What Jock Stein promised Celtic legend terrified of flying at half-time vs Red Star Belgrade in 1968

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic will play Red Star Belgrade this Wednesday night as the Europa League kicks off for the Hoops.

Brendan Rodgers and his team will fly out to Serbia where they will face a side who have made a superb start to their league campaign.

The occasion got us at 67 Hail Hail wondering when Celtic and Red Star last faced each other, and it came in 1968 in a two-legged European Cup tie.

Celtic legend Jock Stein was manager at the time and his incredible first leg half-time message to one player in particular was absolutely crucial to overcoming the Yugoslavians.

• READ MORE: Jose Mourinho set to make controversial managerial call with Benfica, months after Celtic comments

The backstory to iconic Celtic vs Red Star Belgrade moment

Celtic beat Saint-Etienne in the previous round 4-2 on aggregate and faced off against Red Star in the second round.

The Hoops faced them at Celtic Park in the first leg and the two teams went into the interval with the score locked at 1-1.

Bobby Murdoch fired Celtic into a very early lead, but that was cancelled out by Red Star’s equaliser not too long before half-time.

Of course, Jimmy Johnstone was in the team that night, but there was doubt over whether he would play the second leg in Belgrade.

That’s because he was absolutely terrified of flying on an aeroplane, and clearly was not looking forward to the journey to Yugoslavia.

Stein’s incredible promise to Jinky during Celtic vs Red Star Belgrade

So in the Celtic Park dressing room at half-time in the first leg, Stein promised Jinky that he won’t need to play in the second leg if Celtic won the game by at least four goals.

Clearly, the incentive was an absolute masterstroke from Stein because Johnstone went on to play one of his best games in a Celtic shirt.

He scored twice and terrorised the Belgrade defence, with the Hoops going on to win the home leg 5-1 and almost certainly securing their passage to the third round.

Sure enough, Stein kept his promise and Celtic – without Johnstone in the side – secured a 1-1 draw in Belgrade the following week to advance.

It’s an unbelievable piece of evidence of how good Stein was as a man manager, knowing exactly what was needed to bring out the best in Johnstone.

Celtic played AC Milan in the quarter-finals that season, but they were knocked out by the Italians 1-0 on aggregate.