Story of the the men who replaced legendary manager Jock Stein at Celtic revealed in new book. CAESAR and the Assassin - Managing Celtic After Jock Stein looks at the controversial circumstances and the story of Billy McNeill and Davie Hays spells in charge at Celtic Park. A RAINFOREST probably has been pulped to accommodate the number of books that have been written on the late, great Jock Stein’s career as Celtic manager. But hardly a twig has been snapped to make the paper for books that have focused on the bosses who had to fill Stein’s boots when he left Parkhead in 1978. Billy McNeill, Stein’s captain, stepped into the breach before being replaced by another Celtic legend, Davie Hay. Four years later, McNeill was back in controversial circumstances and the story of the two team-mates who became managers, is the subject of a new book written by journalist and author Alex Gordon. The story spans 13 years and focuses on the men as much as the club. That, Carmunnock-based Gordon insists, is a deliberate ploy. “I did a book called The Awakening, which centred on Celtic’s rise from being the worst team in the world at the start of the 60s to European champions seven years later,” he said. “Some of the people at Celtic Quick News, the publishers, had read it and thought his readership would be interested in a book focusing on Celtic in the 80s, but I didn’t fancy doing a rehash of the 60s book. “I was always interested in the years that followed Jock’s departure from Celtic and how the managers who followed in his footsteps filled those very large shoes. “I know Billy and Davie very well and I was interested in their personalities, rather than purely writing another book on Celtic Football Club.” The result is ‘Caesar and the Assassin - Managing Celtic After Jock Stein’. The title uses the nicknames earned by the legends in their playing days and Gordon’s pleasure at being able to tell the story of men who had become friends over the years is obvious. Gordon reveals that McNeill, who was managing Aberdeen at the time, was Stein’s personal choice to take over in ‘78. He said: “He got in touch with Billy and urged him to take job. Billy admits that if anybody else had asked him, he might have turned it down because he was perfectly happy managing Aberdeen. His family had settled well in Stonehaven and had a lot of friends up there and he was enjoying being away from the pressures of the Old Firm. “But big Jock was persuasive. They met at the MacDonald Hotel in Giffnock at the Player of the Year do and Jock asked him to come to out to his car as he something to ask him. The question was put to him and Billy decided he couldn’t turn Jock down. “He’s a confident big guy, Billy, so following in Jock’s footsteps was a challenge he was prepared for. Trouble was, he had problems with the Celtic Board almost from the start. He signed Davie Provan and Murdo MacLeod but when he went to the Board for more money for better players, there was a lot of animosity. “He stayed for three years but when it came out that Manchester City were interested in Billy, Celtic told him he could go if he wanted, and pratically pushed him out the door in 1983. “They came in for Davie, who had been out of work for 18 months after leaving Motherwell. He had his pub in Paisley and other businesses, and there is a myth that he asked for time to think about it when Celtic offered him the job. It’s not true. He needed the chance to put his business affairs in order, but it was never the case that he was thinking twice about joining Celtic. He relished the chance to manage that club.” Hay toiled to keep up with big spending Rangers and in 1987, he was sacked in a manner that deeply hurt the manager - particularly as he was immediately replaced by McNeill, who was infamously offered the job in a Clydebank car park on the day Hay was axed. Gordon admits that put a strain on their relationship but there is no longer any ill will between the men. “I did Davie’s autobiography about five years ago and the guy who wrote the foreward was Billy McNeill,” he said. “That tells you what you need to know about their relationship these days. “But at time Davie was, shall we say, peeved. “He didn’t see the sack coming. The day he got fired, he’d been at Celtic Park in the morning talking about a pre-season trip to Australia. He went home and got a call from chairman Jack McGinn asking him to come back to the ground and when he got there he was told he was out. “Billy admits there was a lot of unnecesary suffering at the time. Billy phoned Davie when Davie got the Celtic job to wish him all the best. He phoned him four years later when he took over from Davie to tell him that this wasn’t his doing. “Billy was on the dole for the first time in his life - he was actually standing in a dole queue in Altrincham when he got the call from Celtic. “But the day they sacked Davie, they unveiled Billy and that hurt him. “It did leave a sour taste but I did Davie’s testimonial dinner three years ago and he insisted Billy was invited to the top table. They are absolutely fine. “Their lives were intertwined for so long. Davie’s first team debut was at centre half against Hamilton in a League Cup tie, taking over from big Billy, “When they were playing together, Billy would lead the team out and Davie would be third out, behind the keeper. Billy would backheel the ball to Davie and he would launch it up the park - it was a ritual they did every game and yet they never spoke about it.” Thankfully, they speak now and the book is a fine tribute to both men. But it isn’t Gordon’s only work with Celtic legends in the past year. He helped Tommy Gemmell and John ‘Yogi’ Hughes write books and added: “Yogi phoned me and told me he wanted to do a book, so I helped him out with it and it is a fascinating, honest tale of his career. “Tommy had already done two autobiographies, so I didn’t think there was a market for a third one but he was keen to do something, so we came up with ‘All The Best’, which is a look at the stars he has played with and against through his Celtic and Scotland career, but also looking at his times with Dundee, Nottingham Forest and even Albion Rovers.” • Caesar and The Assassin, Tommy Gemmell: All The Best and Yogi Bare: The John Hughes Story, all written by Alex Gordon, are available at Waterstones, WH Smith, Amazon, cqnbookstore and all good book shops. Take a trip down memory lane with these pictures of Celtics history. Sounds like a great book Tims..ideal for your Christmas Lists 🎄 HH -PP-
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 02:16:31 +0000
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