to Jock about him? He wouldn’t pass to me. He only gave me the ball when he was in trouble: ‘Go on, you look stupid’.” The next reunion at the end of the month will see the Lions return to the Portuguese capital for the Champions League final. “The relationship we have with each other can be difficult to explain. We were pretty close as a team but as the years have gone by the bonds have grown stronger. The reason is we’re getting old and some of us are dying.”
He chuckles some more because he is remembering Bertie gags. “We were in Belfast for a supporters function, Bobby Murdoch, Tam Gemmell, Bertie and myself, and a big armoured vehicle bristling with guns went past. ‘Look at that’, we said. Bertie said: ‘Aye and that’s just the breid van’!” Here’s another: “Jinky [Jimmy Johnstone] was nearing the end and I was visiting him and Bertie appeared, looking vexed. ‘What’s wrong?’ we said. He said: ‘I’m just back from Maryhill. They’ve pulled down my mother’s old shop and found a body’. ‘That’s terrible’, we said. ‘Aye’, said Bertie, ‘the poor fella was still wearing this medal: 1922 Hide-and-Seek Champion!’ ”
You want local colour? Yogi has a tale to match Bertie’s and his is true. In post-war Coatbridge, the fact the Hughes family had a car marked them down as exotic, all the more so when it trundled up to the house with a greyhound in the passenger seat. Yogi’s dad was a bit of a gambler and had driven over to Ireland to splash £800 on the mutt. It was the fastest thing on four legs, right enough, but only in solo trials. Up against other dogs it stayed quaking in the traps.
Hughes’ Parkhead career had two distinct chapters. He arrived a big lump of a boy and made enough of an impression, skittling defenders and thumping in 20-odd goals a season, to interest Juventus as a replacement for John Charles (another near miss for him). But he was disillusioned by the lack of proper coaching, fell out with assistant manager Sean Fallon, decided Celtic were “dreadful” and was planning to quit until Stein tipped him the wink about his impending return. Big Jock began with two big defeats – 6-2 by Falkirk and 5-1 by Dunfermline – but greatness soon followed.
Yogi won six championship medals, a Scottish Cup badge and four League Cup medals. He was most effective in mudbaths – “I can still hear [trainer] Neily Mochan shouting; ‘Run him, big yin, run him” – but wasn’t bad on skating rinks, once borrowing Billy McNeill’s sandshoes to net five against Aberdeen in an 8-0 icebound romp. In the 1965 League Cup triumph over Rangers, he scored both Celtic goals from the penalty spot – a result sparking a pitch invasion, players confronted by fans, which stopped future Hampden laps of honour. In another Old Firm game he kneed Willie Johnston where it hurts, expected to be sent off but wasn’t, a blunder which effectively ended referee Jim Callaghan’s career. Against Hibs he broke Bobby Duncan’s leg: “It was accidental, I’d never have done that deliberately, although I played with guys who would’ve.”
And in the Intercontinental Cup against Argentina’s Racing Club, he was one of the four sent-off Celts. “I kicked their goalie. The provocation was terrible. I was a sub for the second game and their fans peed on the guys on the bench. But I have to say that when I watched a video years later I was shocked by what I’d done. Jock asked afterwards: ‘What were you thinking of?’ I said: ‘Boss, I honestly didn’t think anyone would see me’. How stupid is that?”
So what was his relationship with Stein? A pause, broken by a wry smile. “I can’t say he treated me especially badly.” But even though football in Hughes’ era was a hard, hard game run by fearsome disciplinarians, you wonder if he means this. For instance, while he was in Bermuda on a close-season tour, his first wife Mary lost a baby. The fact he wasn’t back in Glasgow with her tells you this was a different age; nevertheless he only learned the sad news from a journalist. When he found out Stein knew and hadn’t alerted him he confronted the manager to be told: “Sort it out when you get home.”
When that marriage ended, Yogi was devastated. He blamed selfishness and booze and so quit drinking. “I don’t think I was an alcoholic, but those six years when I stopped probably helped me survive.” He met Theresa in a Majorcan karaoke bar and laughs that he’s glad this was before cancer robbed him of his singing voice. “Although,” he adds, “it’s coming back.”
Back to Stein: he recalls a game at St Johnstone’s old Muirton Park when he suffered a bad gash requiring stitches. The manager, though, was unconcerned and would go on to blame him for the defeat. Then there was Feyenoord. Yogi claims that compared to ’67 when Stein hoodwinked Inter on their spying missions, moving the team around and all but putting Jinky in goals, preparations for the second Euro final were nothing like as intense. “We were complacent. We thought Leeds had been the final [Hughes scored in the semi victory]. I remember saying we were going to win three or four-nil. The manager should have knocked that nonsense out of us but he obviously thought the trophy was in the bag. Did he spy on them? He said he did but I don’t know. And he changed the team, dropping George Connelly and leaving us short in midfield.”
Given all that, why does Yogi hold himself responsible for the defeat? I tell him his miss wasn’t so bad, that their goalie made himself extra-big. “That’s what folk say. That’s what Davie Hay said only recently. But it’s in my head that I could have won us another European Cup and that’s why Jock got rid of me.” Hughes learned later that bigger English clubs including Everton wanted him, but Stein was insistent he went to Palace. “He threatened to put me in the stand for six months if I didn’t.” And, Yogi adds with a chuckle, there was a sting: Stein was the TV judge who didn’t award him Goal of the Season. “That was what he was like.”
And yet, and yet…Hughes says Stein was “brilliant” at man-management and “great” for his career. He might have baulked at the disciplinarian stuff but there were times when it was needed. He might have questioned the lack of coaching but the evidence on the pitch was that the team did little wrong. As with the rest of the Lisbon Lions, his relationship with his boss was complicated. And possibly beyond the comprehension of you and me, the non-immortals.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “That was a magnificent team, I was fortunate to play for them, and if I’d been fit for Lisbon I might not even have been picked. For me it’s a long time ago – longer in view of what’s happened to me – and I’m just happy I’m still here. But I’ll enjoy going back with the guys.” If Auld makes good with the jokes, he may even give them a song.
Yogi Bare (£18.99) by John Hughes with Alex Gordon is available from the Celtic Shop.
John Hughes Lifts Lid on Run Ins
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/john-hughes-lifts-lid-run-ins-3515962
Daily Record May 2014
John Hughes lifts lid on run-ins with Celtic great Jock Stein and tells how boss kept his wife’s miscarriage from him
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/john-hughes-lifts-lid-run-ins-3515962
JOCK STEIN is a legend to Celtic and Scotland fans.
The former boss is held in reverence at Celtic Park and his statue towers over the stadium’s
main approach.
But one of Stein’s own players, John Hughes, has launched a bitter attack on the dugout giant.
Hughes claims:
* Stein kept news of Yogi’s wife’s miscarriage a secret from him.
* Forced him out of Celtic at the peak of his career.
* Responded to the striker’s pay rise request by threatening to cut his wages.
Hughes yesterday opened up about the legendary gaffer as he unveiled his autobiography at their spiritual home of Celtic Park. There are plenty of golden memories from his time at the club he still holds close to his heart after netting 116 goals in 255 appearances for the Hoops.
But he admits his relationship with Big Jock was strained.
Hughes said: “He was a fox. We were on a post-season tour to America in 1966 and my first wife Mary was pregnant at the time. I used to phone home every five or six days.
