Lennox, Bobby – Misc Articles

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Interview: Bobby Lennox modest man who made football history

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/interview-bobby-lennox-modest-man-who-made-football-history-1-4420263
AIDAN SMITH

The class clown at my school was fond of impersonating George Davidson. Perfectly capturing the venerable commentator’s politeness and reserve, he’d describe a sequence of passing involving almost the entire Celtic team, but because no man at the mic strove to have his words set in stone back then, the take-off would amount to little more than a list of names and the humour was to be found in the mimicry of Davidson’s distinctive voice: “Gemmell to Murdoch… there’s little Jimmy Johnstone… Wallace now, on to Chalmers…”

Then suddenly the reserve would be ditched: “Rangers had better hold on to their hats because here comes Bobby Lennox. Look at the little fellow go! I wonder what he puts on his porridge in the morning?”

I can’t remember if old George uttered these exact words because the era is so long ago now. The paleness of Lennox’s blue eyes on this sunny spring morning is evidence of all the time that has passed since Scottish football’s year of years, but at 73 the smile is still ready and the wit is still quick. When your correspondent is invited to sit down in the trim front-room stuffed with trinkets and bawbees and bronze boots from the most glittering of careers and confesses to this being his first-ever visit to Saltcoats on the Ayrshire coast, the legend shouts to his wife in the kitchen: “Don’t bother with the kettle, Kath. This one’s just leaving.”

We’re in the midst of the 50th anniversary of our annus mirabilis and even just a casual squint at The Scotsman’s files reminds us that April, 1967 was a month of high delirium. Each day seemed to bring fresh excitement. “First Celtic, then Rangers – now here come Kilmarnock!” we reported after Killie won through to the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, following on from the Old Firm reaching their respective Euro finals. And this very day was pretty special, being the occasion half a century ago of England 2, Scotland 3, the crowning of the unofficial, pretendy world champs, the most mythical of all our sporting achievements – but what’s your point, exactly?

So, given that Lennox had a grand game at Wembley and scored a sizzling goal, what was sprinkled on his porridge that morning? “Sorry, son, but I cannae remember,” he says. “I didn’t know the 15th was the anniversary until you told me. If it’s any good to you, lunch would have been steak with a wee slice of toast, my usual on matchdays. Probably I was quite daunted that morning as it was only my second game for Scotland. But I do remember Denis Law and Jim Baxter holding court in the hotel dining-room then spotting me at the door and saying: ‘Wee man! Ower ye come and gie’s us a’ yer patter.’ That was just great. That settled me right down.”

The Scotland base was in Hendon, an unremarkable north London suburb which must have seemed quite exotic to Lennox. “I’ve always been a homebody,” he confesses. “As a teenager I got invited down to Chelsea but, ach, I stood in the middle of the Kings Road wishing I was back in the Three Towns,” he says, referring to Ardrossan, Stevenston and the centre of his little universe, Saltcoats. “Other English clubs were interested in me but I knew I’d miss my old beat too much.”

From somewhere – well, from Ayrshire in fact – he summoned the courage to defy Jock Stein on the issue of residency. “When Kath and I got married he asked me if we’d move to Glasgow to be closer to the ground but I was perfectly happy tootling the 30 miles up the road.” Then a chuckle. “That was the only time I ever stood up to Big Jock right enough!”

The shy guy of Celtic, he was only too glad to get back home after a game and take Kath to the flicks, the La Scala or the Countess. “Here I’m just wee Bobby from Saltcoats and that’s always suited me just fine.” Out on the pitch, though, Lennox was hardly reticent. There were 571 appearances for the Hoops and 273 goals. Eleven championship badges, eight Scottish Cup medals, another five for the League Cup. And of course a few weeks after Wembley the European Cup as well. Ten of the Lisbon Lions hailed from a ten-mile radius around Parkhead so, in a way, the additional 20 to Saltcoats made Lennox the exotic one.

The man’s a proper icon. Callers at the house during our hour together tend to dally, presumably in the hope of another nugget concerning Bertie, Jinky or Big Tam. I’m particularly irritated by the postman’s arrival because this interrupts Lennox telling me about the Wild West-themed book group he founded with Jimmy Johnstone. Another visitor wants to talk to him about “the statue”. Yes, Saltcoats is erecting one in his name. “It’s humbling,” he says. “I mean, what a wonderful honour but at the same time it’s awfie embarrassing. I did think about objecting but figured they’d probably put it up anyway. This is such a small place and it’ll be very difficult for me to avoid bumping into myself.”

