Jimmy Steele
(from The Herald 1999)
'WHEN I go, it'll be an all-ticket affair and there's to be no comps!' I can see him now with that cheeky grin of his talking about his own funeral. On Friday I went with many others to pay my last respects to Jimmy Steel. As the Old Firm go head to head today for the first time this season, there will be many people behind the scenes on both sides who will remember 'Steelie' with great affection. There are those who will always comment on the poisonous atmosphere at these games but here was a man who could bridge that divide in an effortless way. He died last week at the age of 85 and I wonder if we shall see his like again.
For nearly 50 years 'Steelie' served both Celtic and Scotland as a masseur but his greatest strength was his ability to relax a dressing room with his warm-hearted and rich personality. I first came across him when I signed for Celtic in 1987 and it quickly became apparent that he was an important part of the team. He had been helping Celtic out long before I arrived at the club and all of the work he did was unpaid.
As well as being a much-loved character with everyone at Celtic, he was held in equally high regard by all the top Rangers players who met him on international duty, to such an extent that Graeme Souness wanted to take him to Ibrox when he took over as manager of the club.
Steelie was one of the characters who had a million stories and one in particular tickled me when he was recounting the times he had with the famous boxer Freddie Mills. Before one fight Freddie had been telling Steelie of how good he felt after one of his rubs. Jumping off the table Freddie declared himself unbeatable because he felt so good and invited Steelie for some shadow-boxing.
Poor old Steelie was so tired after all the training and massaging that he couldn't get out of the way of one of Freddie's punches and ended up with a broken nose! Football has become such a big business all over the world that I wonder if guys like Steelie are becoming a dying breed. At every club I have been at, there have always been those special people who are unfamiliar faces to the public but who do a wonderful job for their club and who show complete and utter devotion to their team.
In today's world where money, money, money is the be all and end all, people like Steelie are few and far between. His connection with Celtic and Scotland was made all the more remarkable as he didn't receive a penny throughout his time with both set-ups. It's not often that Uefa are applauded for showing some initiative but it was fitting that they recently decided to pay tribute to those who have put a lifetime of endeavour into the game.
Unfortunately Steelie was too ill to attend the awards dinner in Monaco but instead his plaque was presented to him by Andy Roxburgh and Bobby Lennox at a recent Celtic game. Another who served his club so well was Neilly Mochan who scored the winning goal in the Coronation Cup Final for Celtic in 1953.
After all his service as a player, Neilly became the trainer with the Lisbon Lions and gave the likes of Billy McNeil and Davie Hay advice when they were the managers of the club.
Neilly would probably be remembered more fondly by the likes of Charlie Nicholas, Paul McStay and Peter Grant because of the way he looked after all the young boys who had left school and were on the groundstaff at Celtic Park. When I joined Bolton Wanderers, one of the first people to welcome me to the club was Nat Lofthouse, a wonderful unassuming man who has spent his entire life in the North West.
I was slightly in awe of him knowing him to be one of England's greatest centre-forwards. I assumed that he was only being polite when he said that he would gladly show me around the area, but sure enough, he stopped by the hotel one day and took the time to advise me on where to stay, where everything was and generally just trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible.
In the same way that Bobby Charlton is a marvellous ambassador for Manchester United and English football, Nat Lofthouse still does the same sort of thing for his club today. On a more modest scale, Bolton also had a retired groundsman, Alan Whittle, who couldn't do enough for the club he loved. Men like them are irreplaceable and I hope their like will continue to be given the opportunity to serve their clubs for a long time.
I will remember Steelie for all the laughs he gave me and my team- mates and I can only admire the way he retained his fitness well into his seventies. It would be safe to say he was one of a kind.
Andy Walker (ex-Celtic player)
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