Jock offered £10, and The Quality Street Gang hit 12
The notion of having Celtic and Rangers Colts teams playing in the lower reaches of the SPFL has been rumbling on for some time.
Tomorrow, the topic will come into sharper focus when Lowland League clubs meet to decide if they are open to the idea of Old Firm “B” teams entering their environment from the start of next season.
Some have already aired their resistance, with the fact that the Glasgow giants’ second teams could be neither promoted or relegated seen as being detrimental to the spirit of the SPFL’S pyramid system.
Around 50 years ago, a similar debate was being had.
Blessed with a crop of young talent pitching up around the same time, Jock Stein tried to have them shoehorned into the old Second Division, only for the SFA to speedily rebuff him.
The group, quickly dubbed “The Quality Street Gang” included the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Danny Mcgrain, David Hay, Lou Macari, George Connelly and Paul Wilson in their number.
All of them would go on to represent Scotland at full international level. Back then, however, the authorities would make them wait for their time in the full spotlight of the footballing public.
Lou Macari – who would go on to win domestic honours in the Hoops and with Manchester United, as well as 24 Scotland caps, in an illustrious playing career – recalled: “We were called The Quality Street Gang for a reason.
“We were an exceptional bunch of players, and would have been regarded so if we had come together at a big English club, let alone Celtic.
“We came from a generation of kids, who played football from first light until it went dark, all dreaming of one day playing for Celtic or Rangers, Dundee or Dundee United, Hibs or Hearts, Aberdeen or whoever.
“When the World Cup Finals came around in 1978, manager Ally Macleod must have had a list of potential picks for his squad of around 80, which he had to whittle down to 22.
“I don’t think Steve Clarke will have the same problem for the Euros this summer, which is sad.
“We are where we are, but back then there were fantastic players all over Scotland. It just so happened that a lot of them arrived at Celtic Park around the same time.
“At no time, however, did we get carried away with ourselves. Jock Stein – and his backroom staff of Sean Fallon and physio, Bobby Rooney – made sure of that.
“But he knew our worth, and I remember the first bonus he ever gave us.
“We were drawn in the same Reserve League Cup section as Rangers, and had to win our final group tie against Partick Thistle by at least eight goals to qualify for the next stage and knock Rangers out.
“Jock offered us all an extra £ 10 to do the business. Given that we were all on the equivalent of £ 10.50 a week at the time, that was a fortune.
“We promptly went out and won 12- 1, and yours truly got four of them.
“A bit later on, half- a- dozen of us played against the full Rangers team in a Glasgow Cup Final – and beat them 3-1 in front of 58,000.
“That was how good we were. But as always happens, some of us had better careers than others. Probably the only one not to fully fulfil his potential was George Connelly. What a player.
“But he was quite shy, and never really pushed himself as much as the rest of us.
“He won medals and played for Scotland. He could have done a lot more, but he walked out on the club a couple of times, and his career ended sooner that it should have.
“That was then, this is now, and I think it’s a brilliant idea to have Rangers and Celtic ‘B’ teams in the Lowland League.
“I don’t think there will ever be the day when the Old Firm are playing in England. The police just wouldn’t stand for 100,000 fans or more heading over the border every other weekend.
“Apart from anything else, it would be a huge financial boost for Lowland League clubs.
“After the pandemic’s impact on all of football, that has to be a good thing.”