Bertie, Jinky, Big Tam. Auld, Johnstone, Gemmell. These three have been the cabaret star-turns of the Lions, telling the tallest and funniest tales and being the subjects of most of the others. Lennox was the quieter-living speedster on the left wing who didn’t cause Stein any bother and was never spotted by one of the manager’s spies, somewhere he shouldn’t have been. “Of all the lads my age around here I was the last to go to the dancing and I was never one for drinking,” he confirms. “My favourite haunt was a cafe in Saltcoats called the Melbourne. I’d get there nice and early for a seat and make my Vimto last all night. It was there that I met Kath with Elvis on the jukebox. Cannae remember the song, though.” The Melbourne is still going strong, just like Buzzbomb, as Lennox was nicknamed, or Lemon after a newspaper misprint, and when our photographer rings the bell he’s despatched there while we continue our chat.

Wembley ’67 was gloriously informal with none of the modern hype, even though Scotland were taking on the World Cup winners. Celtic played the first leg of their European Cup semi against Dukla Prague three days previously and, on the day of the international, Easter Road, Pittodrie and other grounds hosted league games as usual. And Lennox smiles as he recalls international duty back then: “Our regular rendezvous was the Queen’s Hotel in Largs, a nice wee family run place with good grub but there were only two baths. If you didn’t rush back after training the water would be silty with grass floating on top.”

But all football was informal in ’67, with Celtic’s coach driver getting lost on the journey to Libson’s Estadio Nacional, the team arriving just 50 minutes before kick-off. Says Lennox: “The stadium was in parkland and these photos of just a line of spectators next to some trees still amaze me because I think there’s only nine of them. It could be Ardeer Thistle in the Junior League.” Quaintly, there was a post-match banquet for both teams, Celtic having to wait an hour and a half while the vanquished Inter Milan were interrogated by manager Helenio Herrera. You want more informality? How about captain Billy McNeill handing out the winners’ medals from what Lennox thinks was a shoebox. For the Glasgow homecoming the cup was paraded on the back of a lorry. “Then my two brothers drove me and Kath back to Saltcoats. We popped in to see her parents and had a cup of tea and that was that, history made!” He remembers something else: “Me and Jinky asked Jock if we could get a picture of us wee guys next to the trophy because it was so big. He grumped about that. ‘Hurry up,’ he said, ‘because it’s going straight to the boardroom.’” Changed days. Now the likes of John Terry, banned from the final, can slip into his strip, shinpads and all, to cavort with the cup and try to re-write memories of Chelsea’s triumph.

Did the Scotland set-up become more slick with the appointment of Bobby Brown, the first full-time manager? “Not really. Jock was the only boss who went into tactics and that in a big way. The England game was Bobby’s first in charge and he didn’t really give us a team-talk. The big thing in the build-up was that everyone had to have their socks pulled right up and three inches of red showing at the top. That was in a pamphlet handed out by the SFA. I’m pretty sure all Bobby said to us before kick-off was that we were good players and we should go out and enjoy ourselves.

“Did we think we beat England? We wanted to win. The Anglos desperately wanted to win, having had to listen to how the World Cup had been won all season long. That [the ’66 final] had been a funny game for a Scotsman to watch. I didn’t really want West Germany to win it but I couldn’t say I was fussed about England winning either, even though they had great players like Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore. I hope that doesn’t make me sound anti-English.” (No Bobby, it doesn’t).

To relax before big games Lennox says he taught himself to read and the chunky, but already half-devoured, Wilbur Smith by his side is proof that he’s maintained the habit. “I like a wee relaxing afternoon with a book if it’s wet outside,” he says, “but at first it was cowboy novels because they were dead easy. You know: Leftie could always outshoot Hank and Hank could always outshoot Bronco! Jinky and I got into these books at the same time. We’d be down at Seamill with Celtic and in the afternoons everyone else would have a wee sleep and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Cowboy books were great for first-time readers!” I mention the shoot-’em-up king from my youth, JT Edson. “Read everything he wrote,” beams Lennox. “He liked to have women fighting, didn’t he?” Now a brilliant image presents itself of Jinky chapping on our man’s bedroom door: “Hey Lemon, have you got to page 47? JT’s best bird-on-bird scrap yet!”

