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Fullname: Samuel Evan Williams
aka: Evan Williams
Born: 15 July 1943
Birthplace: Dumbarton
Signed: 14 October 1969
Left: 6 May 1974
Position: Goalkeeper
First game: St Mirren home league 2-0 1 December 1969
Last game: Basle away European cup 2-3 27 February 1974
Internationals: none
Biog
| “I didn’t realise how important you were to Celtic until you weren’t there anymore, and I didn’t realise that goalkeeper is the hardest
position of all.” Jock Stein to Evan Williams |
Evan Williams was a reserve keeper at Wolverhampton Wanderers when he moved to Celtic in October 1969 for a moderate fee after being out on loan to Tommy Docherty‘s Aston Villa. It was a remarkable change of fortune for the Dumbarton-born keeper who suddenly swapped reserve league football for European glory nights with Jock Stein’s Hoops.
Evan Williams made his Celtic debut on December 1st 1969 and he kept a clean sheet as the Bhoys won a home league encounter with St Mirren 2-0. He went on to be one of the few Celtic players to do themselves justice in the 1970 European Cup final defeat to Feyenoord where he saved Celtic from a considerable beating. Many actually say he was our best player on the night. He had also been impressive in the pivotal semi-final ties against the much vaunted Leeds United. It was a real reward to be involved in those matches, and he more than played his part.
Evan was an under-rated member of a hugely successful Celtic side and had a wonderful record in games against Rangers in which he excelled and saw off John Fallon and Denis Connaghan for the keeper’s jersey.
He was first choice goalkeeper and showed consistency in the title winning years of 1970, 1971 and 1972. He had an excellent game in the Scottish Cup Final replay in 1971 when Celtic triumphed 2-1 over Rangers and then had an easier game a year later in the 6-1 final thrashing of Hibs.
He did take criticism for the shock 4-1 League Cup Final reverse to Partick Thistle in October 1971, though in truth none of the goals conceded were necessarily his fault.
In a Celtic View article in 2008, Evan recalled playing against Fiorentina in March 1970 in Florence. The Italians were given an indirect free kick on the edge of the area and one of their player shot directly at goal and Evan moved out of the way to allow the ball to hit the net and coolly placed the ball for a goal kick to the initial bemusement of the celebrating Fiorentina players.
Celtic won through 3-1 on aggregate v Fiorentina and at the end of the game the Swedish referee waited at the final whistle at the tunnel for Evan. He then congratulated him on his knowledge of the rules of the game. Feeling quite chuffed with himself he went into the dressing room where Jock Stein balled at him never to do that again and that he was ‘to bloody well keep the ball out and NEVER to let the ball in!‘.
In time, Ally Hunter was to join Celtic from Kilmarnock in January 1973, and Evan was to then fell from grace. His last opportunity was against Basel in a European Cup quarter-final away leg when he lost two bad goals, one to future Borussia Dortmund manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, and he never played for Celtic’s first team again.
Evan Williams eventually departed Parkhead in the summer of 1974 when he was released by the club before signing on for Clyde. By then he had made 148 appearances and helped himself and the team to four league championship titles and two Scottish Cup victories.
Evan Williams was a popular and capable Celtic goalkeeper and taking over from the great Ronnie Simpson was never to be an easy task for any aspiring keeper. A very high benchmark to come up against, but he succeeded with a great shut-out rate of 40%.
His later activities include short spells with Stranraer and Falkirk, and periods in charge of his original junior club Vale of Leven and as Assistant to Harry Hood at Albion Rovers. After many years out of the game Evan took charge of Ardeer Thistle in August 2001, brought in a whole new team and saved them from folding. He departed in March 2003.
Quotes
“After I’d finished I was at a dinner with Ronnie and Jock sat down next to us. He wanted to apologise. ‘I didn’t realise how important you were to Celtic until you weren’t there anymore,’ he said. ‘And I didn’t realise that goalkeeper is the hardest position of all’.”
Evan Williams (2016)
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1969-74 |
82 | 19 | 25 | 22 | 148 |
| Shut-outs |
36 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 59 (40%) |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish Cup
Pictures
Articles
Evan Williams: a bhoy’s own story
(from Celticfc.net site)
David Friel
AS part of a series taken from the Celtic View, we have been taking a trip down memory lane with a host of past Celtic favourites to get their own personal take on what it was like to pull on the Hoops. Next up is Evan Williams…
IT was a tough job, but somebody had to get it. When Ronnie Simpson, the ‘Faither’ of the Lisbon Lions, had to call it a day, a young man called Evan Williams was plucked from Wolves and thrown into the lions’ den.
