Tommy went from Lions to Bees after Stein’s axe
Brentford take on high-flying Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup this afternoon.
The Bees, currently third in the Championship, showed just how formidable a side they are by giving Tottenham a tough time in the League Cup semi-final.
These are heady days for the West London side, and they are knocking on the door of a first promotion to the top flight.
It was very different when Tommy Curley went from Celtic to Brentford in 1965.
He was one of the players caught up in a clear-out when Jock Stein took over as manager at Parkhead.
While former team-mates went on to win the European Cup, Tommy was battling relegation. His move, however, wasn’t without success. Joining Brentford meant heading down south for the second time.
Tommy recalled: “I joined Portsmouth at the age of 15, just two weeks after leaving school.
“But I became homesick very quickly, and my family wouldn’t let me go back.
“I came from a small village in Lanarkshire, and going to Portsmouth was breathtaking.
“Celtic then signed me, although Portsmouth held on to my registration for a while because they hoped I would go back.”
Tommy played his first and only first-team game for Celtic in September, 1964.
He was at outside right, with Jimmy Johnstone being moved infield.
Although Tommy set up a goal for Bobby Lennox, Celtic were beaten 4-2 by a Hearts side that had Donald Ford making his debut.
“There were six future Lisbon Lions in the team that day,” Tommy went on.
“We had five forwards on the park. You could see how good those players were going to be.
“But Jock Stein took over, and 20 of us younger players were given free transfers.
“Jimmy Sirrell was a coach at Brentford, and I remember the first thing he asked me was: ‘Are they still cutting ties at Celtic?’.
“I’d no idea what he meant, but he explained some players would come into the dressingroom, give you a grilling and cut your tie.”
It shows those sort of japes were going on long before we heard tales on boots being nailed to the floor by the likes of Paul Gascoigne.
Brentford had been a high-spending outfit, but times were changing.
Tommy said: “There were a lot of Scots at the club, and that helped me settle easily.
“I had played with Willie Smith at Celtic, and John Docherty became a good friend.
“There was an attempted takeover of the club by the owner of Queens Park Rangers, and that went down very badly in the area.
“It was also a bit of a struggle on the field, and we were relegated to the Fourth Division on the last day of the season.
“Things were a bit better in the second season, but we just missed out on promotion.
“We won the London Challenge Cup, beating Fulham in the final at Craven Cottage.
“We had a celebration back at Griffin Park. There weren’t medals, we got a plaque.”
Tommy then had two seasons with Crewe Alexandra.
He added: “Five of us all had club houses in the same street in Crewe.
“We’d all get the same bus to training at Gresty Road every morning.
“None of us had cars. When I was at Celtic, the only person with a car was Billy Mcneill.
“Transport and communication were very different back then.
“After playing for Crewe against Reading, I was surprised to see my former Brentford teammate, John Docherty, in the dressing-room.
“The manager, Ernie Tagg, then told me that my father had died. John had got word of it and came to give me support.
“We won promotion with Crewe in 1968, and got a bonus of £300. It felt like a lot of money.
“I came back to Scotland the following year because my wife was extremely homesick. I retired after a short spell with Hamilton Accies.”
Tommy, now 75, was a Labour Party politician for 30 years and served as Provost of North Lanarkshire.