Thursday, 22 October 2009

5 Jock Stein = joint 5th




Jock Stein began his management career at Dunfermline Athletic, successfully steering them clear of relegation and surprisingly winning the Scottish cup in 1961. He caught the eye of bigger clubs and moved on to Hibernian where his brief tenure included a victory in the Summer cup. His aproach was noted to be very forward-thinking and he was considered to be some way ahead of his peers in his complex, analytical approach to the game. His particular interest was in how best to use energy to maximum effect during games. in 1965, Celtic appointed Stein as only the fourth manager in their history and the first protestant. He won the Scottish cup in his first season, the league championship and scottish league cup in his second and went on to unprecedented success in 1967 by winning the Scottish league championship, the European cup, the Scottish cup and the Scottish league cup, defeating Inter in the final of the European cup 2-1 to become the first British manager to win the competition and the first British manager to win every competition entered - known as the quadruple. Remarkably, Stein managed to win the European cup and confirm his team as the greatest in Europe despite the fact the entire team were born within 30 miles of Glasgow. Only one other club has achieved a victory in this tournament with a team of native-born players but none has achieved it with a team of exclusively local players. Indeed, many of his players were considered journeymen and some had failed to make the grade in the English league with mediocre club sides. However, Stein had the knack of getting something extra out of his players and building teams that transcended the sum of their parts. He went on to win nine successive Scottish titles, as well as numerous other trophies and reached another European cup final, losing on this occasion. Following yet another league title triumph, Stein left Celtic to manage Scotland successfully, dying of a heart attack during a match that helped Scotland qualify for the 1986 world cup. For Celtic supporters, Stein will always be the man who made their club the best side in Europe but his extraordinary achievement of winning the European cup with a Scottish side of local talent is not likely ever to be matched and his domestic record was second to none.

British league champions: 10
Foreign league champions: 0
European cup: 1

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