John ‘Jock’ Stein CBE (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and one of the most outstanding managers in the game He became the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive League Championships between 1966 and 1974.
Stein worked as a coalminer while playing football part-time for Blantyre Victoria in the Juniors and then Albion Rovers in the Scottish League. He became a full-time professional football player with Welsh club Llaneli Town, but returned to Scotland with Celtic in 1951. He enjoyed some success with Celtic, winning the one-off Coronation Cup in 1953 and a Scottish League and Scottish Cup double with Celtic in the same decade. 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 Athletic [after turning down local rivals Cowdenbeath] where he won the Scottish Cup in 1961 and achieved some notable results in European football. After a brief but successful spell at Easter Road with Hibs, 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 Utd, Stein managed the Scotland international side from 1978 [replacing Ally MacLeod] until his death in 1985, which occured during a World Cup qualifier with Wales in Cardiff which ended 1-1, ironically a result that took Scotland to what would have been Stein’s second World Cup in charge of the national team. Alex Ferguson became the caretaker manager for the tournament in Mexico which Stein was responsible for getting Scotland to after he had led the nation to Spain ’82