On the eve of the England game the players had a look round Wembley. “The big scoreboard read ‘England 0, Scotland 0’ and Eddie McCreadie said to me: ‘Wee man, if that’s the score at the end I’ll be going into Stamford Bridge on Monday wearing my Scotland strip and a massive grin.’ McCreadie next appears in our story when Elvis next turns up, Lennox having left Celtic in 1978 for the States: “When my team, Houston Hurricane, beat Memphis Rogues, who were managed by Eddie, I sent Big Jock a postcard: ‘Scored in the King’s home town and visited Gracelands. I’ve done it all now, Boss.’” He hadn’t of course and would soon return to Celtic for more glory.

On the journey to Wembley Lennox was thrilled by the sight of so many of his tartan-tammied countrymen, even more when he spotted his father, also Bobby. “It was a warm sunny day but Dad was sat on a step in his best coat. He’d driven down with my uncle and brothers but was too shy to collect the complimentary tickets and the others had to do it. Dad was a bookmaker’s assistant down at the harbour in Saltcoats when betting was illegal so he had to work surreptitiously. Every month or so the local bobby would say: ‘Bobby, I’m going to have to lift you tomorrow.’ Dad would go: ‘Right, see you then.’ Dad was so shy that when I played juveniles he’d hide behind a tree to watch my games, not letting on. He was the loveliest man in the world.

“I must have got my shyness from him. During the Ayrshire trials, when I found out I’d been picked for the Probables but that my three best pals from school were all in the Possibles, I refused to play.” But there wasn’t the merest trace of self-consciousness from Lennox in ’67, not when Celtic grabbed every prize going or in the Wembley victory. “Few folk seemed to give us a chance of beating England but we felt good. Baxter was going round the dressing-room telling everyone: ‘Just gie the ball to me, boys, and we’ll be fine.’ Then in the tunnel the Lawman completely blanked [Manchester United team-mate] Nobby Stiles.”

Law opened the scoring but shortly after Lennox was clattered by Jack Charlton. “He really did me and snapped a stud on my knee. The stud went up into his boot and broke one of his toes. My knee didn’t stop bleeding for two days. I was wearing a grey suit and it bled through that. There were no substitutes in those days but I wasn’t about to come off.”

Lennox’s goal, a right-foot shot past Gordon Banks, came in the 78th minute after Moore bravely stood up to a Gemmell thundercrack and Big Tam had returned the ball into the box. “I hit it nice and remember thinking: ‘Don’t bother diving, Banksy.’ Almost every one of my team-mates jumped on me. That really didn’t happen back then.” Well, it was a momentous triumph and at the final whistle Lennox sought out another Englishman he greatly admired, Jimmy Greaves. “I said: ‘Mr Greaves, can I please have your shirt?’” The swap happened at the England dressing-room door, Lennox unable to resist a peek at the crestfallen Auld Enemy.

This is a special year for Lennox who stresses that the really important match of ’67 was his marriage to Kath that summer in the church next to the Melbourne. With Gemmell’s death last month having so closely followed the revelation about McNeill’s dementia, the Lisbon anniversary celebrations will be poignant. “It’s Bertie, John [Clark], Cairney [Jim Craig] and myself who do most of the functions now. The team is fading but of course their achievements never will. At the time I don’t think we realised what we’d done. Because it was such a fantastic year for Scottish football the country possibly thought it might be repeated. And the same goes for the national team after Wembley.”

The Dark Blue heroes returned north the following day with the shy guy’s knee still oozing blood. “I think I just said goodbye to the boys in Glasgow, caught the train to Saltcoats and walked up the road. In fact, I know I did.”