“Then I bumped into the sports reporter Ken Gallacher one morning and he said, ‘Sorry to hear your news’. I didn’t know what he was talking about and he was the one who told me Mary had had a miscarriage four days earlier.
“Jock knew but he hadn’t told me so make your own mind up about that.”
In the book he talks in depth about the secret, saying: “I met up with Jock to confront him about it and he didn’t even blink. He replied, ‘Ach, what could you do about it anyway? You’re here and she’s there’.
“I was stunned, speechless. I waited for my head to clear before I said, ‘You knew and you didn’t think it was right to me let me know? My wife losing a baby? Didn’t you think that was
important?’
“He said, ‘Oh sort it out when you get home’. It was such a flippant throwaway remark.
“I glared at him before saying, ‘Listen boss that’s ridiculous. You’re bang out of order’. I could see it wasn’t any of his concern.”
Hughes claims it wasn’t the only time he was kept in the dark by the manager.
He is aggrieved about his exit from Celtic in 1971 and claims Stein railroaded him into signing for Crystal Palace.
He added: “I’m a Celtic guy and didn’t want to leave Celtic.
“Ken Gallacher had asked why I signed for Crystal Palace when Everton and Sheffield Wednesday were in for me as well. But I didn’t know, Jock didn’t tell me.
“I was negotiating with the Crystal Palace chairman and Jock came in and took me outside. He said, ‘You get in there and f*****g sign or I’ll sit you in the stand for nine months’. So that was that.
“It would never happen nowadays as you’ve got agents and some sort of say. With Jock you didn’t have a say.
“Don’t get me wrong, I had some great times under him. When he came I played most of the time. It was only latterly things went wrong.”
Hughes reckons missing a chance in the 1970 European Cup Final loss to Feyenoord prompted his departure. But he feels Celtic would have won that trophy for the second time in three years if Big Jock hadn’t been complacent about facing the Dutch side.
Daily RecordYogi and Stein during training sessionYogi and Stein during training session
He said: “I missed a chance in the game and feel that is one of the reasons why Stein got rid of me. Why else would he have done it? I was 28 and the sixth highest scorer in the club’s history.
“Three months later I got a bad knee injury and never played again.
“Jock thought we’d won the trophy after we’d beaten Leeds in the semi-final. We didn’t think that but he did and the atmosphere permeates down from the top.
“He thought it’ll be a doddle – we only need to turn up.”
Injury had ruled Hughes out of Celtic’s European Cup-winning team of 1967 but he bounced back to form the next season.
His stock was high and he was convinced he deserved a pay rise – but Big Jock’s response left him stunned.
Yogi said: “I’d had a good season so I went to ask Jock for a wage rise. He said, ‘I know how you feel – you’ve had a terrific season. But I think, just to keep your feet on the ground, we should cut your wages’.
“I’d just scored for Scotland against England at Hampden and there I was wondering how I could get back to what I’d been earning when I walked into his office.”
Stein died in September 1985 after suffering a heart attack at Cardiff’s Ninian Park seconds after Scotland had drawn 1-1 with Wales to book a World Cup qualifying play-off.
Hughes though didn’t go to pay his last respects.
He said: “I didn’t go to his funeral. I would have been a hypocrite if I had gone.
“He got rid of me when I was in my prime and three months later I was finished at 28. People say to me, ‘Are you bitter?’ Yes.
“In the book we’ve tried not to comment. We’ve told people what happened and left them to make their own minds up.
“I think I’m the seventh highest goalscorer but had I stayed until I was 32 and kept scoring at the same rate I’d have been third.”
JOHN HUGHES will travel back to Lisbon later this month saddled with the same regrets that accompanied his last journey there 47 years ago.
Daily Record
John Hughes admits his career at Celtic under Jock Stein ended in bitterness and disappointment
The Portuguese capital is hosting the European Cup (now Champions League) final for the first time since 1967 when Jock Stein and his players became the first British team to lift the trophy. To mark the occasion, Celtic are flying the surviving Lions out to Lisbon and Hughes will be among those on board.
He is enthused about the prospect of meeting up with those he played alongside during a decade of stellar service in a Celtic shirt but it is tempered by a sense of disappointment and regret. Hughes has a winner’s medal from that famous victory over Internazionale but doesn’t feel like he earned it. An ankle injury kept him out of the final but he is still not convinced Stein would have picked him even if he had been fit.
“I’m looking forward to Lisbon although not playing in 1967 was one of the most disappointing times of my career,” he said at the launch of his autobiography, Yogi Bare. “It was terrible not to be involved. You’re detached from it and it was terrible afterwards, during all the celebrations.
“You force a smile but, deep inside, it’s soul-destroying. Obviously, I didn’t want to see the boys lose but I didn’t feel part of it when they won. I had a poisoned ankle but I don’t think I’d have been playing anyway because I had a bad game in the semi-final against Dukla Prague. They weren’t even going to take me with them. When they did, I shared with John Cushley and, when I removed the bandage on my ankle, the poison spurted five feet into the air. So I spent most of my time in my room. But for the club to be taking me back to Lisbon is wonderful.”
Hughes is a candid story-teller. After all these years he has regrets and he is not reluctant to reveal them, both in print and in person. The decision by Stein to sell him to Crystal Palace in 1971 still stings him to this day. He did not want to leave Celtic but the manager had other ideas. It is a transfer that has left a bitter taste in the mouth that has never gone away.
“What he [Stein] has done for Celtic no-one can ever change that, it’s in the history books,” he added. “It was a phenomenal achievement. But he wasn’t my favourite person eventually. I didn’t go to his funeral. I would have been a hypocrite if I had gone. He got rid of me when I was in my prime and three months later I was finished.
“People say to me, ‘are you bitter?’ Yes. In the book we’ve tried not to comment. We’ve told people what happened and left them to make their own minds up. Then it’s not me who’s saying it; it’s their own opinion. Yes I was bitter. I was finished at 28. I think I’m the seventh highest goalscorer [in Celtic’s history] but had I stayed until I was 32 and kept scoring at the same rate I would have been third top.
“I’m a Celtic guy and I didn’t want to leave Celtic. Ken Gallacher [the journalist, later of The Herald] had told me that Everton and Sheffield Wednesday were interested in me as well. He asked why I signed for Crystal Palace when other clubs were in for me. I didn’t know, he [Stein] didn’t tell me. I was negotiating with the Crystal Palace chairman and the boss and he [Stein] came in and took me outside. He said: ‘You get in there and f*****g sign or I’ll sit you in the stand for nine months.’ So that was that. It would never happen nowadays as you’ve got agents and some sort of say. With Jock you didn’t have a say. You know what they say about power corrupting and absolute power. I don’t think I’ll ever get over what happened.”
Hughes plays down talk that he and Stein had a “troubled relationship” but some of the anecdotes in the book do not paint the former Celtic and Scotland manager in the most flattering of lights. “We were on a post-season tour to America in 1966 and my first wife, Mary, was pregnant at the time. I used to phone home every five or six days. Then I bumped into Ken Gallacher one morning and he said, ‘sorry to hear your news’. I didn’t know what he was talking about and he was the one who told me that Mary had had a miscarriage four days earlier. Jock knew but he hadn’t told me. Make your own mind up.”
