Did a dog leave Joe out of the Lincoln City side?
CELTIC finally put an end to the football fairytale written by Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps.
The minnows caused a sensation when they beat the Scottish Champions 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier.
Further embarrassment was avoided when Brendan Rodgers’ team recorded a 3-0 win in the return match at Celtic Park.
The club from the British Overseas Territory was originally known as the Blue Batons and changed their name after being sponsored by a former director of England’s Lincoln City.
Their success in Europe was masterminded by a rather mysterious manager in Uruguayan, Julio Ribas.
He didn’t give any interviews but has been credited with transforming their performances.
His demeanour was very different from Lincoln City’s most-successful boss.
Bill Anderson was a Geordie known for his love of practical jokes.
Always by his side was Sandy, a golden Labrador.
Some players believed you had a better chance of getting a game if the dog liked you.
Joe Buick, the last man to score for Lincoln in the second tier of English football, finds it hard to disagree with that theory.
He said: “Bill was quite a character and went everywhere with Sandy.
“I think he thought more of the dog than he did anyone else.
“I spent eight years at Lincoln but I was always in and out of the team.
“It seemed to me you had to be in with the right people at the club to get a regular game.
“But Bill Anderson was the best manager in the history of Lincoln City.
“They had a really good team when I went there.”
Lincoln had been promoted to the Second Division in 1952 and spent a decade keeping the company of teams like Liverpool, Aston Villa, Leeds United and Sunderland.
The club’s prosperity played a big part in tempting Joe to move from Dundee to the East Midlands.
He’s not sure it was really the best decision.
He went on: “I was playing for Broughty Athletic when I was spotted by a Lincoln scout.
“But moving there was a big mistake for my football career.
“Celtic wanted me to join them and they were up at our house every day trying to get me to sign.
“I should have really gone there, but Lincoln offered me more money and that swayed my decision.”
Joe was one of Bill Anderson’s famous bargain signings.
His ability in the transfer market saw him nicknamed “Soccer’s Mr Magic”. His name was sometimes written as Bi££ Anderson!
Things began to go badly at Lincoln when they went down to the Third Division in 1961.
Joe was the man who scored the Imps’ last Second Division goal in a 2-0 win against Leyton Orient.
He was off on his travels after a second successive relegation the following season.
He said: “I went to Weymouth in the Southern League for a while and then joined Cheltenham Town.
“I decided to come back to Lincoln after that, and played for Ruston Bucyrus, a local works team.
“They were an engineering firm making cranes and excavators.
“A chap at the firm said I could have a job if I agreed to come and play for their football team.”
Now 83, Joe is still living in Lincoln.