Jock Stein Trophy

On July 17th Glasgow Celtic will play Albion Rovers for the annual Jock Stein Trophy. The match will take place at Cliftonhill with kick-off at 7.30pm.

The two clubs have an important affiliation with Celtic’s greatest ever manager.

Jock Stein began his journey as a professional footballer playing with Albion Rovers in 1942. From such humble beginnings no-one could have imagined a future Celtic and Scotland Legend could be made.

Stein Signed for Albion Rovers just after the start of the 1942/43 season from Blantyre Victoria and could be described as a good journeyman centre half that still retained his day job as a miner. Stein remained with Rovers for eight seasons, helping the club to gain promotion to the First Division in 1947/48. A year later Stein spent a short spell at welsh club Llanelli before finding his paradise in 1951 at Glasgow’s east end. Stein had a very successful playing career at Celtic winning many honours including the Coronation Cup, unexpectedly beating Arsenal 1-0, Man Utd 2-1 and Hibernian 1-0 to lead Celtic to the unofficial title of champions of Britain. During that time he captained Celtic for three years from 1953 until 1956 before injury forced him to retire prematurely.

Eight years on in 1964 after four very successful seasons at Dunfermline Athletic Jock Stein returned home to Celtic and begun one of the most successful managerial dynasties in the history of the game. This culminated in winning a record breaking nine successive league titles, stretching from 1966 to 1975. However Jock Stein’s and Celtic’s greatest ever achievement was the European cup Final in Lisbon 1967.In winning club football's most prestigious trophy, Stein became the first man not only to guide a Scottish club to the title of European champions, but also the first to achieve this honour with a British club. He also became the first manager in history to win all competitions entered in a season.




Jock Stein carried triumphantly by his all conquering 1967 Celtic team.


Albion Rovers have announced that Tickets will cost £5 per person and shall be on sale in the Tommy Tango shop in Whifflet and the Celtic shop across from ASDA Coatbridge from next Wednesday (25th June) It is advisable to contact ticketing outlets for further details.


It is sure to be a great night at Cliftonville where both Albion Rovers and Glasgow Celtic will compete for the Jock Stein Trophy. This will be a fine way to honour Scotland’s most successful and respected legend of the game.