New Boss Bounce

I ENJOYED Monday night's BBC broadcast of the Manchester United v Arsenal FA Cup quarter-final. For once the match lived up to the hype, this was a very good game, with excitement at both ends.

I would not have minded, had United taken the tie to a replay, but, as us so often the case in football, an ex-player came back to bite the losers on the bum. I have to say, Danny Welbeck took that crucial chance well, to score the winner, but, that pass-back is a mistake which will haunt Valencia for a long time.

I don't particularly buy into the belief that Van Gaal is some kind of super manager. Yes, he has a good record, with a lot of big clubs, but, he hasn't had the immediate effect on United which I think the Glazers hoped for when they recruited him.

He may well get United back into next season's Champions League - although they will surely have to go through at least one qualifying round to get into the group stages. He will certainly get them into the Europa League - but, if his remit was to have the Reds back right at the sharp end in England, well, he has failed.

THIS concept of the new boss bounce is often commented on in football. I was thinking of this, this week, when, scandalously in my opinion, the mainstream media in Scotland failed to acknowledge a significant anniversary.

Because, it was 50 years ago yesterday, on Monday, 9 March, 1965, that Jock Stein walked back through the front door of Celtic Park as the club's new manager. He was only the fourth man to hold that post, and, although this fact is not as relevant today as it appeared back then, the first Protestant to hold the post.

His return to the club he had captained with distinction during the previous decade followed success at Dunfermline Athletic and Hibs was a case of Celtic hoping this young, winning manager, could bring back the good times.

Celtic had won nothing for just short of seven-and-a-half-years, since their memorable 7-1 win over Rangers in the 1957 League Cup final. The SFA's engravers hadn't had to put Celtic on the Scottish Cup plinth since 1954, while the guy who did the engraving for the Scottish League hadn't had to get the club's name correct since the same year, when, significantly, Stein had captained Celtic to that double.

In the League, the years since 1954 had seen decline and stagnation: second in 1955, fifth in 1956, fifth again in 1957, third in 1958, sixth in 1959, ninth in 1960, fourth in 1961, third in 1962, fourth again in 1963, third in 1964.

When Stein took over, they were languishing in fifth place in the table - they would eventually finish eighth.

Their Scottish Cup record was slightly better. They had lost to Clyde after a replay in the 1955 final. A year later, they were back at Hampden, but, again on the losing side, to Hearts. There was another runners-up spot in 1961 - as Stein led Dunfermline to their maiden Scottish Cup victory, then, in 1963, after a replay, they lost the first Old Firm Scottish Cup final since 1928.

Celtic had become serial under-achievers in the League Cup, since their back-to-back triumphs in 1956 and 1957. Certainly, they had lost to Rangers in the 1964-65 season final, back in October.

They had also made no impact in the ten seasons of European club competitions, not even qualifying for Europe until 1962-63.

Even in the Scottish League, in the 10 seasons since their 1954 Leaguen, Celtic had only once finished above Rangers - in 1956 - and in only six of the seasons had they been the second force in Glasgow, behind their great rivals.

Celtic needed a new boss bounce, and, to a certain extent, Stein provided it, as he guided the club to Scottish Cup success. Certainly, in predecessor Jimmy McGrory's final game in charge, Celtic had beaten eventual League Champions Kilmarnock 3-2, to clinch a semi-final place.

Stein's team required a replay to get past Motherwell in that semi-final, before Billy McNeill came-up with a wonderful headed goal to take them past Dunfermline in the final, to clinch Stein's first trophy as Celtic manager.

By winning a trophy in his first six and a bit weeks as boss, Stein certainly began to turn things around, however, the myth that he walked through the door and, immediately, everything changed, doesn't quite stack-up.

He took over a team in fifth spot, perhaps the cup campaign proved a distraction, but, they slumped to finish eighth.

However, in those weeks in the spring of 1965, Stein really began to turn things around. He changed the training regime, perhaps most-importantly, he converted Bobby Murdoch from an average inside forward to a great wing half, and paired him in central midfield with Bertie Auld, setting-up the creative pairing which would drive the club to glory in Lisbon.

The squad he took over included ten of the 11 Lisbon Lions, indeed, the first Celtic team he sent out included seven of that stellar XI.

Stein's Celtic reign lasted until 1978. During this period he led the club to ten Scottish League wins, eight Scottish Cups, six League Cups and that legendary European Cup win in1967, plus another final in 1970, a semi-final place in 1974 and a semi-final place in the European Cup-Winners Cup in 1966.

Now, that's what you call a new boss bounce - one which keeps going.