Hughes, on the mend after a recent cancer scare, has retained some good memories, too. He scored in the European Cup semi-final win over Leeds United in 1970, played in the final against Feyenoord (even though Celtic lost) and scored goals by the bucketload season after season. “It was just fantastic playing in that team with so many good players,” he recalled. “We were entertaining. People talk about the current side having to play against packed defences but we had to deal with that every week as well, home and away, but we overcame it because we had the ability. We also had three of the highest goalscorers in Celtic’s history; myself, Bobby Lennox and Stevie Chalmers – and what you need to remember is that I made most of their goals!”
He had been approached in the past to do a book but never showed any desire. Now 71, he felt the time was right. “I wasn’t interested but then one of my sons said it would be a good idea to leave a legacy for my grandchildren. It was very enjoyable. And the book came quite easily.”
Yogi Bare – The Life and Times of a Celtic Legend, by John Hughes with Alex Gordon, £18.99
JOHN HUGHES ‘MY EARLY DAYS AT CELTIC’ 0 By cqn on 15th June 2015
JOHN HUGHES ‘MY EARLY DAYS AT CELTIC’ 0 By cqn on 15th June 2015
LIONS & LEGENDS, Uncategorised
JOHN HUGHES is the seventh-highest goalscorer in Celtic history. He is a genuine club legend; a spectacular, awesome player in his prime. John was affectionately known as ‘Yogi Bear’ after the popular TV cartoon character at the time. Celtic Park would reverberate to raucous chant of ‘Feed The Bear’ when Hughes was in rollicking action. He fired in 189 goals in his eleven eventful years in the Hoops and became a cult figure with the supporters. In his autobiography published in 2014 Yogi decided to lift the lid on his remarkable life and times. As you might expect, he pulls no punches!
I was seventeen years old when I came into the Celtic first team. One minute I was playing schools football and the next I was rubbing shoulders with greats such as Neilly Mochan and Bertie Peacock. I have to say I wasn’t intimidated playing in that environment. I had all the confidence of youth and I was used to scoring goals, no matter the level. But I was raw, no doubt about it.
My game was basically very simple. The defence would fire the ball down the pitch, I would hare after it and attempt to belt it on target. Such methods would be frowned on today, but I still see teams taking route one to goal. It may not be pretty or easy on the eye, but goals win games.
Although I was getting on the scoresheet regularly, I knew I could do better. Maybe a lot of players would have been happy to claim my goal ratio with eighty-eight strikes in my first four years, but I always wanted to push myself to the limit. If I scored one, I wanted two. If I got two, I wanted three. And so on.
Back then, though, so much of what was happening at the club was just a joke. Take the training, for instance. What training? Willie Johnstone was the club physiotherapist and he was in charge of all the routines. When I say ‘all the routines’ I mean running round the touchlines until you felt you had just lapped the globe. Sometimes it would be pitch black and Johnstone couldn’t see that some of the players – notably goalkeeper Dick Beattie and centre-half John Jack – had nipped off to the back of the Jungle for a fly cigarette.
They would stand up there and watch the rest of us go round and round in circles. Then Johnstone would signal there would be just one lap to go and they would put out their fags and join the rest of us. The physio never twigged. Beattie, who played in Celtic’s never-to-be-forgotten 7-1 League Cup Final win over Rangers in 1957, was a real character. In fact, neither
Beattie nor Jack even bothered to get changed out of their street clothes when they turned up for training. When Johnstone wasn’t looking, they just pulled on their tracksuits over their everyday wear safe in the knowledge they wouldn’t be working up a sweat. Sometimes, if we were really lucky, we would get a ball to play with. Believe me, this was a rare occurrence and normally happened on a Friday, the day before the game.
bviously, it was thought useful to re-aquaint the players with the instrument of their trade. Johnstone seemed more intent in turning Celtic Football Club into a squad of marathon runners than actual footballers. When I look back, it’s easy to see why the club didn’t figure too often in winning silverware. We might have been fit enough, with the exception of Messrs Beattie, Jack and the rest of the skiving smokers, to run from here to Timbuktu, but just don’t ask us to do too much with that precious spherical object called a ball. Signed copies available at www.cqnbookstore.com – first class post included so will arrive for Fathers Day. –
See more at: http://www.cqnmagazine.com/?p=5774#sthash.W32StUDW.dpuf
JOHN HUGHES – THE BATTLES WITH RANGERS
By cqn on 15th June 2015 LIONS & LEGENDS
JOHN HUGHES is the seventh-highest goalscorer in Celtic history. He is a genuine club legend; a spectacular, awesome player in his prime.
John was affectionately known as ‘Yogi Bear’ after the popular TV cartoon character at the time. Celtic Park would reverberate to raucous chant of ‘Feed The Bear’ when Hughes was in rollicking action.
He fired in 189 goals in his eleven eventful years in the Hoops and became a cult figure with the supporters.
In his autobiography published in 2014 Yogi decided to lift the lid on his remarkable life and times. As you might expect, he pulls no punches!
We have six small features, taken from ‘Yogi Bare’ and will publish these today. You can order a signed copy of Yogi Bare from www.cqnbookstore.com now, with first class post for Fathers Day.
YOGI ON…GAMES AGAINST RANGERS
The traditional New Year game was due to be played at Parkhead – in fact, it was January 3 after we had beaten Clyde 3-1 on the first day of 1966 at Shawfield. I have to say the playing surface was treacherous that afternoon. It was flint-hard and there was a silvery glow under the floodlights. We didn’t possess such a luxury of undersoil heating in those unenlightened times.
There was a further problem with fog beginning to settle on the east end of Glasgow. Celtic were top of the league and Big Jock was determined to get the game played to increase our lead over our main rivals. He was confident of a victory and it was so important to show who were the new masters of Scottish football. It was preposterous to accept the club had last lifted the championship in season 1953/54. During that grim period Rangers won the flag on six occasions. We knew our time was coming, but even the most optimistic among those at Celtic would never have believed we would be victorious in 1966 and win it on another eight successive occasions.
Jock, as was his normal pre-match routine, walked onto the pitch with referee Tom Wharton, a massive match official who, at 6ft 4in was actually two inches taller than me. So, naturally, he was known as Tiny. At this stage, possibly about half-an-hour before the kick-off, the game must have been in doubt. The Celtic manager was nothing if not persuasive. He must have got to work on the ref. I can almost hear him say, ‘Och, there’s nothing to worry about, it’ll clear in minutes.’ Anyway, Tiny agreed and he declared the game on.
However, Jock must have wondered if his compelling and forceful argument to play the fixture might just have backfired on him. Rangers left-winger Davie Wilson was a tricky, little customer. It was often said he could win the Ibrox men a penalty-kick when he was fouled on the halfway line. Listen, Wee Davie could get our old foes a spot-kick at Aberdeen when he stubbed his toe getting on the team coach at Ibrox! A bit far-fetched, but you get the drift.
Having said that, he was a superb goalscorer for the club, especially for a player normally operating in a wide position. He demonstrated that against us inside ninety seconds of that particular confrontation. He mastered the tricky conditions better than our defenders, collected a rebound and slammed a low left-foot drive away from Ronnie Simpson. The man known to us all as ‘Faither’ was blamless as the ball squeezed in at the far post. It was a blow, no argument, but I doubt if there was a single team-mate on the park that day who didn’t believe we could turn it around. Although it must be admitted it’s never clever to give Rangers a goal of a start.
We began to turn the screw and pummelled their defence for just about the entire remainder of the first-half. They were defending frantically and I must admit I wasn’t getting too much joy out of my immediate opponent Kai Johansen. I was pushing the ball past him and chasing after it, but he was doing a very reasonable job of getting back to put in tackles. It was frustrating, to say the least.