The Dumbarton-born goalkeeper made a total of 148 appearances for the Hoops and walked away with four league titles and two Scottish Cups to his name.
During his career, Evan had spells with Third Lanark, Wolves, Aston Villa and Clyde, but his heart always remained at Celtic. This is his Bhoy’s Own Story.
My first memory of Celtic was going to games as a young boy. I lived in Dumbarton and my next door neighbour took me along one Saturday because I’d helped him with his garden. My heroes were Willie Fernie and Bertie Peacock. I just loved watching them play football. Fernie was incredible. His touch was unbelievable and he was a very under-rated footballer. Bertie Peacock was one of the hardest men I ever saw playing football. I became a goalkeeper at a young age but I always wanted to play outfield. At school, I started as an outfield player but for some reason always ended up as a goalkeeper. They finally made me captain just to keep me happy. I was a midfielder first of all but didn’t last long and then found out I had a bit of talent as a goalkeeper. I was quite small when I was young, so I never got a game for the senior team at school. That probably put me off to start with, but I took a growth spurt and that made a difference.
In the late 1960s, I was playing with Wolves and I went on loan to Aston Villa. I’d been told that Celtic were interested in me but I wasn’t totally sure. There were rumours that they wanted me, but there were also rumours that they wanted Frank Munro. The two of us didn’t know what to believe. When Sean Fallon came to games, he’d always stand behind the goal, so you knew he was there. I did quite well at Villa and one day the phone rang and it was Sean. In his thick Irish accent, he just said: ‘Now don’t you be signing for anybody…we’re coming for you’ and that was it. When I finished my loan spell at Villa, I was offered a contract but I said no. I knew Celtic were coming in for me and when I went back to Wolves, the manager Bill McGarry said he wanted me in his first team for the next game against Spurs. But he’d always said he’d let me go back home if the chance came up. He told me a club in Glasgow wanted to speak to me and I knew it was Celtic. That was at 10am and I managed to make the 11am train home. Sean met me at the station. I went to see Celtic play Ayr United that night and signed. I made my league debut in December 1969.
The highlight of my time at Celtic was undoubtedly the European Cup final in 1970 against Feyenoord. I know we lost the game but to reach that level and represent Celtic on such a big occasion meant a lot to me. Just playing with the Lisbon Lions was another highlight. I came up from Wolves and when I first walked out in to the dressing-room they were all just sitting there. I can remember saying to myself, ‘Simpson, Craig, Gemmell…’ but they treated me as one of the lads. It wasn’t like that at every club. I played with teams and it would take you six or seven months to feel part of it all. At Celtic, I felt at home straight away. On my first day, Bobby Murdoch came over and started talking. I’d met him at a Parish function before. I felt part of the team right from the word go. My best game for Celtic was probably the European Cup final as well, but I was also proud of my record in games against Rangers. I very rarely lost a derby and I had a good number of shut-outs as well. I loved the Glasgow derbies. When you win, the feeling is hard to explain. It was just brilliant. You walked about with a smile on your face for days. I never got any hassle either. They only time I was ever frightened was after we beat Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox and I had to get the train to Bridgeton. I walked off with my collar up, hoping that nobody would recognise me.
I followed in the footsteps of Ronnie Simpson at Celtic and he was one of the best goalkeepers of all time. He was different class and a hero of mine when growing up. I remember getting magazines in the 1950s when Ronnie was playing for Newcastle. He was a star way back then as well. Gordon Banks was another top goalkeeper. Nowadays, I’m a huge fan of Artur Boruc. He is a fantastic goalkeeper and has a real aura about him. You can see him giving his defenders confidence. When he’s fully on-song, he’s different class – the best Celtic goalkeeper ever. I love the way he throws the ball, the way he kicks the ball and the way he goes about the game. For me, he’s worth between 15 to 20 points a season for Celtic. I think goalkeeping has changed a lot over the years. You need to kick the ball more now but that wouldn’t have bothered me. A few times at Celtic, I dribbled past players and big Jock went off his head. I always found Jock Stein hard, but fair. He was hard on goalkeepers, but I got on well with him. I remember reading a newspaper article in the early 1970s and Jock said that, pound for pound, I was his best signing.
