| Matches: 1964 – 1965 | 1964-1965 Pictures | League Table | Statistics |
Change came! – The Arrival of Jock Stein as Manager.
- League Position – 8th
- League Cup – Losing finalists
- Scottish Cup – Winners
- European Inter Cities Fairs Cup – Second Round
- Others: Glasgow Cup – Winners
In the Review of the previous season it was noted that change had to come to Celtic the club – and there was a sense that it would come. This season delivered the fundamental building block of that change and that was the return of Jock Stein back at Paradise as Manager. Since retiring as a centre half at Celtic he had coached and trained the Reserves and young players at Celtic before moving on to become a manager. At Dunfermiline he had transformed an ailing team into one that challenged for dominance and which had delivered European football to Fife. He had moved on to Hibernian and turned things around there miraculously too. This success did not go unnoticed and by 1965 Jock Stein had established his credentials as a manager that thought deeply about the game and who could transform a disparate group of players into a team. He was already being approached to move south to manage an English team. It was this catalyst which started the chain of events that saw him back at Celtic. Stein was approached to become manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers who were languishing in the lower reaches of English Division 1. He called Robert Kelly to discuss the matter over lunch. During that conversation Kelly made an offer for Jock to come back and manage Celtic.
Robert Kelly must have been alert to the fact that Jock had ambition. Whether he had seen Jock as the future manager was another matter. He had promoted and had faith in Sean Fallon eventually taking over from Jimmy McGrory but this would have been a continuation of the same practise that had pervaded Celtic up to this point, with the manager merely being a communicator between the Board and the team. Kelly must have known that something different was needed. Also there is the matter whether Jock Stein was angling for the Celtic manager's job too. He must have seen and known the position at the club so calling the meeting with Robert Kelly would have been a way of laying out his cards. There remained the problem of Sean Fallon. Allegedly when Fallon was told of the move he was prepared to resign, but it never came to that. Stein said he was happy to take on Sean, a man he had played with on the field, as his assistant. But right from the start he made it plain and clear to Robert Kelly that in all first team matters, he was in charge. He picked the team. He made the tactics. He was in overrall control of signing and delivery. This was the major change. The mould with the Board picking the team was broken.
All that remained was the usual jockeying of managerial posts once his appointment as manager was announced on the 31st January 1965. Hibernian appointed Bob Shankly from Dundee, Dundee appointed Bobby Ancell fromk Motherwell. Jock Stein duly commenced as team manager of Celtic on 8th March.
So what about the team and the season? With such a major event you can hardly do anything other than split the season into a 'before' and 'after' analysis. If the Board knew that change had to come at the end of the 1963-64 season then so too did the players. Billy McNeill readily states that he was definely thinking of moving on at the end of the season and this too goes for Jinky, Murdoch, Brogan and Hughes. All that changed with the return of Jock.
In the League Cup at the start of the season for once Celtic responded and they qualified out of a group with Kilmarnock, Hearts and Partick Thistle – on paper not an easy group to qualify from. This took them to a quarter final against East Fife where they received a shock in the first leg losing 2-0 away at Methil but pulled it back with a 6-0 win at Celtic Park. The semi final saw them overcome Morton with a 2-0 win to set up a Final against Rangers. Celtic should have done better in the first half and in the end gave away two goals in the second before Jimmy Johnstone pulled one back. But the League Cup did not have Celtic's name on it this year and Rangers held out to the end.
In the League the perennial problem raised its head again – consistency. There just seemed to be no reason as to why they could produce good results through excellent play one week and then barely scrape a draw the next. This was highlighted by Jock Stein immediately on his return and before the Scottish Cup Final. The team needed to perform as a unit. Players had had their chance. There would be changes. And now there was someone in place with the power and foresight to make those changes – so buck up! and start playing like a team!. This was the message that was not only given to the team – but made public by Stein through the official match day programme of 17th April for the game against Partick Thistle. The teams from when he arrived to the end of the season were mixed around to look at the capabilities of ther players and possible combinations. The League was already lost and there was no way that Celtic could have challenged for a top spot. So the time was used to see what was what.
In the Scottish Cup, punters made Celtic an early favourite to win the Cup outright. The First Round saw St Mirren despatched but part-timers Queen's Park proved harder in the next round and it took till 2/3rds of the way through the game before Bobby Lennox scored the only goal. Kilmarnock were put away in the quarter final and in the semi, Celtic needed a replay to overcome Motherwell for whom Joe McBride put on such a good show that his name was marked down by Jock immediately. The Final against Dunfermiline was always going to be Celtic's day and it was captain Billy McNeill that scored the winner with a bullet header from a corner.
At the end of the season they also went ahead and retained the Glasgow Cup.
Arrivals and departures are dealt with on the Statistics page, but the return of Bertie Auld, Jimmy McGrory's last signing, changed the way the team played and he added a real energy to the team. Everything – or nearly everything – was in place now for the team to start playing like they should and taking their rightful place at the head of Scottish football.