As ever, Big Jock had something to say in the seclusion of our dressing room at the interval. Like the rest of us, he was not happy. ‘This is more important than a Cup Final,’ he observed. ‘This is the league championship. Win this and they’ll never catch us. Get out there and get the job done.’
We had forty-five minutes to change things around. I spotted a pair of discarded white training shoes lying in the corner. They had suction pads and were used for training indoors. I think they were Billy McNeill’s gear, I’m not sure. I had been wearing rubber studs in the first-half and they were as useful as a chocolate fireguard. I decided to give them a try and, thankfully, they fitted.
The game was merely four minutes into the second-half when I combined with Tommy Gemmell and our left-back sent a dangerous low cross skidding into the Rangers penalty area. Joe McBride dummied the ball and that was just perfect for someone of the speed and courage of Stevie Chalmers. He darted into the danger area and turned the ball past Billy Ritchie. Game on!
I was beginning to get into my stride on the left wing. The shoes were doing their job and definitely helped me maintain my poise and balance when I was running with the ball. Suddenly I was leaving Johansen in my slipstream. My pace was beginning to tell and he was mistiming his tackles. Thirteen minutes after the equaliser, we were ahead. It was Stevie again with a header from a left-wing corner-kick. Rangers were on the ropes and we knew it. So, too, did they. Time to go for the jugular and finish them off.
Seven minutes later, I got away from Johansen again and saw Charlie Gallagher taking up a great position about twenty-five yards out. Charlie struck a beautiful ball, that was undoubtedly his forte. He wasn’t a tackler and Big Jock always insisted we had to let our opponents know we were on the field. ‘Win the battle and you’ll win the war,’ he would say often enough. Charlie had other strengths, though. He was a lovely passer of the ball to unlock the meanest of defences, but he could hit the ball like a cannonball, too. I beat another couple of defenders before looking up to make sure Charlie was still unmarked and slipped the ball as expertly as I could in front of him. Charlie simply lashed an unstoppable drive in the direction of Ritchie’s goal. The ball exploded against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down over the line. The Rangers keeper didn’t move a muscle.
The fourth goal in the 79th minute from Bobby Murdoch was a collector’s item. Not because of the awesome power and flawless accuracy from our midfielder because he displayed both qualities often enough in his exceptional career. No, it’s the role referee Tiny Wharton played in it. Jimmy Johnstone and Gallagher combined on the right before Charlie sent the ball across the Rangers defence about twenty-five yards out. The pass was actually heading for Tiny when he suddenly opened his legs and let the ball go through them. It was a consummate dummy any pro footballer would have been proud to claim.
Bobby read it perfectly and hit a devastating left-foot drive that almost took the net away. I have watched a video rerun of that game and I was hugely impressed by Ritchie. He was left lying on the turf, beaten for the fourth time, the game lost and, staggeringly, he got to his knees and applauded Murdoch. That didn’t often happen in the heat of an Old Firm duel, but it did display the keeper’s unbelievable sportsmanship.
It was all over for the Ibrox side when I moved the ball over from the left, Wee Jinky got involved and the ball dropped perfectly for Stevie to launch a low drive past Ritchie. It was the end of a perfect day played in hellish conditions. The fog continued to descend and about an hour after the game, you could hardly see a hand in front of your face. The Rangers contingent in the 65,000 crowd must have hoped it had fallen earlier in the afternoon.
– See more at: http://www.cqnmagazine.com/?p=5785#sthash.2n9RWPE1.dpuf
BIG YOGI: THE UNLUCKIEST LION
By CQN Magazine on 25th May 2017 LIONS & LEGENDS
JOHN HUGHES earned the tag of the “Unluckiest Lion” when he was forced to watch history being made by his Celtic team-mates in Lisbon.
The versatile forward who combined battering-ram qualities with the deftest of touches will never forget the day he realised he wouldn’t get the opportunity to be given the nod from Jock Stein.
Hughes recalled: “Two simple little sentences, 22 words in all, hit me like a wrecking ball.
“‘I am sorry, Yogi, there’s no way you can play. In fact, I don’t think you should even get on the airplane.’
“The words were delivered in a typical matter-of-fact manner by Celtic club doctor John Fitzimons and, after finally digesting them, I was utterly devastated.
“There was no point in asking Fitz for a second opinion because, deep in my heart, I knew his prognosis was accurate. Slowly it dawned on me.
“I would not be fit for selection for Celtic’s biggest game in their history, the European Cup Final against Inter Milan in Lisbon on May 25 1967.
“A simple kick on the ankle in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Clyde at the start of April and, almost six weeks later, a dream had been obliterated.
“Don’t get me wrong, I never thought for a second I would be an automatic choice to play against the Italians. With Jock Stein around, you never took anything for granted.
GW768H1047
“I had played in the 3-1 triumph over Dukla Prague in the first leg of our semi-final at Parkhead, but that would have meant nothing to Jock.
“Nor would it have mattered that I had performed in five of the eight ties leading up to Lisbon.
“So, there was every possibility, even if I had been fully fit, the manager might have gone with the selection that got a goalless draw in Prague to book the historic European spot and then go on and take their deserved place in club folklore.
“I have been asked so many times: ‘How did you feel when Jock Stein dropped you from the team to play Inter Milan in Lisbon?’
“I wasn’t dropped. I wasn’t up for selection in the first place. End of story. Jock didn’t have to work too hard on that decision. I couldn’t have played even if my life had depended on it.
“I could barely walk. And Fitz was so concerned it would flare up in the pressurised atmosphere of an aircraft cabin that his advice was to stay at home. Believe me, that was never going to happen.
“I would have hobbled all the way to the Portuguese capital to cheer on the team. Remember, I wasn’t just a Celtic player, I was also a Celtic supporter.
“And, yes, I felt like an outsider when Celtic conquered Europe. I’m not going to lie about that.
“I was so desperate to be involved, to be out on that lush pitch at the Nacional Stadium and to be playing my part as my team Celtic became the first British club to be acclaimed as the best in Europe.
“How would it have felt to have been on the pitch when the referee blew his whistle for time-up in Lisbon with the scoreline reading: Celtic 2, Inter Milan 1? It goes beyond description.”
Hughes, who scored 189 goals in his Hoops career, added: “On the flight to Lisbon I could feel the ankle begin to swell. Fitz was right and there was clearly a reaction to the pressurised atmosphere inside the aircraft.
GW544H485
“By the time we reached our hotel in Estoril I was wondering if I could remove my footwear. I was rooming with reserve centre-half John Cushley and he helped me ease my foot out of the shoe.
“I took off my sock and, at that very moment, liquid spurted out of my ankle. Unfortunately, the injury had become poisonous and the four hours or so on the plane brought everything to a climax.
“Cush managed to find some tissue paper to stem the flow. We called in Fitz and he took a look at my ankle. He didn’t waste too much time in summing up the situation. ‘Complete rest throughout the summer,’ he said. ‘Don’t even think about kicking a ball.’
“My season was finished. But a new era for Celtic was just beginning. It would be fair to say I had mixed emotions.
“If only I had been fit enough for selection in Lisbon. Fate, though, decreed otherwise.
*Extract from YOGI BARE, John Hughes’ biography, signed copies are available on CQNBookstore.com
John Hughes remembered as Yogi’s Celtic heroics hailed by Lisbon Lions pal in epic tribute
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/john-hughes-remembered-as-yogis-celtic-heroics-hailed-by-lisbon-lions-pal-in-epic-tribute/ar-AA10f4Kf
John Hughes was a colossus at Celtic. A giant. But fellow Lisbon Lion Jim Craig knew that long before the duo even got to Parkhead after a first fearsome encounter during the pair’s school days.