You need confidence as a goalkeeper. You can’t afford to be a shrinking violet because the team depends on you so much. One of the funniest stories from my time at Celtic was when we played Fiorentina in Europe. We won 3-0 at Celtic Park, but we were 1-0 down in the second leg. Just after half-time, they got a free-kick and Amarildo bent it round the wall. It was coming towards me and I stepped out of the way and let it hit the net. I knew it was an indirect free-kick, but Jock was going mental on the sidelines. Afterwards, he had a real go at me, but I knew the rules and the goal was disallowed. I actually remember the referee coming up to me after the game and patting me on the back. He was delighted someone knew the laws of the game. Confidence was something I always had. I never bothered about mistakes. I never let them get to me.
I always liked playing at Old Trafford and Villa Park. In Scotland, I quite liked playing at Pittodrie, but nothing compares with Celtic Park. Setting foot on that pitch for the first time was a dream come true. My debut was in a Glasgow Cup match against Clyde. We won 5-1 but I dropped the ball in the first minute and Clyde scored. I didn’t let it get to me though. I was never one to dwell on mistakes. I can remember a game at Morton when Jock Stein had a go at me for something. I turned to him and said, ‘Don’t worry about it boss, it’s in the past’. He went right through me but that’s just the way I was. My theory was that if I let things get to me, it wouldn’t do any good. What’s in the past, is in the past. I’m still like that today.
The best players I ever faced were the likes of George Best and Denis Law at Manchester United. Best was different class, but Law was the same. Denis was a great footballer, but he always gave you a clatter when you challenged him as well. He never got pulled up for it, he had it down to a fine art. They were great players, but the Lions were just as good, probably better. I remember coming to Celtic at first and thinking I was fit. I’d been a full-time pro for six years and I thought I was in good shape. But the level of fitness at Celtic Park was unbelievable. It took me about three months to get up to speed. It was all ball-work in training, but those boys were fit. I think that Celtic side were better than Man United in those days. The Lions could have gone to England and had a lot of success. They had a great belief and an aura about them. Everyone wanted the ball. As a goalkeeper that was great, because I liked to throw it out. And if you didn’t throw the ball to one of them, they would let you know they weren’t happy.
If I hadn’t been a footballer, I would have been a joiner. After finishing with football, that’s the profession I chose. I’m a project manager now. I also did a bit of coaching at Yale University in America, but when I came back I started back on the building sites and it’s all gone from there. I often get people coming up to me on site asking if I’m the Evan Williams who played for Celtic. Before I became a footballer, I worked with the council. I then went part-time at Third Lanark, and from there I became a full-time professional.
My advice to any young football player, goalkeeper or outfield, is that it’s easy to get there, but the hardest part is to stay there. They might think that by signing for Celtic at 16, they have made it. That’s not the case. When you get that kind of chance, you need to work even harder to make the grade. A lot of kids show a lot of potential when they are teenagers and then they disappear. They have to make the most of the chance they are given. The competition at Celtic Park will always be tough. When I played, we could win on a Saturday and play well, but Jock would still change the team. You have to get on with it. You can’t be a prima donna.
Interview with Celticfc.net (Oct 2012)
Looking back to 1969, how did the move to Celtic arise?
I actually knew six months before it happened that I was going to Celtic. Sean Fallon used to phone me up when I was on loan to Aston Villa and he would say “Don´t be signing for anybody, we´ll be coming in for you.” The move to Celtic was actually activated by a priest from Shettleston. Sean Fallon had been talking at a function about getting a goalkeeper in, saying that Ronnie wouldn’t last forever and that one wasn’t enough anyway as Celtic needed three or four keepers. Father Crawley asked “What about Evan Williams at Wolves, the ex-Third Lanark player?” That´s what activated it.
Did the move come at a good time in your career?
When I played for Third Lanark I played at Celtic Park and lost 1-0. Celtic scored in the last seconds and I went to Wolves just after that. I was told Celtic had been interested in me but Wolves had offered Third Lanark more money. I was desperate to come to Celtic though. I was down in England when they won the European Cup and you would have thought I was already playing for Celtic the way I went on, the Wolves players gave me a lot of stick. They had to remind me I was playing for them, not Celtic.
The move clearly meant a lot to you then?
Oh yes, I was a Celtic fanatic as a boy and I would go to all the games when I was younger. It was always Celtic, Celtic, Celtic. I knew all about the history, it´s a family club, and it´s something that comes from your family. My grandchildren are all Celtic fans, they aren’t meant to have the strips but they´ve all got them.