This is Bobby’s own story

My first memory of the club was my Dad taking me as a boy to go and see Celtic play Arsenal in the Coronation Cup. I think Bobby Collins scored from a corner kick and Celtic beat Arsenal 1-0. When I was younger, my Mum and Dad would let me go to see Kilmarnock with my pals, but they wouldn’t let me go into Glasgow on my own. Eventually they let me go in to Celtic Park with two of my friends to see a game against Airdrie and I am not sure when it was, but I’m sure that Bertie Peacock scored the winning goal and it finished 3-2. It was a fair trip in from Saltcoats in those days, we had to get the train into Glasgow and then get the tram up to Celtic Park. We just followed the crowds, we weren’t sure where we were going, but I am pretty sure we got the No.64 tram to Auchenshuggle. My Dad gave us money to go in the stand that day and we had to leave 10 minutes early to make sure we caught the train up the road.

This might sound a bit big-headed, but I have so many highlights from my years here that I couldn’t say there was a particular instance. There was my first ever goal against Rangers, the final whistle in Lisbon, even the final whistle in the semi-final of the European Cup that year. There was my goal against Read Madrid when we beat them 1-0, there was also the day when we had worked on a free-kick every day for two weeks up at Celtic Park and it worked against Aberdeen, with me smashing the ball into the top corner and it sticking in the stanchion. There was another game where we had been working on a corner that worked, with Bertie Auld hitting it long to Joe McBride, who headed it back down to me and I finished. There was the League Cup final where I came in, scored and we beat Rangers 1-0. There was also the final whistle in our first cup win, against Dunfermline in 1965 and the time when I was made captain for six weeks, just after the Boss had had his crash. Everybody knew that Kenny Dalglish was going to be captain in the long-term, but they made me acting captain for six weeks and that was a great honour. There have been loads and loads of highlights and I can’t just pick one. I really hope people don’t think that I am being smart or big-headed saying that, it’s just impossible to pick one out.

Getting beat in the European Cup final against Feyenoord in 1970 was the lowest point in my football career. It is the one regret I have from my time at Celtic and I still think about it today. We could have been double champions, two time winners. We just didn’t play well on the night, even though everybody had us as big favourites. Guys who have been in that situation and lost will know what I am talking about – the European Cup final is one of the biggest games you could lose. To this day I still don’t like thinking about it.

The one ground I loved going to play at, apart from Celtic Park, was Firhill. I scored five in a game at Firhill, I scored four in another, I always just seemed to get a lot of goals at Firhill. That stadium, at a night game, was electric, it felt like it was bursting at the seams and it was one place I loved going to play at night. The fans are right on top of you, but the playing pitch wasn’t tight and I didn’t like tight pitches. At Firhill you had the room to play, but you lost none of the atmosphere. It was just a great place to play. And it was local for Mr Auld, so he didn’t have far to travel.

As a boy, when I was first getting in and out the team and wasn’t doing so well, I played against Barcelona at Celtic Park, and faced a guy called Benitez. He played at full-back against me and was a wee strong guy and a big hero at Barcelona. He was as good a player I have played against. In saying that, I played against a lot of good Scottish players and I wouldn’t just gloss over that by talking about Europe. I played against a lot of good Scottish players and there’s one that sticks in my mind in particular. There was a big guy who played for Partick Thistle, funnily enough. He was a big left-half who wasn’t actually a first team regular, but every time I played against him I hardly got a kick. The only thing is, I can’t remember his name! It was during the mid to late-Sixties.

There were a few offside decisions that went against me that I still look back on today. There are certain goals I can see clearly and know that when Bobby Murdoch or Bertie made the pass, I was never offside. Sometimes I could even see the linesman looking up and by that time I was already by someone. Put it this way, I know I should have a few extra goals to my credit! There was one game in particular when we beat Dundee United 1-0 at Tannadice and I scored four, with three getting chopped off. On reflection, one of them was probably offside, but I should have at least had a hat-trick. I just had to keep going in there though, making the runs and not letting my head go down. I would get annoyed from time to time, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was quite crabbit on the park like anyone else, but there was no point going on about things.

I was really pleased to be included in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and I think my family were pleased for me as well. It’s a great honour to be included in that great group of Scottish players and it was something I never expected at this stage in my life. I only got 10 caps for Scotland when I was playing and when I got my last one, I was only in my mid-20s. It wasn’t like I was an old man or anything. A lot of my team-mates should have had more caps, though, and when I look at people like Bertie, John Clark and Stevie Chalmers and say to myself, ‘how did these guys only get two or three caps between them?’ But life is life, these things happen and you can’t dwell on them.