Hughes’ tragic passing at the age of 79 has deeply saddened Celtic fans across the globe. Being part of the club’s most-successful squad who went all the way in Lisbon in 1967 to lift the European Cup during an incredible period of success places him forever in their hearts. Yogi’s character and style also made him a hero.
Wholehearted, brave, yet crucially, extremely talented to such an extent his pal feels he was underrated by many. Jimmy Johnstone was the undoubted wizard of the squad with his skills but Craig says Yogi wasn’t far behind. Hughes’ tally of 187 goals puts him in an elite bracket of Celtic players. Craig had felt the force of that scoring knack even before the duo went to Celtic.
He’d had first-hand experience of the attacker’s power and nose for the net before he’d even stopped putting a school bag over his shoulder. He said: “What memory of John stands out?
“I have to go even further back to before Celtic. When I was 15 at St Gerard’s secondary school in Govan, we were entered in the Scottish Cup and drawn against St Pat’s, Coatbridge. None of us knew where it was. In those days, you tended to stay in your own area!
“Anyway, their bus arrived and there was this giant who came off it. We were all 15 years old. I was about 5ft eight and skinny as a poker and this giant came off the bus. He looked like a colossus. From another planet, to be honest!
“They beat us 6-0 and he scored all six from centre-forward. Fortunately I was at right-back that day and I managed to avoid him for most of the game. I became an expert at picking just the right time to tie my laces!
“That was my first memory of coming across him. Then when I got to Celtic Park he was bigger again. One day I asked him about that game and he said, ‘Aye, I think I remember’. I said, ‘You think? Six goals? You should remember it!’’
Hughes just took those traits from youth into a magnificent first-team career at Parkhead which spanned a dozen years. He scored on his debut and just kept going.
Some of his most iconic goals will live forever in memory. Two in the 1965 Scottish Cup Final to beat Rangers. One against Leeds in front of a record-breaking attendance at Hampden in a European Cup semi-final of 1970.
The list is almost endless yet it wasn’t just his talents. It was his nature which appealed as Yogi was loved by fans and team-mates. Craig said: “John was a big, easy-going fella and one whose talent was not always appreciated.
“I mean Jinky in terms of sheer ability on the ball was in a class of his own. But next to him was Yogi and for a guy his size and build, he had wonderful control with a ball at his feet.
“Doing those runs we used to do in training between the cones, Yogi was like a ballet dancer. A big, burly ballet dancer, right enough! But he would glide around and take the ball wherever he wanted.
“The great thing about our team is that, although we were not in and out of each other’s houses every day, we would just sit wherever when you went down for breakfast at a hotel together because every single person got on. We were the same on the park and John was as friendly and approachable as everyone else.”
The powerful play and at times aggressive style which sparked Feed The Bear chants did, however, combat another side. Craig said: “John used to worry about things a bit. That sometimes interfered with his play.
“At that time you didn’t get any help. Outside the physical aspect, there was no help or anything like that before a game. If you said you were a bit nervous, or had an injury, or felt a bit below-par, it would be dealt with back then by an: Ah just get on with it, it’s a game of football.
“Everyone was treated like that. Not just in football. Everything was. Times have changed. You were just told to get on with it.
“For example, in this day and age, I look at athletes at the Commonwealth Games. If one of them said they were feeling a little bit below-par or carrying a slight injury, I’m sure they wouldn’t be told just to get on with it.
“You get some who are very confident and sail through life with no issues at all. Then you get ones with a lot of talent and ability like Yogi had but sometimes have that drawback of being unsure over what’s expected of them in a game. But John overcame it all right. He did it brilliantly. What he did at Celtic was just superb.”
He certainly did. The levels of admiration and love for him have been shown with the outpouring of emotion and tributes.
Craig has no doubt where his pal ranks in the history of the Celtic. Quite simply, he said: “John is among the greats. The number of goals he scored in the number of games he played puts him right up there.”
Celtic legend John ‘Yogi’ Hughes has died at the age of 79.
Celtic legend John ‘Yogi’ Hughes has died at the age of 79.
HeraldScotland
THERE are surely worse things to be remembered for than scoring an iconic goal against the mighty Leeds United in the 1970 European Cup semi-final in front of 136,505 at Hampden Park, but to reduce John Hughes’s Celtic legacy to that singular moment is to do the legendary forward an injustice.
That stooping header, as ‘Yogi’ lunged ahead of Jackie Charlton to meet Bertie Auld’s cross with a deft glance that found the far corner, would have been enough to cement Hughes’s place among the pantheon of Celtic greats, but there was much more to his story at the club than that famous evening in Mount Florida.
Hughes, who died on Monday aged 79, scored 189 goals in 416 matches for Celtic and earned seven league title medals, four Scottish Cups and five League Cups in a 12-year stretch at the club.
‘Feed the Bear’ would come the shout from the terraces when Celtic were most in need of a goal, the fans placing their faith in the mercurial attacker, who in turn relished the challenge of coming up with the goods. Frequently, he managed it.
It would indeed be the European Cup that would most shape Hughes’s Celtic career though, and for all that his goal against Leeds United was a high watermark of his time at the club, the tournament would also provide moments of anguish, and provoke a famous rift with legendary manager Jock Stein that would ultimately lead to Hughes being sold to Crystal Palace.
Hughes signed for Celtic in 1959, and survived the lean years that preceded Stein’s arrival in 1965. He was a regular under Stein, but was injured ahead of the 1967 European Cup final, and didn’t play in Lisbon as Celtic beat Inter Milan to become the first British side to win the tournament.
The Lions would always ensure that Hughes was acknowledged for the part he played in the triumph, and included him in the various anniversaries and commemorations that would follow over the years, but the pain Hughes felt at missing out on the match at the Estadio Nacional wasn’t lost on Stein.
Indeed, he used that sore point as a motivational tool on Hughes prior to the most famous evening of his Celtic career, taking the striker aside before he ran out at Hampden to take on Leeds.
“I know you were sick about missing the last final, but if you do well for me tonight and we reach the final, you’ll definitely play,” Stein told Hughes.
He would rise to the challenge and then some, causing all sorts of problems for his illustrious opponent, England’s World Cup winner Charlton, before seizing his moment when that ball came floating in from the right.
Stein would be true to his word, and after Bobby Murdoch’s goal had put the seal on Celtic’s progression, Hughes was again entrusted to lead the line in the final against Feyenoord. Alas, he would miss a one-on-one chance in extra-time before the Dutch side went on to triumph by two goals to one, and his suspicion was that at that very moment, his Celtic career was effectively over.
“That miss did for me, I’m sure,” Hughes told Hugh MacDonald in the Daily Mail on the 50th anniversary of that campaign.
“Stein never forgave me for that, that is all I can think.”
Sure enough, Hughes was sold a year later. Sadly, a bad knee injury just a few months later would end his career altogether, and his antipathy towards Stein only increased as a result.
“Why else would he have done it?” Hughes later reflected.
“He got rid of me when I was in my prime and three months later I was finished at 28. People say to me, ‘Are you bitter?’ Yes.
“I think I’m the seventh highest goalscorer but had I stayed until I was 32 and kept scoring at the same rate I’d have been third.”
