Jim Craig watched Liverpool ’s bid to emulate the Quadruple achieved by Celtic 55 years ago today come up short at the weekend and admits he wasn’t shedding any tears over it.
The Lisbon Lion is fiercely protective of the remarkable record set by his club in 1967.
That is why he didn’t want Jurgen Klopp ’s men to win all four trophies available to them, just as Jock Stein’s Hoops did when they lifted the European Cup in the Estadio Nacional.
They already had the league title plus Scottish and League Cups in the trophy cabinet when they headed to the Portuguese capital to face Inter Milan.
In fact, Craig makes a strong case for a quintuple in ’67 but more of that later.
Craig, Stein’s right-back in Lisbon, isn’t convinced his side’s clean sweep will ever be equalled after Liverpool’s effort crashed and burned when Manchester City pipped them to the title by a point.
The 79-year-old smiled and said: “I’m very proud of the fact Celtic are still the only team to have done it and I must admit I didn’t want Liverpool to do it.
“Nothing against them or any other club down there.
“Liverpool had a brilliant season but when Man City get going, they are in a class of their own.
“It looked for a while on Sunday like they couldn’t get going.
“But they showed real champions’ quality in that last 15 minutes to come back and take the title.
“That meant the Quadruple was no longer on the table for Liverpool.
“Our achievement has stood the test of time and it will just keep getting harder to do. There are so many quality teams spending a fortune that it will be difficult to keep the momentum going over four competitions. Liverpool gave it a go but came up short. I’m proud we’ve held on to that record.”
Looking back on that 1966-67 season, which saw Celtic lose only three of 59 games played – two to Dundee United and a defeat in
Yugoslavia by FK Vojvodina that was overturned at Parkhead in the European Cup quarter-final – Craig admits the memories are tinged with sadness that so many of his team-mates are no longer with us.
Only John Clark, Bobby Lennox, Willie Wallace and himself can reflect on the anniversary and Craig said: “The sad thing is we’ve lost seven members of the team. There are four of us left but there were other guys who played a major part in getting us to the Final but didn’t play in Lisbon.
“Guys like Willie O’Neill, Charlie Gallagher and Joe McBride should also be remembered with as much pride.
“It was a remarkable season. Right from the very beginning, we felt we could do well. We got off to a great start, winning every game in the league, League Cup and two rounds of the European Cup until a December draw with Kilmarnock in the league.
“That good start could be attributed to a tour of America in the summer. I missed it as I was sitting my university finals.
“But the boys came back in great form and got off to a flying start. When they came back, I was forced to play for the reserves because the first team was doing so well and Jock wasn’t going to change a winning team.
“I was in seeing him on a weekly basis, asking when I was getting my place back. He kept saying he wasn’t totally happy with the way the team was playing but it was winning.
“But that changed around Christmas after we drew with Aberdeen then lost 3-2 to Dundee United at Tannadice.
“They were the only team that beat us in the league that season – and they did it home and away. But after that first loss, that was me back in the team and thankfully I stayed there.
“We won a cracking League Cup Final against Dundee 5-3 and we just kept going.
“Beating Aberdeen in the Final of the Scottish Cup was great as well because they had a really good side and Wispy (Willie Wallace) scoring the two goals made all the difference.
“By then, and with us being in the latter stages of the European Cup, we wanted to win everything and had a real confidence that we could do it.
“Inter Milan was the final hurdle. They might have been favourites but not to us. We all know what happened and we came home with the biggest trophy of them all.”
Craig also credits Rangers for pushing Celtic to heights that have never been reached since.
He added: “They were a very good side and there’s no doubt they pushed us on. Don’t forget, they got to the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final a week after we won in Lisbon and they only lost in extra-time to an excellent Bayern Munich side in Germany.
“So Scottish football was in a great place at that time.
“We knew we had to keep winning to stay in front of Rangers and our fans pushed us all the way. So in that regard, nothing has changed over the 55 years. Celtic are still under the same pressure from the fans.”
As for the case for a fifth trophy in 1967, Craig said: “The Glasgow Cup was a big thing back then and we won that as well.
“We all played full-strength teams and we beat Rangers 4-0 at Ibrox in the first round. It was just a wonderful season.”