How easy was it to settle in at the club once you had signed?
I think out of the five clubs I played at, this was the easiest and that´s because of the players. We´re still friends today, they made it very easy for me to settle in. Bertie Auld was the first player I met, and then Bobby Lennox but all the boys were great – Tommy Callaghan and Big Billy too. They all made me feel welcome, when we went away we wouldn’t sit with the same guy every time. We´d always sit with a different bunch but we´d all still sit together. I still see them regularly because I work at the park nowadays.
It was two months before you made your competitive debut, was that because it was hard to shift Ronnie Simpson from his position?
I didn’t expect to walk into the team when I arrived. I thought I was fit having played for Wolves and Aston Villa but in reality I was a mile behind. They were a lot fitter than the teams I played with down south with and it took me two months to get up to their fitness. And the way Jock Stein trained you, you had to be fit. It wasn’t half a shock to my system.
Did you feel extra pressure to impress when you were handed your chance, especially considering goalkeepers have less time to make an impact than outfield players?
I´ve said this a hundred times – would you rather play with East Stirling or Celtic. Obviously you´d rather play for Celtic so you have got to forget about the pressure and get on with it. You´re getting the chance to take it, because it won´t come around again. If you don´t then you´re back in the reserves and more or less out of the road.
You played in a number of European matches for Celtic, what was your highlight?
The European Cup final is obviously one but so are the Leeds games. The two games against Inter Milan when we went out on penalty kicks were also great games. We would come to Celtic Park and the queues were right down London Road with people trying to get in.
Was the atmosphere as good back then as it is now?
The crowd is great just now, but in those days, when The Jungle started singing, the noise was unbelievable. It would get everyone going and the atmosphere was brilliant.
Were you a fan of the away trips?
When you´re playing pro you start to take it all for granted, but when you get to go to places like Lisbon, Budapest and Paris, it was great. Coming from an ordinary working class family I never did those sorts of things. Nowadays people take it for granted and go abroad, but we didn’t do that so every time we´d go away it would feel like a holiday we were going on.
What were your highlights from the domestic Celtic matches?
Most of my highlights when I was at Celtic were mostly the games against Rangers. I only lost twice so I loved the derbies. I wouldn’t have liked it to have been the other way around anyway. I really enjoyed one which we won 2-0 at home and I had an awful lot to do that day. I think I got 10 out of 10 in the paper so I was really proud of that. There was another one, when I was down at Wolves, I saved a penalty against Liverpool and I got 10 out of 10 for that game as well.
What was it like to play inside a packed Celtic Park?
It´s just a dream, getting to go out on the park. Nowadays when the players go out to warm up there aren’t many fans in the stadium because they all seem to materialise at kick-off time, but back then we would go out to warm up and there would already be about 40,000 inside.
Do you have regrets over how your Celtic career ended?
It has a lot to do with yourself at times. I think I let my standards slip in the sense I bought the pubs. The boss warned me and told me not to buy pubs but I said that I needed to look after my kids later on. It was the worst thing I could every have done though, because those years in the pub were a waste of time in my life. I was working in there while playing and it didn’t work.
Buying a pub used to be a common career path for footballers. Why was that?
I think in those days the pubs were busy and it was a license to print money. But nowadays it’s hard work. It was hard work then as well but you were in this smoky atmosphere all the time.
What did you do after you left Celtic in 1974?
I worked as a sports manager in Drumchapel for a while. I played with Falkirk and Clyde in between and then I went to America to coach in a high school. After that I went to a college before getting a job at a university. At first I did women´s football and I had my own soccer camp out there, but my wife didn’t like it, she didn’t fancy it at all. We were in New Jersey and then Connecticut. I did a bit of coaching and a Celtic Supporters’ Club asked me to come back out in the summer, so I did that. The team then came over here and played against the Scottish champions and beat them, so they offered me a job over there in the building trade. I had done a little bit of joinery work before so I continued that over there. In America the football was only spread over four months so we did that as well as the building trade. But it was full football coaching, it wasn’t just looking after the keepers,
What did you think of the women´s football in America?
It is very big over there, I remember once there was a crowd of 15,000, and at that time it was a shock to my system. I´d never seen women´s football before but there are a lot of good players and it´s very popular there.
So after you retired from football altogether, what did you do?
