Jock Stein

Club

_Deceased Soccer

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Scotland

Date of birth

1922-10-05

Birthplace

Hamilton, Scotland

John Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a club from a Northern European country to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish League championships between 1966 and 1974.

Stein worked as a coalminer while playing football part-time for Blantyre Victoria and then Albion Rovers. He became a full-time professional football player with Welsh club Llanelli Town, but returned to Scotland with Celtic in 1951. He enjoyed some success with Celtic, winning the Coronation Cup in 1953 and a Scottish league and Scottish Cup double in 1954. Ankle injuries forced Stein to retire from playing football in 1957.

Celtic appointed Stein to coach their reserve team after he retired as a player. Stein started his managerial career in 1960 with Dunfermline, where he won the Scottish Cup in 1961 and achieved some notable results in European football. After a brief but successful spell at Hibernian, Stein returned to Celtic as manager in March 1965. In thirteen years at Celtic, Stein won the European Cup, ten Scottish league championships, eight Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups. After a brief stint with Leeds United, Stein managed Scotland from 1978 until his death in 1985.

John Stein was born on 5 October 1922 at 339 Glasgow Road in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, the only son of four children to George Stein, a coal miner, and Jane Armstrong. Stein saw football as his escape from the Lanarkshire coal mines. In 1937, he left Greenfield school in Hamilton and after a short time working in a carpet factory went down the pits to become a miner. In 1940, Stein agreed to sign for Burnbank Athletic, but his father vehemently objected. Soon afterward, he instead joined Blantyre Victoria, another local junior club.

Stein first played for senior club Albion Rovers as a trialist in a 4–4 draw against Celtic on 14 November 1942. On 3 December 1942, manager Webber Lees signed Stein for the Coatbridge club. He continued to work as a miner during the week, which was a reserved occupation during the Second World War. This allowed Stein to play regularly, as many of their other players were serving in the Armed Forces. He had a brief loan spell with Dundee United in 1943. Rovers won promotion to the First Division in 1947–48, for only the fourth time in the club's history.

During the 1948–49 season, Rovers conceded 105 goals, won only three league ga