Just as Hughes shouldn’t solely be remembered for his goal against Leeds United though, neither should the end of his relationship with Celtic’s greatest ever manager cast any doubt over his enduring love for the club.
“Don’t get me wrong, I had some great times under him,” Hughes said. “When he came I played most of the time. It was only latterly things went wrong.”
Ultimately, Hughes wished to be remembered not as a Celtic great, but simply as a Celtic man. And as the poignant announcement of his death posted on social media by his family showed, he remained that until the very end, revelling in the pageantry of Sunday’s flag day at Celtic Park before slipping out of consciousness.
“He rallied one last time on Sunday to sing us ‘Grace’ as best he could,” it read.
“His last conscious acts were hanging on for YNWA & giving us a wee fist pump celebration for Stephen (Welsh)’s goal.
“There is undeniable magic about this club we all love.
“A Celtic man until his last breath.”
John Hughes paid ultimate ‘Celtic to the core’ tribute as Hoops legend remembered after sad passing
A member of the Lisbon Lions squad which famously won the European Cup for the Hoops in 1967, Hughes passed away at the age of 79 after a short illness. He scored 189 goals for the club between 1959 and 1971, with his family saying he ‘joins the ranks of those who will be immortal as long as there’s a Glasgow Celtic.’
Former teammate Jim Craig told the Daily Record of the Parkhead legend: “John was a big, easy-going fella and one whose talent was not always appreciated. Doing those runs we used to do in training between the cones, Yogi was like a ballet dancer. A big, burly ballet dancer, right enough! But he would glide around and take the ball wherever he wanted. What he did at Celtic was just superb.”
READ MORE: Three things we learned as Celtic keep up 72-year streak against Aberdeen and Jota turns magician
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Crystal Palace was another one of his former clubs, and they said: “We are saddened to learn that former player John ‘Yogi’ Hughes has passed away, and our thoughts are with his friends and family.”
Another former Hoops player, Tom Boyd, commented: “Thoughts are with Theresa and all the Hughes family at this sad time. Yogi was Celtic to the core on and off the pitch.”
Former goalkeeper Rab Douglas added: “Very sad to see John Yogi Hughes pass away , always used to see him in Majorca every summer he had time for everyone. Thoughts go to all his family.”
Bernard Ponsonby
2nd Aug 2022 at 08:15
‘Yogi’ : Reflection on life of Lisbon Lion legend John Hughes
Celtic announced the death of the former forward, who made 416 appearances for the club, on Monday night.
‘Yogi’ : Reflection on life of Lisbon Lion legend John Hughes
SNS Group
John ‘Yogi’ Hughes who has died at the age of 79.
https://news.stv.tv/sport/yogi-reflection-on-life-of-lisbon-lion-legend-john-hughes?amp=
Celtic ‘great’ and Lisbon Lion John Hughes has died at the age of 79
John ‘Yogi’ Hughes who has died at the age of 79 was a central and perhaps under – appreciated member of Celtic’s famous Lisbon Lions squad.
A footballer of remarkable versatility despite a lumbering and at times cumbersome frame, he scored 189 times in 416 games in a twelve year period when the boy from Coatbridge dreamed the dream.
That dream turned to nightmare when Jock Stein effectively forced Hughes out of the door at Celtic Park in 1971 in a move that left the player heartbroken at the manner in which, for him, paradise was lost.
Most players who plied their trade under Stein talk in reverential tones about his legendary tactical nous, man management and PR skills and frequent authoritarianism.
Hughes scored 189 times in 416 games for Celtic.
Even those on the sharp end of Stein’s bark and menacing glower would concede that it was all done with only one aim in mind: to keep Celtic at the top.
John Hughes never bent the knee to the hagiography that surrounds a man whose legacy both defines Celtic’s highest achievement and yet serves as a reminder of how impossible it might be to re-create that night in Lisbon.
Hughes would say in a Celtic podcast years later that Jock Stein ruined his life.
To come from a Celtic family and wear the hoops is a source of unimaginable pride. To have it taken away, no matter the circumstances, is a searing wound the kind of which quite simply never leaves you.
If Hughes directed his ire at Stein then it can be viewed as an extent of the hurt he felt at no longer playing for a club and support that meant everything to him.
He won seven league titles and nine domestic cups as a player at Parkhead.
He was signed by Celtic from Shotts Bon Accord in 1959. His first goal in the famous jersey came against Third Lanark in a home game in August of 1960.
His early years coincided with a malaise in the clubs fortunes and there was a feeling that despite having some good players they were all massively under achieving.
Hughes caught the eye when he scored the winner against Slovan Bratislava in the quarter final of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1964. These were rare highlights in a period of sustained mediocrity for the club.
All of that changed with the arrival of Stein at Celtic Park in March of 1965, for he very quickly took a squad and turned them into a powerhouse in European football.
Hughes could play on either wing or indeed through the middle. His lack of pace and plodding style did not matter for he had two great attributes: physical strength and an ability to score goals.
He played centre forward in the pivotal Scottish Cup Win against Dunfermline in 1965, largely seen as the spark that ignited the glory years.
Later that year he netted twice from the penalty spot as Celtic defeated Rangers 2-1 in the final of the Scottish League Cup.
Despite playing in five of the nine European games in season 1966-67, injury ruled him out of the final in which his teammates wrote themselves and the club into the history books.
Hughes was a hugely popular figure with the Celtic support.
Lisbon 67 is immortalised to this day, an event with a timeless quality whose magnificence will be celebrated by Celtic supporters yet to be born.
Given the contribution of John Hughes it was only right that he was recognised as a Lion for his efforts to the cause were considerable.
He was part of the treble winning side of season 1968/69 as Celtic continued to exert an almost complete authority over the Scottish game.
The following season Hughes played a key role in the defeat of Leeds United in the semi final of the European Cup.
Leading 1-0 from a George Connelly goal at Elland Road, Billy Bremner equalised for Leeds in the second leg before Hughes sent his team on their way with an equaliser. Celtic won the game 2-1 for an aggregate 3-1 win.
That set up another European Final with Feyenoord of Rotterdam. Hughes played centre forward that night as the favourites went down to defeat against the Dutch after the match had gone to extra time.
Much has been written on the subject of how the favourites lost. Was it over confidence? Did they underestimate Feyenoord? Was the dressing room united?
Wherever the truth lies one of the legacies of defeat in Milan’s San Siro is that Stein decided it was time for some radical surgery to the Lisbon side.
Lisbon 67 remains immortalised to this day.
There is probably a consensus that in his impatience to inject a freshness and urgency to keep Celtic at the top, Stein broke up the Lions too early.
John Hughes was undoubtedly a casualty of the managers impatience for change and he played for the last time for Celtic in 1971 in a European tie against BK 1903 Copenhagen.
The manner of his departure was brutal. He had no say in his transfer to Crystal Palace.
Even today, players can be dealt with in an insensitive manner, back then it was not uncommon but it was most certainly unfair on a man who had given so much and was so imbued in the traditions of the club and the people who followed it.
As he headed south he could reflect on 7 League Championship medals, 4 Scottish Cup wins and 5 League Cup medals. It was a haul that would mark John Hughes as a Celtic great.
He played for Palace for two seasons but only amassed twenty games and four goals. He was transferred to Sunderland but an injury in his debut game effectively ended his career in 1973.
He managed at a junior and senior level and had spells as a publican.