I went back to back to being a joiner and then I ended up as foreman. I then became a site agent, and then the contracts manager. When I retired from that I became the project manager.
You´re still a regular face around Celtic Park. What do you think of the current squad?
I work in the hospitality so I´m seeing everyone all the time. I think the current side are getting better all the time and they’ve definitely improved each year. They´re not the finished article yet but they´re getting there slowly but surely. I would love to see them dig up another Henrik Larsson or Jimmy Johnstone, to give us a wee buzz.
What do you think of the current keepers integrating yoga into their training regime?
I didn’t know they did that. I can´t really criticise or praise that because I´ve never done it myself. I was a goalkeeper, not a football player, it´s a specialised position. On a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon all we would do is kick and throw the ball for hours. I used to get so fed up, but after a few years I noticed it was working, I was better at kicking and throwing.
Celtic’s keeper of the flame still carrying the torch
Celtic’s keeper of the flame still carrying the torch
Graham Spiers
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/celtics-keeper-of-the-flame-still-carrying-the-torch.118641532
Tuesday 17 February 2015
For those of us of a certain vintage, it is staggering to think that Evan Williams is now 71 years old.
In my mind’s eye this former goalkeeper – dark, handsome, and once described by Jimmy Johnstone’s wife, Agnes, as the most attractive Celtic player – is still 29 and keeping guard for Jock Stein. And, memorably, is between the sticks on the night of April 19 1972 when Celtic faced Inter Milan in the European Cup semi-final.
It was a halcyon time for Stein and Celtic. From 1967 through 1974 they achieved the equivalent of a European Cup final or semi-final appearance every other year, and Williams came unexpectedly to the party. He had been a Wolves reserve goalie for the previous three years before Stein signed him in October, 1969. Williams went from a pay of £80 a week at Wolves to £50 at Celtic but within months would play in the final of Europe’s elite club competition.
Some Celtic fans remember his fine display in that 1970 final against Feyenoord in Milan, when he actually preserved Celtic, even in defeat. Others, though, recall a near-frozen Williams being unable to keep Inter’s penalties at bay in 1972 as Celtic strove to make their third European final in six years.
“The thing I remember about that night in Glasgow was how cold it was,” he said. “It was April but I think there was even a wee bit of frost on the ground. I didn’t have a great deal to do – unlike the first leg when I’d plenty – and by the time the penalties came round I was pretty cold.”
After both legs had finished 0-0, Dixie Deans infamously blazed Celtic’s opening kick over the bar before Inter went on to convert five out of five. “In the five minutes between the end of extra-time and the penalties Big Jock said to me, ‘throw a coat around yourself,'” recalls Williams. “I said, ‘no boss, gimme a ball, I need to dive about with a ball.’ It was one of many disagreements – or debates – I had with Jock. He regularly accused me of representing ‘the goalkeepers’ union’.”
Williams lasted five years as Celtic goalkeeper but his place seemed to be forever under threat. First Denis Connaghan arrived, and then Ally hunter, as Stein clawed around trying to find the right man. But Williams prevailed, had a magnificent record against Rangers, and was well-loved by many Celtic fans. He would also speak his mind.
“I had plenty of debates with Jock Stein,” he says. “I’d quite often say to him – as did Ronnie Simpson – that we should get a goalkeeping coach in. A goalkeeper has to do many different things: catch, kick, punch, parry, get his angles right. It’s a specialist position. But Jock wouldn’t hear of it.
“I’d been at Wolves where I had a brilliant goalkeeping coach in Fred Davies. He ripped my game apart and put it all back together. England at that time produced some of the best goalkeepers in the world: Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence and others. But at Celtic, Big Jock always insisted on doing it himself.”
Ronnie Simpson, whom Williams effectively came to replace, once joked that Williams “was not five minutes in the door and he was telling Stein how to do things.” But Williams, who stood just 5ft 10in, felt he had good evidence on his side.
“Not long after I arrived at Celtic in 1969 we faced Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final. Down at Leeds in the first leg big Jack Charlton had stood on my toes at corner kicks – that’s what he did – and so Jock hatched a plan for the second leg.
“He wanted Billy McNeill to stand between me and Charlton. I said, ‘boss, look, hang on…that means I’ve to climb above two of the tallest men in British football to get to the ball…that won’t work.’ It was one of many times I discussed or disagreed with Jock over my job.”
