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John "Jock" Stein, CBE, lived from 5 October 1922 to 10 September 1985. He was a football manager best remembered as manager of Celtic and of the Scotland national team. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Jock Stein was born at Burnbank near Hamilton in South Lanarkshire. In 1937 he left school at 15 to work in a carpet factory before going down the pits as a miner. In 1938 he joined Blantyre Victoria junior football club, becoming a semi-professional player in 1942 with Albion Rovers while still working as a miner. Albion Rovers gained promotion to the First Division in 1948, and in 1950 Stein became a full time professional, on £12 per week, with Welsh club A.F.C. Llanelli. In 1951 Celtic bought him for £1,200. He became club captain the following year and continued to play with Celtic until 1956. When he retired he had played 148 games for Celtic and scored 2 goals. During his time as captain, Celtic had won the Coronation Cup in 1953, and the League Championship and Scottish Cup double in 1954.
Stein moved on to become reserve and youth team coach for Celtic. In March 1960 he accepted the job of manager at Dunfermline, helping them escape relegation that season. The following year Dunfermline won the Scottish Cup. In April 1964, he became manager of Hibernian, and in March 1965, Stein returned to Celtic as the team's first non-Catholic manager. The team had not won a trophy of any sort for eight years, but six weeks after his arrival they won the Scottish Cup. The following season they became Scottish League Champions for the first time since 1954, and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup-Winners-Cup.
The following season Stein guided Celtic to the Scottish domestic treble of the Scottish League Cup, the League Championship and the Scottish Cup. And in 1967, Celtic won the European Cup beating Inter Milan in the final. For the next decade, Celtic reigned supreme in Scottish football, and Stein led them to 9 successive League Championships. He was awarded a CBE in 1970. In 1975 he was seriously injured in a car crash. He left Celtic in 1978, spending a brief period as manager of Leeds United before becoming Scotland manager.
Stein led Scotland's campaign in the 1982 World Cup, where they went out at the group stage on goal difference to the Soviet Union. During qualifications for the 1986 World Cup, Stein brought in a young Alex Ferguson, at the time manager at Aberdeen, to be his assistant. On 10 September 1985, Jock Stein died from a heart attack at the end of the 1-1 draw with Wales at Ninian Park in Cardiff. He was 62 years old.