I am a Celtic supporter, as everybody knows and it’s great to have had such a long association with the club. It’s a privilege that I really appreciate. I was only away in America for about six months when I came back to rejoin the club and I was delighted to get the chance to come back, like I said, it’s a great honour and I am very fortunate to be associated with the club I support for so long. I have enjoyed so many good times through the club, not just as a player and a supporter, but off the park as well. I have made great friends and as people know, the Lisbon Lions are like brothers. I have been lucky enough to play in two or three different teams, with players like big Roy Aitken, Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, George McCluskey and Davie Provan, I have been fortunate enough to have played with loads of good players and in four completely different Celtic teams. I have been really fortunate.

When I was growing up I always wanted to be a motor mechanic and had I not become a footballer, that’s probably something I would have gone into. Now I couldn’t even take a wheel off a car just now, but when I was a young boy that was something I really wanted to do. It never materialised though and when I was younger, I just worked in the ICI. That was a big plant in Stevenston which had about 10,000 people working in it. I worked in the box factory and it was my job to make so many hundred boxes every day. It was really repetitive work, so when I had the chance to go full-time with Celtic and get out of that place, one thing that helped me in my career was that I didn’t want to go back there. It made me appreciate what I had in life and I think that maybe some of the young boys would benefit from a similar experience today, a year away from full-time football, working in a really hard job that they didn’t like, up early in the morning and coming home late at night, they would appreciate what they had.

My advice to any young person who wanted to become a Celtic player would be that you have to work as hard as you can. You cannot be a part-time full-timer. You can’t come into Celtic Park in the morning, work hard in training and then just go away. You have to think about what else you are doing with your time, whether or not you are resting and preparing for the game, because that’s important. But you have to be conscientious, really determined and not let anything get in your way. ge

BOBBY LENNOX

By David Potter (from KeepTheFaith website)

No-one typified the Jock Stein era more than “little Lennoxie”, as an old timer used to dub him. Bobby had the sort of infectious enthusiasm that simply made you like him. He was the fastest thing on feet, and possessed no little skill in ball control and ball passing either. He scored 273 goals (second only to James Edward McGrory) in a career for Celtic that lasted almost 20 years as a player. He then played a great part behind the scenes as a Coach.

Like quite a few Celts of old, he is an Ayrshire man, and has the claim of being the furthest-away-from-Parkhead of the Lisbon Lions. Yet in European terms, Saltcoats to Glasgow is almost next door! He joined the Club in 1961 as an 18-year old and must have been totally disorientated with the lack of organization or thought that went on at Celtic at that time. He made his debut in 1962 in a game against League leaders Dundee . Celtic actually won that game, but Bobby was soon put back to the reserve team after a few less successful outings.

It was in February 1964 in a reserve game at Dundee United that I first formed the opinion that there might be something there, for “he looked like a football player” as he chased, harried and fought for the green and white. He made a few appearances at the start of the 1964-65 season, but by the New Year both he and Celtic were in total despair as all dreams had collapsed.

It was the arrival of Jock Stein that revolutionised Lennox , as with so many others at Celtic Park , but in fact the crucial change had been made on January 23 rd when Sean Fallon played him at inside left to Bertie Auld. Stein then abandoned the idea of left wingers altogether, moved Auld to midfield and played Lennox as a “left sided forward” in the 4-2-4 formation.

Lennox came of age on that glorious day of April 24 th 1965 as Celtic won back the Scottish Cup by beating Dunfermline Athletic. He played a brilliant one-two in the build up to the second goal, and it is appropriate that the pictures of Billy McNeill heading Celtic back to immortality show Bobby Lennox bending down to allow him to score. From now on, Lennox would be an integral part of Celtic for the next 15 years.

Stein encouraged Lennox to cultivate speed. The other players, particularly Murdoch and Auld, were to feed Lennox and Johnstone. Jimmy needed the ball at his feet, but they had to put the ball about a yard ahead of Lennox so that he could run on to it. Goals came, and Bobby Lennox was always a particular thorn in the flesh of John Greig, whose career was never quite the same again.