Williams recalls that, while he took Stein to task, Stein would quite often defend him. When one reporter tried to point out to Stein that Williams was uncapped at international level, Stein growled: ‘That disnae matter…he’s the Celtic goalkeeper.’ Their relationship was one of combative respect.
“I’d speak my mind, but not in a loud way, and Jock was always receptive, he would go away and think about it,” says Williams. “Actually, Big Jock was great for listening and taking other opinions on board. And it was just as well, because Celtic didn’t have quiet players at that time. Guys like Big Billy and Bertie [Auld]…they didn’t t hold back. But Jock took things on board, he was an open book in that sense. Also, maybe 90% of the time he was right.”
Now, nearly 43 years after that famous night in Glasgow, Williams says he looks on in awe at the current Celtic goalkeeper. He heaps praise on Craig Gordon, whom Williams believes may be one of the greatest goalkeepers ever to pull on a Celtic shirt.
“He’s a superstar,” says Williams. “I think he is absolutely top-class. What a con by Celtic and Peter Lawwell to get this guy for nothing after his two years of injury. And, though Craig is a very modern goalie on one sense, in another way he’s just like the old days. It’s all the rage today for goalies to fist or parry the ball, but Craig comes and catches it. If he is playing then I think Celtic will always have a chance.”
Interview: Evan Williams on helping Celtic win six in a row
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/interview-evan-williams-on-helping-celtic-win-six-in-a-row-1-4409256
Evan Williams, now 73, was Celtic s goalkeeper the last time they clinched six in a row. Picture: John Devlin
Aidan Smith
The last time Celtic won six in a row, the greatest football team Scotland has ever seen had one final day in the sun together. But it lasted mere seconds before a scripted piece of sentimental theatre concluded and Evan Williams was able to become an honorary Lisbon Lion.
It was 1 May, 1971, the title having been clinched three days before. Picking their way across the rubble of the old Parkhead stand as the club re-built off the park as well as on it, the ageing European Cup-winning heroes faced up to Clyde with the 41-year-old Ronnie Simpson back between the sticks. “From the kick-off Wispy [Willie Wallace] passed to Stevie [Chalmers] and the ball was knocked back to Ronnie who booted the ball out for a shy,” recalls Williams. “Then the boss signalled for me to replace Faither, which was what we called Ronnie – and as I always like to tell folk, that was the day I got to play with the Lions.”
Celtic keeper Evan Williams holds up the trophy after his side defeated Hibs in the 1972 Scottish Cup final at Hampden. Picture: TSPL
You can find footage of the 6-1 victory over Clyde on YouTube with the sagely Bob Crampsey making the observation that a “canny” Jock Stein was not prepared to risk Simpson even in such an inconsequential match, given that the veteran hadn’t played since Williams’ arrival the season before, and when there was an Old Firm Scottish Cup final to be contested the following Saturday.
“If 6 turned out to be 9,” sang Jimi Hendrix, and for Celtic of course six did. Williams collected medals for four of those championships. He helped the club lift the cup in ’71, and to retain it the following year. And in mere months he went from performing in front a few thousand at Carlisle United, out on loan in England’s second tier, to a starring role in Celtic’s second European Cup final.
But, as he reveals over a cheese and ham sandwich in a Dumbarton cafe, this brilliant man-manager known to all as Big Jock didn’t quite know how to handle the custodians of the game. “Here’s a funny thing: Jock didn’t like goalies,” says Williams, now 73. “Ronnie and I debated this a hundred times. To him it was like we were a necessary evil. He was never off our backs.”
Williams may not have been the daftest keeper in the world but he was definitely a member of the goalies’ union designed to protect this special breed. To go with his dark good looks he displayed a pronounced insouciance and this would confound Stein.
Evan Williams in the thick of the action during the 1971 Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden which ended 1-1, with Celtic going on to win the replay. Picture: SNS
“I remember a game at Morton when I dropped the ball and that was us one-nil down. Big Jock got stuck into me at half-time and I said: ‘Don’t worry, boss, that’s in the past.’ He was speechless. I don’t think anyone had ever brushed off his criticism like that. We went back out and scored five goals.”
Then there was Williams’ first foreign assignment, the away leg of the quarter-final against Fiorentina on the road to the ’70 final of the European Cup. “They got a free-kick, which [Luciano] Chiarugi hammered over our wall and into the net. I didn’t move but that was deliberate. Jock rushed round behind the goal as I was fetching the ball. ‘What the bloody hell are you doing?’ he said, and he never swore.
