On 10 March 1965, everything changed forever at Celtic as Jock Stein was appointed as the manager.
Stein is widely regarded as the best manager in the club’s history and is the only one to win a major European trophy when his Lisbon Lions beat Inter Milan in the 1967 European Cup final.
His tenure started with a convincing 6-0 win against Airdrie, where one player managed to score five of those goals.
Sum up Jock Stein’s time as Celtic manager in one sentence
Celtic began Jock Stein era with 6-0 win vs Airdrie
After hearing about the appointment of Stein, Celtic legend Bertie Auld made the decision to rejoin from Birmingham City. It was a decision that paid off.
John Hughes had the honour of being the first goalscorer of the Stein era with his 25th minute effort, but it was Auld who grabbed the headlines.
He scored the other five goals that afternoon, but sadly it wouldn’t be enough to inspire a late push for the title.
In the final eight games of the league season, Stein changed his starting XI six times in order to find the ultimate winning formula.
Little did he know that his first game in charge would be a sign of what would come in the future.
Jock Stein’s first Celtic XI featured several Lisbon Lions
At the time of the Airdrie game, nobody knew what the side would go on to be capable of, but it would be a fixture that went down in history.
Seven of those players who started the huge win would go on to be a part of the Lisbon Lions squad that created history.
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Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Bobby Murdoch, Stevie Chalmers, Bobby Lennox and Auld would all form the foundations of a team that would become one of Scotland’s most successful sides and go on to become one of the best eras in Celtic history.
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