Another great thing that Lennox possessed was an equable temperament. He was, like everyone else in that excellent squad, dropped now and again for no apparent reason other than that Jock liked to give everyone a chance. From others, there were tantrums and transfer requests. Bobby merely shrugged his shoulders and got on with it. For that reason he remained a great favourite of Jock's, and indeed with the Parkhead crowd.

But his serene personality was often put to the test when he was flagged for offside by a linesman who could not believe that Lennox could be so fast. There was an infamous example of this in 1966 at Liverpool when a perfectly legitimate goal was chalked off. Even Ron Yeats of Liverpool agreed that Lennox was onside, and so too, reluctantly, did David Coleman and the BBC. The point was made, however, a year later when Lennox played his part in the European Cup triumph.

In 1968, he won the Scottish League with the worst shot of his career. The ball came off his shin as Celtic beat Morton with the last kick of the ball before a delirious Parkhead. In 1969, he scored against Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final, and helped himself to a hat trick in the League Cup Final against Hibs in that glorious month of April when Celtic won all three Scottish trophies.

In the midst of all this, Lennox won 10 Scottish caps and should indeed have had more. In the famous 3-2 game of April 1967, Bobby became the first Celtic player to score at Wembley (they never gave McGrory the chance!), and that was while he was en route to Lisbon ! It was such a pity that Scotland did not qualify for the World Cups of 1966 or 1970, when we might have seen Bobby Lennox at his peak in an International context.

Lennox never seemed to age. He was 30 in 1973 but speed never left him. True, he played less often than before, but never were Celtic short-changed by the effort and determination of Bobby Lennox. He remained a chivalrous and gentlemanly player as well, and a shy, retiring character off the field. He found a great soul-mate in Jimmy Johnstone. Totally different temperaments, they nevertheless enjoyed each other's company, sharing a joie de vivre and a love for pop music.

A broken leg in November 1976 put him out of Celtic action for a while. This injury was caused by John Greig at Ibrox, but Bobby was at pains to exonerate Greigy for it. Indeed “Greigy” was one of the first to visit him in hospital the following day. All of Ibrox retained a respect for Lennox , for he was a star football player who always did his best against Rangers, but who went out of his way to defuse situations that might, with men of lesser character, have led to something serious.

Bobby had a short spell in 1978 in the U.S.A. with Houston Hurricanes. But after his old captain Billy McNeill returned to Parkhead as Manager, Bobby followed fairly quickly and played his part in that glorious night of May 21 st 1979 when 10 men won the League, and in the Scottish Cup Final of 1980. When Danny McGrain's shot hit George McCluskey's leg and went in, whose grinning face did the TV cameras beam upon? None other than the Buzzbomb, the Lemmon, the evergreen “little Lennoxie”!

Bobby holds 11 Scottish League medals and 8 Scottish Cup medals. The 8 Scottish Cup medals may be a record beating the 7 of McNeill and McMenemy, but the latter two started in all their 7 games whereas Bobby was used as a sub in three of his. Not that Bobby is likely to get upset about it, though. He also has an M.B.E., which the Queen granted him in 1981 to show that even Her Majesty knows a great footballer when she sees one. t

‘When I turned away after scoring, I started running to where I thought my dad was’

The Times:
Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lennox-7s0vmjqxd

Bobby Lennox, scorer of Scotland’s second at Wembley in 1967, tells Phil Gordon about that famous day 50 years ago

For someone who has spent his entire life looking at the water, it was only natural that Bobby Lennox’s abiding memory of Wembley 1967, is of the sea. A sea of people.

There could not have been a greater contrast for Lennox. There were 100,000 fans descending on London’s iconic stadium. For a boy from Saltcoats, with a population of 11,000, it was surreal. Yet, amid the chaos, one unmistakeable face stood out on the horizon. Lennox’s father, Bobby senior, could be glimpsed waiting for his son away from the crowd, as if they had just bumped into each other on the streets of their home town.

Lennox, now 73, has never left that town on the Ayrshire coast. It might have been 30 miles from Glasgow but not even Jock Stein could persuade the Celtic forward to move to the city. Lennox rewarded Celtic’s legendary manager by winning the European Cup in May 1967. However, a month earlier Lennox also contributed to Scotland’s most celebrated victory, scoring in the 3-2 defeat of then-world champions England. Today is the 50th anniversary of the Wembley epic.