The release of his autobiography put his side of the story to charges that he was inconsistent as a player and that he was the victim of a younger bunch of players catching the eye in the early 1970s.
Fans have opinions and not all agree on the contribution of every player. But there are a few irrefutable facts about Big Yogi that make him a Celtic great.
He could be more flexibly deployed than most forwards. His commitment was never less than 100%. His medal haul is the envy of most footballers and his goal scoring feat places him sixth in the league table of most goals scored by a Celtic player.
With his passing another part of the Lisbon story passes too but his contribution lives in the eternity of that never to be forgotten era that made John Hughes such a Celtic favourite.
OBITUARY: John ‘Yogi’ Hughes was a man of grand stature and big moments. He just wanted to be known as a Celtic man – he was all of that and more
Celtic legend John Hughes has passed away at the age of 79 on Monday night
He won seven league titles, four Scottish Cups and five League Cups at Parkhead
His demeanour could seem brooding, even forbidding, but he was a convivial character with a dry sense of humour and a huge reservoir of generosity
By Hugh Macdonald For The Scottish Daily Mail
Published: 00:33, 2 August 2022 | Updated: 00:37, 2 August 2022
The cries were as robust and muscular as the player they were seeking to inspire. This Jungle clamour of ‘Feed the Bear’ was regularly rewarded by John ‘Yogi’ Hughes indulging in something vibrant, powerful and spectacular.
The Celtic player, who has died aged 79, won seven league titles, four Scottish Cups and five League Cups in his spell at Parkhead but was always rueful of the two that got away.
He played in five European Cup ties in the 1967 campaign but declared himself injured before the final, becoming a bystander on Celtic’s greatest day. He played in the European Cup final of 1970 but missed a great chance in extra-time before Feyenoord won 2-1.
‘Stein never forgave me for that,’ he told me two years ago on the 50th anniversary of that campaign.
Hughes was sold to Crystal Palace a year later, then moved to Sunderland before a knee injury cut short his career.
His antipathy towards Stein endured but his disappointment over not playing in Lisbon was leavened by time and the reaction of the other Lisbon Lions, who always brought him into the fold at official events. And by fans who appreciated his gifts, which were mercurial, unpredictable but regularly devastating.
Born in Coatbridge in 1943, he was a talented schoolboy who quickly became a star of St Augustine’s and earned a clout over the head from Jimmy Johnstone’s mum for his precocious talents.
Celtic legend John ‘Yogi’ Hughes (left) has passed away aged 79 – dying on Monday night
Celtic legend John ‘Yogi’ Hughes (left) has passed away aged 79 – dying on Monday night
Hughes (right) won a plethora of trophies at Celtic – including the Scottish League Cup in 1965
Hughes (right) won a plethora of trophies at Celtic – including the Scottish League Cup in 1965
‘She did not believe I was under 12 and eligible for the primary school team,’ says Hughes after his school had beaten Jinky’s St Columba’s of Uddingston. ‘She whacked me with her brolly after the match.’
After a brief spell with Shotts Bon Accord, Hughes signed for Celtic in 1959 and played for the club he loved throughout the sixties. He played 416 matches for the club, scoring a highly creditable 189 goals.
But this statistic, however impressive, does not give a true gauge of his greatness. Standing 6ft 2in and robustly constructed, Hughes was best measured in moments and in outstanding performances.
He was good enough to make his debut as a 17-year-old in 1960 as Celtic endured a time of consistent underachievement. Hughes was strong enough in mind and body to survive until the Stein era began in 1965. The medals then flowed even if the disappointments could not be fully staunched.
Hughes was capable of playing on either wing or as centre forward. He was most regularly employed as an outside left where he complemented his excellent scoring record by providing chances for such as Willie Wallace, Stevie Chalmers and Joe McBride.
He (centre) played 416 matches for Celtic, scoring a highly creditable 189 goals (including this strike against Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final second leg at Hampden Park)
He (centre) played 416 matches for Celtic, scoring a highly creditable 189 goals (including this strike against Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final second leg at Hampden Park)
The highlights of a career strewn with honours can be picked out quickly by those who saw him in full flow. He was calm enough to score two penalties, aged 22, in a League Cup final victory against Rangers in 1965.
He was deft enough to score five times in an 8-0 victory against Aberdeen on an ice-bound pitch in 1965 that would not pass muster nowadays. It was said that Hughes played in training shoes.
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‘It was a pair of sannies,’ he confided much later. ‘And they belonged to Billy McNeill.’
He also scored a great goal against England at Hampden in 1968 but only earned eight caps.
‘I was never too bothered about playing for Scotland,’ he said. ‘Celtic players would play and be booed by our own support. That’s a fact. Many of them wanted a team full of Rangers players.
‘I pulled out of squads regularly. I was not the only one in those days and it was not just Celtic players, too.’
His greatest performance, however, was against Leeds United in the second leg of the 1970 European Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.
Celtic had won the first match at Elland Road 1-0 but Billy Bremner had squared the tie in Glasgow with a wonderful shot.
Hughes, deployed at centre forward, then turned the tide in Celtic’s favour. He outmuscled, out-thought and outplayed Jackie Charlton, the mainstay of the Leeds defence, and scored with a diving header. Celtic went on to win the match 2-1 (3-1 on aggregate) and reach the final against Feyenoord.
Before that strike against Leeds, Hughes headed them in front with this diving effort in the tie
Before that strike against Leeds, Hughes headed them in front with this diving effort in the tie
The irrepressible power of the Hughes performance was not a surprise, though his manner of scoring was slightly unusual. ‘I ended up Celtic’s seventh greatest goalscorer,’ he said. ‘Yet I doubt if I scored double figures with my head. I used to say Wee Jinky was better with his head than me.’
Hughes was always at the centre of Celtic pub arguments in the sixties and these debates could continue on the terracing. Some viewed him as inconsistent but his figures suggest this is unfair. His size and rampaging style made him conspicuous, so runs that ended in failure were obvious to the support.
However, he regularly galvanised the massed ranks with extraordinary contributions. He was indubitably a Celtic great for several reasons.
First, his longevity at Celtic Park meant he played with Willie Fernie and Kenny Dalglish. Yet he was sold aged only 28. Second, his list of honours brooks no argument. Third, and perhaps most importantly, he was a player who could lift a crowd, create a roar by simply lying in wait for the ball.
‘Feed the Bear’ was chanted often in hope and expectation but also in desperation as fans believed Yogi would deliver them from perdition. Their faith was regularly and amply rewarded.
After retiring from playing, he managed Baillieston, Stranraer and the Scottish Junior team for short spells before immersing himself in the licensed trade with an interlude as a drugs counsellor.
Hughes’ – who wrote an autobiography – demeanour could seem brooding, even forbidding, but he was a convivial character with a dry sense of humour and a huge reservoir of generosity
Hughes’ – who wrote an autobiography – demeanour could seem brooding, even forbidding, but he was a convivial character with a dry sense of humour and a huge reservoir of generosity
His demeanour could seem brooding, even forbidding, but he was a convivial character with a dry sense of humour and a huge reservoir of generosity. He gave of himself quietly but consistently.
In that interview in 2020, I told him that, as a schoolboy, I had written to him requesting tickets for a European match. He had sent me two, with a note saying no payment would be accepted.
He waved this off, saying that was simply what Celtic players should do. As I left his house in Shettleston, he slipped a copy of his autobiography into my hands with a thoughtful inscription.
There was an affecting softness in the Bear. I asked him then what his greatest memory was as a Celtic player.