“The Fiorentina players and crowd were celebrating like mad but the referee disallowed the goal as the free-kick had been indirect. I knew this, which was why I stayed still. I suppose that was a bit like the goalies’ Russian roulette: hoping the official remembers his decision in the mayhem.
“Afterwards when we’d won the ref came to our dressing room. ‘Well done, goalkeeper,’ he said. ‘It’s good that someone knows the rules’.” Now Williams is laughing. He’s remembering his antics in a Parkhead game against Hearts: “One of their boys chased a long ball, I trapped it and nutmegged him. Then a short while later I dribbled round Drew Busby.” Both pieces of audacity sprung moves which led to goals in another victory. “Both times the ground fell silent. ‘Is that goalie aff his heid?’ ‘Christ, he’s done it again!’” Stein’s reaction is not recorded.
Before replacing Simpson, Williams had to take over from Jocky Robertson at Third Lanark, no less daunting in its way. He retains a deep affection for the club, not least in the 50th anniversary year of their sad demise, and is looking forward to catching up with old Hi-Hi boys at an upcoming reunion. But Celtic were always his team. In return for helping with the gardening, a neighbour in Dumbarton took him to see Charlie Tully, Willie Fernie and Bertie Peacock and he was hooked. Stein was playing that day, too.
Williams journeyed to Wolverhampton Wanderers to play for a manager called Ronnie Allen. “He didn’t like Scotsmen, had no time for us.” The club had a goalkeeping coach, Fred Davies, who deconstructed Williams’ game and put it back together in better shape. “He told me I couldn’t dive properly, didn’t kick well, couldn’t throw the ball!” Williams was loaned out to Aston Villa in England’s old Second Division where at least there was a Scot in charge – Tommy Docherty.
“The Doc was the complete opposite of Jock. He always had to be the glamour man. I met him for the first time in 47 years a couple of months ago and he was still yon chirpy way. When Celtic came for me he told me I was mad for wanting to sign for them and was annoyed I did. Later I reckoned I might have got a game for Scotland but when I met the Doc in [Glasgow’s] North British Hotel after he’d been made national team manager he told me I was never going to be capped by him. Jock heard this and told him to get out the door. ‘Don’t you dare talk to my players like that,’ he said. ‘He’s already playing for the best team in the world’.”
The Parkhead starting wage was £50. Williams would have earned more than double staying in England but his heart was set. On the day of the 1967 European Cup final he bet his Wolves team-mates £5 that Celtic would triumph – “A lot of money back then” – and the entire 18-man squad couldn’t resist the offer. “They thought Scottish football was hopeless.”
At hopeless Celtic he was introduced to a new team-mate whose nickname was “God” and after seeing Bobby Murdoch close-up he was moved to agree. This was after his first training session when Bertie Auld and Tommy Gemmell were asked by Stein to take him under their wing, a classic prank resulting.
“At Wolves I was used to being ready early but these two were farting around. ‘Och, I need extra pants,’ said Bertie. ‘These socks are awfie dirty,’ said Tommy. When we were eventually walking up the road to Barrowfield they asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I wasn’t sure about this but they said: ‘Come on, we always get a roll and sausage and a cup of tea from Maggie’s cafe.’ I was munching away just as Big Jock’s green Merc went past. Those jokers, who were behind me, had already chucked their rolls in a bin. Jock fined me 25 quid, half my wage. I couldn’t clype on Bertie and Tam otherwise I wouldn’t have been part of the gang.”
Williams’ debut came in the Glasgow Cup when he fumbled a high ball and Clyde scored. The groans from the fans he translated as ‘Not another rubbish goalie!” But the laidback Williams shrugged off the error. There’s a funny story, too, from his first Old Firm match: “I took my place in the tunnel at Ibrox behind Billy McNeill but Bertie squeezed in front. ‘Son,’ he said, ‘when you’ve done something for this club you can stand here. Billy’s the captain and I’m the general. I’ll go second today.’ He asked me if I was nervous. I said I was excited. I was keen to find out if I could play in front of 80,000. If I couldn’t I knew it was probably Dumbarton or St Mirren for me.
