Bertie Auld
Combative midfielder at the heart of Celtic’s Lisbon Lions
BERTIE AULD, who has died aged 83, was a footballer who had two spells at Celtic; in his second stint at Parkhead the winger-turned-midfielder became a member of “the Lisbon Lions”, the first British side to win the European Cup.
While his formidable central partnership with Bobby Murdoch was a key factor in that famous victory over Inter Milan in Portugal, he made an important contribution before the match had even started.
As Auld and his teammates stood in the tunnel at the Estádio Nacional, their Italian opponents looked, he recalled, like “film stars”.
Refusing to be intimidated, he began singing The Celtic Song, the tune played when the team took to the pitch at home games, and was soon joined by his colleagues. Inter appeared to laugh it off, though some of them later admitted to having been discombobulated.
When the game was under way the Glaswegian side – all but one of them born within 11 miles of Celtic Park – went a goal down after seven minutes, but with their thrilling brand of relentless attacking football they roared back to win 2-1.
Robert Auld was born on March 23 1938 in the Glasgow suburb of Maryhill, the oldest of eight children. Initially a full-back, he played for the junior side Maryhill Harp, who converted him to a winger, and joined Celtic in 1955.
But his headstrong nature and lack of discipline kept him back, and after a season on loan to Dumbarton he was offloaded to Birmingham City in 1961 for £15,000. Two years later he won the League Cup with them against their bitter rivals Aston Villa.
He gained a certain notoriety south of the border after punching the England and Fulham hero Johnny Haynes. Sent off and on his way back to the dressing room, he proceeded to clock Haynes’s teammate Maurice Cook, who had run up to him to remonstrate. A lengthy suspension ensued.
Jock Stein is believed to have recommended signing Auld when he was about to join Celtic as manager in 1965, and Auld returned for a fee of £12,000.
Stein converted him to a deep-lying midfielder, but they went on to have an often turbulent relationship, the manager once pinning him up against the dressingroom wall; although the team had just beaten Clyde, Auld had upset Stein by cockily sitting on the ball.
Celtic were entering a golden age and Auld won five League titles in a row, three Scottish Cups and four successive League Cups. “He could kill the ball immediately and know exactly where it was to be launched with radar accuracy,” his fellow Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell said, adding: “He was frightened of nothing and no one.”
Off the field he was an antic presence. Gemmell recalled going on stage in a nightclub to sing a Frank Sinatra song. Being no Sinatra, he was mystified when an encore was demanded – until he discovered that Auld had convinced the audience that he was Danny Kaye, to whom he bore a distant resemblance. Auld himself was once offered a twoweek stand-up spot on Broadway, he claimed.
In 1971, by then 33, he joined Hibernian on a free transfer, initially as playertrainer before concentrating on the latter role. Three years later he went into management with Partick Thistle, taking them into the top tier as First Division champions. He repeated the trick with Hibs, whom he managed from 1980-82, and there were short stints with Hamilton Academical, Partick again and Dumbarton before he retired in 1988.
Auld was capped three times for Scotland, a meagre return for such a talent. In retirement he ran a pub in Hamilton, The Buccaneer, and later on made regular appearances on Celtic TV.
Bertie Auld, who had been diagnosed with dementia, was married to Liz, with whom he had a daughter and son.