With Denis Law’s first-half goal a poor reflection for Scotland’s dominance, it was Lennox who gave Bobby Brown’s team clear blue water between them and the world champions when he conjured up a stunning 78th-minute finish to make it 2-0. He can still see the shot on the turn from the edge of the box in his mind’s eye, beating goalkeeper Gordon Banks. Though Jack Charlton reduced the deficit, Jim McCalliog promptly restored it and not even Geoff Hurst’s late reply could prevent Scotland from inflicting the first defeat upon England since winning the 1966 World Cup.

“I enjoyed that goal so much,” reflected Lennox. “When I turned away, I started running to where I thought my dad was. He didn’t go to a lot of the games. He got too excited. But he said later that if I’d have kept on running I’d have been in beside him.

“When we turned up at the stadium, and came up Wembley Way on the Scotland bus, there were thousands of Scotsmen. When we turned the corner towards the dressing rooms, there was my dad sitting on the steps. I could see him right away. That made my day.

“Everyone else was crowding round the bus but he was sitting on the steps and that’s how I saw him. My dad was too shy to come and get the tickets I’d left for him so he sent my uncle instead.”

In hindsight, Scotland’s football high-water mark was 1967. Wembley symbolised just how good our game was, and how good our players were, as Lennox points out. “Ourselves and Rangers reached European finals. But it was not about Celtic and Rangers. Our league was so strong. Dundee United knocked out Barcelona of the Fairs Cup [now the Europa League] and United also beat Celtic home and away. They were the only team to do that to us domestically as we won the Scottish Cup and League Cup.

“Kilmarnock also got to the semi- finals of the Fairs Cup that season and lost to Leeds United. Dunfermline and Dundee both got to European semi- finals in the next two seasons.

“There were four Celtic players in the Scotland side at Wembley who were going onto win the European Cup final and two Rangers players going to the Cup Winners’ Cup final. And we didn’t have Jimmy Johnstone, Billy McNeill or Bobby Murdoch, who all played in Lisbon.

“Then there were the Anglos. Billy Bremner, Denis Law, Jim McCalliog, Jim Baxter and Eddie McCreadie. Billy was captain of Leeds United, Denis had just helped Manchester United become English champions. All those guys were top players in England, we were no mugs.

“Bobby Moore said something to Denis that this would be the England players’ last game of the season. Denis just reminded him that our lot still had European Cup finals to play in.

“England were a great team. Although Jock Stein used to love saying things like ‘Leeds are a great team’ when we faced them the 1970 European Cup semi-finals, ‘but you’ll beat them home and away.’ Which we did.”

It was one of those Leeds players, who would almost ruin Lennox’s Wembley fairytale. Jack Charlton caught Lennox on the knee with a tackle that was trademark Leeds. “There was blood everywhere,” recalls Lennox. “The gash was deep and he might have broken my knee, a month before the European Cup final. I might have missed out on Lisbon. But we beat them convincingly. Even though it finished 3-2, that does not tell the real story. Because they were world champions made it sweeter. We had no chance, according to the English press.

“I remember training at Wembley the day before the game and the big scoreboard had: ‘England 0 Scotland 0.’ Eddie McCreadie, who was Chelsea’s right back, said: ‘If it finishes 0-0 tomorrow I’m going to wear my Scotland strip going into Stamford Bridge on Monday. Goodness knows what Eddie did after we won 3-2.”

Lennox, though, is still irked that Scotland didn’t reach the 1968 European Championship finals in Italy. Then, only one group winner qualified and Uefa had selected the British counties en bloc, as the qualifying group, with the Home Internationals doubling up in 1967 and 1968.

“That’s the mistake people make, by calling the game at Wembley a friendly,” said Lennox. “It was a European Championship qualifier. We beat England at Wembley and drew with them at Hampden and didn’t qualify. England did. It was the other games that we lost out on, which is typical Scotland.”

A defeat to Northern Ireland in Belfast cost that Scotland side a place in the finals as they were a point behind England. “Italy ended our hopes of getting to the 1966 World Cup,” recalls Lennox. “We lost 3-0 in Naples, which I was in the squad for, and then it was Germany who beat us for the place to go to the 1970 World Cup.”