“We had to wait ages for the Rangers boys. [Referee] Tiny Wharton had to rap on their door. Bertie must have thought the delay would get to me. Then [John] Greig and the rest of that crowd appeared. ‘How are you doing, John?’ said Bertie. ‘Fine, Bertie,’ said John. ‘John, this is our new goalie. He says he’s not nervous, he’s excited. Can you believe that?’ Then Bertie said: ‘By the way, we’re on eight quid a man to beat you today.’ Greig said: ‘We’re on 32 quid to beat you.’ Bertie said: ‘Aye but our eight quid’s guaranteed!’” Celtic won, Williams keeping a clean sheet, and he’s proud of his Old Firm record. “I played against Rangers 18 times – 14 wins, two draws and only two defeats – and I think overall my shutout rate was 46 per cent.”
Williams didn’t oust Simpson from the team. “Ronnie got carried off in a League Cup semi-final against Ayr United the day I signed and that was him finished.” The man he rates as “the cleverest goalie there was” became a mentor and Williams’ rivalry for the position would be with John Fallon. “John wrote a book recently in which he criticised Big Jock. I don’t think you do that. He said he couldn’t understand how Ronnie and myself got to play in European finals when he was the better keeper. What was our relationship like? I tolerated him.”
Stein’s Celtic, post-Lisbon, were changing and evolving. The sixth title was won with telling contributions from Davie Hay, Tommy Callaghan and Harry Hood, who banged in 33 goals that season. The Quality Street Gang broke through from the reserve team and every Wednesday Kenny Dalglish & Co would play a match against the Lions. “They often beat us, one time 4-0,” recalls Williams.
Then there was the great enigma, George Connelly. Williams talks fondly of his brilliant but troubled team-mate – dubbed Scotland’s Franz Beckenbauer – who would walk away from fame at 26. “He was so different off the park from on it. On it, he was a genius. He could take the ball from me on my six-yard line and start an attack from there. He could make the ball talk.
“But when the game was done he could be so quiet. There could be a big group of us chatting and George wouldn’t say a word. He was a nice boy but very sensitive and when Davie Hay, his big pal, left the club [for Chelsea] he was lost.
“He didn’t join in the banter. If we were all telling rude jokes or swearing George was out of it. Wee Lou [Macari] would sometimes wind him up. On the flight back from playing Ujpest Dozsa George was having a sneaky wee beer. Lou shouted: ‘Another beer for Connelly!’ This caused Jock, who frowned on alcohol, to turn round. The rest of us had to tell Lou to shut up or we’d all get fined.
“George was the sort of guy who if you said ‘What’s wrong with your hair?’ he’d worry about it all day. You had to be able to laugh at yourself although some of the jokes went too far. Dixie [Deans] would put salt in your tea instead of sugar. That might be a funny thing to do as a laddie, but at nearly 30? One time Lou was annoying me. ‘You big dumpling,’ he kept saying. So I hooked him.”
Williams’ four daughters have given him nine grandchildren but he became a widower three years ago when his wife Anna died of breast cancer. The pair were childhood sweethearts and Williams is full of praise for her courage. “She fought the cancer for 20 years. The doctors were astonished. She took up golf late and won 23 tournaments. In one of them she got three holes-in-one.”
After Fiorentina in the run to their second European Cup final, Celtic took part in the “Battle of Britain” with Leeds United. Williams, a key performer in the semi-final, had history with Leeds from his time in England. “Playing for Wolves, Jack Charlton had stood on me as Johnny Giles hit a corner and he nodded the winner, so in the first leg at Elland Road I sorted him out with a dunt in the back. In the tunnel at Hampden before the return he made all these big threats but never came near me.”
Williams was reckoned to be Celtic’s best performer in the final against Feyenoord in Milan, but to no avail. Were the team complacent? “I don’t know. We just didn’t play well. It was the best day of my football life and the saddest as well.” Four years at Celtic ended after another Euro defeat, away to Basel. By then Stein had signed Ally Hunter. Williams had acquired two pubs, which disappointed Big Jock, and he admits the boss’s concerns were proved right. “I’d pop into one of them on a Friday to show face and end up having a couple of pints. For a footballer, even a goalie sat on the bench, that doesn’t work.” His career wound down at Clyde and Stranraer, by which time his hands, the tools of his trade, were giving him shooting pains up his back.
Who’d be a goalie? Williams is glad he was. And so, ultimately, was Stein. “After I’d finished I was at a dinner with Ronnie and Jock sat down next to us. He wanted to apologise. ‘I didn’t realise how important you were to Celtic until you weren’t there anymore,’ he said. ‘And I didn’t realise that goalkeeper is the hardest position of all’.”