Jock Stein: the greatest manager in Scottish football?

STV
Jock Stein: the greatest manager in Scottish football?

The greatest manager in Scottish football? Becoming the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup with Celtic in 1967, and also guiding the club to nine successive Scottish League championships between 1966 and 1974, there’s certainly few who can compete with Jock Stein’s legendary status.

During his managerial career he won the European Cup once, 10 Scottish League Championships, nine Scottish Cups, and six Scottish League Cups. All but one of these honours were won with Celtic. 

He started his managerial career at Dunfermline, where he guided them to their first Scottish Cup in 1961, and also had a successful short spell at Hibs before returning to Celtic in 1965 (he’d previously been club captain).

Just six weeks after becoming manager Stein led Celtic to Scottish Cup success, and the next year they were crowned Scottish champions for the first time since 1954. In the following season, Stein managed Celtic to a domestic treble for the first time in the club's history.

His greatest triumph, however, was in guiding Celtic to victory in the 1967 European Cup Final against previous champions Inter Milan.

In 1974 Celtic won the league championship for the ninth season in a row - at the time, a joint world record for success in domestic titles - and also reached the semi-final of the European Cup for an amazing fourth time.

He left in 1978 after being persuaded to make way for Billy McNeill. During his 12-year tenure - excluding 1975/76, when he was recuperating from injuries received in a car accident - the club enjoyed 25 successes in major competitions.

After a brief spell at Leeds United, Stein managed the Scottish national side from 1978 until his sudden death in the dugout in 1985. Not surprisingly, he was voted the greatest Scottish football manager in a 2003 poll by the Sunday Herald newspaper.