He considered this banal inquiry carefully before saying: ‘I don’t really have one. I wouldn’t want to be remembered for one goal or game, even that match against Leeds. You know what? I would just want it to be known that I was a Celtic man.’
He was all of that and more.
John Hughes remembered as Yogi’s Celtic heroics hailed by Lisbon Lions pal in epic tribute
Craig Swan – Wednesday
John Hughes was a colossus at Celtic. A giant. But fellow Lisbon Lion Jim Craig knew that long before the duo even got to Parkhead after a first fearsome encounter during the pair’s school days.
Hughes’ tragic passing at the age of 79 has deeply saddened Celtic fans across the globe. Being part of the club’s most-successful squad who went all the way in Lisbon in 1967 to lift the European Cup during an incredible period of success places him forever in their hearts. Yogi’s character and style also made him a hero.
Wholehearted, brave, yet crucially, extremely talented to such an extent his pal feels he was underrated by many. Jimmy Johnstone was the undoubted wizard of the squad with his skills but Craig says Yogi wasn’t far behind. Hughes’ tally of 187 goals puts him in an elite bracket of Celtic players. Craig had felt the force of that scoring knack even before the duo went to Celtic.
He’d had first-hand experience of the attacker’s power and nose for the net before he’d even stopped putting a school bag over his shoulder. He said: “What memory of John stands out?
“I have to go even further back to before Celtic. When I was 15 at St Gerard’s secondary school in Govan, we were entered in the Scottish Cup and drawn against St Pat’s, Coatbridge. None of us knew where it was. In those days, you tended to stay in your own area!
“Anyway, their bus arrived and there was this giant who came off it. We were all 15 years old. I was about 5ft eight and skinny as a poker and this giant came off the bus. He looked like a colossus. From another planet, to be honest!
“They beat us 6-0 and he scored all six from centre-forward. Fortunately I was at right-back that day and I managed to avoid him for most of the game. I became an expert at picking just the right time to tie my laces!
“That was my first memory of coming across him. Then when I got to Celtic Park he was bigger again. One day I asked him about that game and he said, ‘Aye, I think I remember’. I said, ‘You think? Six goals? You should remember it!’’
Hughes just took those traits from youth into a magnificent first-team career at Parkhead which spanned a dozen years. He scored on his debut and just kept going.
Some of his most iconic goals will live forever in memory. Two in the 1965 Scottish Cup Final to beat Rangers. One against Leeds in front of a record-breaking attendance at Hampden in a European Cup semi-final of 1970.
The list is almost endless yet it wasn’t just his talents. It was his nature which appealed as Yogi was loved by fans and team-mates. Craig said: “John was a big, easy-going fella and one whose talent was not always appreciated.
“I mean Jinky in terms of sheer ability on the ball was in a class of his own. But next to him was Yogi and for a guy his size and build, he had wonderful control with a ball at his feet.
“Doing those runs we used to do in training between the cones, Yogi was like a ballet dancer. A big, burly ballet dancer, right enough! But he would glide around and take the ball wherever he wanted.
“The great thing about our team is that, although we were not in and out of each other’s houses every day, we would just sit wherever when you went down for breakfast at a hotel together because every single person got on. We were the same on the park and John was as friendly and approachable as everyone else.”
The powerful play and at times aggressive style which sparked Feed The Bear chants did, however, combat another side. Craig said: “John used to worry about things a bit. That sometimes interfered with his play.
“At that time you didn’t get any help. Outside the physical aspect, there was no help or anything like that before a game. If you said you were a bit nervous, or had an injury, or felt a bit below-par, it would be dealt with back then by an: Ah just get on with it, it’s a game of football.
“Everyone was treated like that. Not just in football. Everything was. Times have changed. You were just told to get on with it.
“For example, in this day and age, I look at athletes at the Commonwealth Games. If one of them said they were feeling a little bit below-par or carrying a slight injury, I’m sure they wouldn’t be told just to get on with it.
“You get some who are very confident and sail through life with no issues at all. Then you get ones with a lot of talent and ability like Yogi had but sometimes have that drawback of being unsure over what’s expected of them in a game. But John overcame it all right. He did it brilliantly. What he did at Celtic was just superb.”
He certainly did. The levels of admiration and love for him have been shown with the outpouring of emotion and tributes.
Craig has no doubt where his pal ranks in the history of the Celtic. Quite simply, he said: “John is among the greats. The number of goals he scored in the number of games he played puts him right up there.”
‘A Celtic man until his last breath’ – John ‘Yogi’ Hughes’ son recalls Bhoys legend’s final moments
August 02 2022 07:41 PM
One of John ‘Yogi’ Hughes’ last acts was to celebrate a Celtic goal, his son has revealed.
Hoops great Hughes raised a fist to herald an early goal by fellow Coatbridge native Stephen Welsh in Celtic’s televised 2-0 win over Aberdeen on Sunday, after taking in the pre-match rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
The 79-year-old died in hospital on Monday following a short illness.
His son, John, one of four children to Hughes and wife Theresa, wrote on Twitter: “He rallied one last time on Sunday to sing us ‘Grace’ as best he could.
“His last conscious acts were hanging on for YNWA & giving us a wee fist pump celebration for Stephen’s goal.
“There is undeniable magic about this club we all love. A Celtic man until his last breath.”
Hughes scored 189 goals in 416 games for Celtic from 1959 to 1971 and won a European Cup winners’ medal in 1967, although he did not play in the final.
He played in the 1970 European Cup final defeat by Feyenoord after netting in the last four against Leeds, before joining Crystal Palace in 1971.
Palace paid tribute to their former player, writing: “We are saddened to learn that former player John ‘Yogi’ Hughes has passed away, and our thoughts are with his friends and family.
“Hughes is most fondly remembered among supporters for scoring one of the club’s greatest goals, against Sheffield United in a 5-1 win.
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“After entertaining fans along the left in 23 Palace matches, Hughes’ south London spell was cut short by a knee injury, and he retired after a short stint with Sunderland.”
Celtic paid tribute when the news broke late on Monday night.
“Everyone at Celtic Football Club is extremely sad to hear of the passing of Lisbon Lion, John ‘Yogi’ Hughes, who has died at the age of 79, and the thoughts and prayers of everyone at the club are with John’s family and friends at this extremely sad time,” they said.
Funeral of Celtic great, John Hughes on Friday
By Celtic Football Club
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2022/august/10/funeral-of-celtic-great–john-hughes-on-friday/
The funeral of Celtic legend, John Hughes will take place this Friday, and the cortege will pass Celtic Park following the Requiem Mass.
The Mass will be held at St Mary’s, Calton on Friday, August 12 at 12.30pm, and following the service, the funeral cortege will then make its way to Celtic Park at approximately 1:45pm.
The service will be broadcast on Celtic TV and the club’s official YouTube channel for those who can’t be at Celtic Park on the day but who still want to pay respects to a Hoops hero and a fellow Celtic supporter.
Fans who wish to pay their respects in person are encouraged to arrive at The Celtic Way outside Celtic Park for 1.30pm in time for the cortege passing Paradise.
John’s family have intimated that a fitting tribute would be the wearing of some green to acknowledge John’s Celtic connection and lifelong love of the club for those in attendance on Friday.
Big Yogi, who was a star of the golden years of the club in the 1960s and an all-time Celtic great, passed away on Monday, August 1 at the age of 79.
The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Celtic Park are with John’s family and friends at this sad time.