Celtic’s defeat of Inter Milan on May 25, 1967, saw them become the first British club to lift the European Cup. A week later, they defeated Real Madrid 1-0 in Alfredo Di Stefano’s testimonial in the Bernabeu stadium. Lennox, naturally, scored. “Of all my goals, I enjoyed the ones at the Bernabeu and Wembley the most,” said Lennox. “Beating Real was a huge thing for the players but there were no Celtic fans there to see it, so the fact my dad was at Wembley to see me score makes that so special.”

Now, there is a campaign in Saltcoats to honour its most feted footballer with a statue. “It’s very humbling,” says Lennox. When he is reminded that Cristiano Ronaldo has just built his own statue in Madeira, Lennox cracks a smile, before returning to his default modesty.

“It’s nice for the family that I will get a statue,” said Lennox. “I was a bit reluctant at first. I don’t know if they will put it in the town, or the shore.

“It’s good to be recognised by the town. I’ve always been a Saltcoats boy. Jock asked me to move to Glasgow but I wanted to stay here. I love the fact that there are statues up at Celtic Park of Jimmy, Billy and Big Jock. Fans come to the ground even when there’s no game and take photographs of them. It’s a way to remember.”

Where are they now?

It is 50 years since Scotland handed England their first defeat since winning the 1966 World Cup.

England: 1 Banks (Leicester), 2 Cohen (Fulham), 3 Wilson (Everton), 4 Stiles (Manchester Utd), 5 J Charlton (Leeds), 6 Moore (West Ham Utd), 7 Ball (Everton), 8 Greaves (Spurs), 9 B. Charlton (Manchester Utd), 10 Hurst (West Ham Utd), 11. Peters (West Ham Utd).

Scotland: 1 Simpson (Celtic), 2 Gemmell (Celtic), 3 McCreadie (Chelsea), 4 Greig (Rangers), 5 McKinnon (Rangers), 6 Baxter (Sunderland), 7 Wallace (Celtic), 8 Bremner (Leeds), 9 McCalliog (Sheffield Wed), 10 Law (Manchester Utd), 11 Lennox (Celtic).

Goals: Law 0-1, Lennox 0-2, J. Charlton 1-2, McCalliog 1-3, Hurst 2-3.

What became of the victors?

Ronnie Simpson
The Celtic goalkeeper made his Scotland debut at Wembley at the age of 36. But he was by no means over the hill by that point. After hanging up his gloves in 1970, he had a spell as Hamilton boss and served as a councillor in Edinburgh. He died of a heart attack in 2004.

Tommy Gemmell
The Celtic left-back became the first British player to score in two European Cup finals. After stints as boss at Dens Park and Albion Rovers, he moved on to a career in financial services. Gemmell died last month following a long illness.

Eddie McCreadie
The defender returned to Wembley a month later but this time ended up on the losing side as Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final. McCreadie now lives in the United States.

John Greig
The Ibrox side’s post-war appearance record-holder went on to manage the Light Blues but resigned in 1983. He was later voted the ‘Greatest Ever Ranger’ by the club’s supporters.

Ronnie McKinnon
The Rangers defender suffered a leg-break again st Sporting Lisbon in 1972 which ended his Ibrox career. He now lives on the Isle of Lewis.

Jim Baxter
The Sunderland playmaker’s display of keepy-uppy has come to symbolise Scotland’s mastery over Alf Ramsey’s world champions. But Baxter’s problems with alcoholism blighted his later years. Baxter lost his battle with cancer in 2001.

Willie Wallace
Wallace was also in the Celtic line-up a month later as they beat Inter Milan in Lisbon to claim their place in history. He moved to Crystal Palace in 1972 and rounded off his career in Australia, where he still lives.

Billy Bremner
The battling midfielder was a member of both the Scottish and English halls of fame. Bremner died in 1997 after a heart attack.

Jim McCalliog
The youngster netted the winner at Wembley and, after brief stints in the United States and Norway, now runs an Ayrshire B&B.

Denis Law
The Manchester United striker was Scotland’s only Ballon d’Or winner and has worked in the media and for several charities.

Bobby Lennox
The man who put Scotland 2-0 up was the last Lisbon Lion to retire, playing on until he was 38. He is still a familiar face at Celtic Park, where he works as a match-day host.