Willie Wallace

Striker, Willie Wallace joined the Hoops from Hearts in December, 1966 and within six short months, ‘Wispy’ and his goals had helped fire Jock Stein’s all-conquering side to the league championship, the Scottish Cup and, most memorably, the European Cup in Lisbon. It was the most glorious season in the club’s history.

There can’t be many transfers in football which were as successful as Willie Wallace’s move from Hearts to Celtic towards the end of 1966.

For the next five years, the striker maintained his prolific form in front of goal and collected numerous winner’s medals as the Hoops continued their dominance of domestic football and reached another European Cup final.

PRELUDE TO PARADISE
As a youngster with Kilsyth Rangers close to his Kirkintilloch home, Willie Wallace joined Stenhousemuir early in 1958 and then moved to Raith Rovers by the end of the following year. By 1961, he was at Tynecastle with Hearts and there can’t be many transfers in football which were as successful as Willie Wallace’s move from the Edinburgh club to Celtic towards the end of 1966. Prior to signing for Celtic, the striker certainly showed a bit of adventure as he was looking for a move to Canada at the time and Stoke City and Newcastle United were also checking out the player who, unbelievably, had been playing at Tynecastle without a contract for two years. Both sides were offering around £80,000 for the striker but he moved to Celtic Park for £28,000.

DEBUT BHOY
Willie Wallace made his debut for Celtic against Motherwell at home on December 10, four days after joining the club, and the Hoops won 4-2, with Stevie Chalmers netting a hat-trick. His first goal for Celtic came in a 6-2 home win over Partick Thistle a week later, when he scored two of the goals. The line-up that day also included Stevie Chalmers, who also scored twice, and Joe McBride, and the three strikers were also in the team which faced Aberdeen on Christmas Eve, though it was Bobby Lennox who scored Celtic’s goal in a 1-1 draw. That was also the game in which McBride suffered the knee injury which would effectively rule him out for the remainder of the season, though it wouldn’t be until January 14, 1967 that the starting XI that would soon become known as the Lisbon Lions lined up for the first time, beating St Johnstone 4-0 at Muirton Park.

“It’s a fairytale, something you can’t write. To sit and think about it now is unbelievable."

HIGHLIGHTS
Despite Hearts coming within a hairsbreadth of winning the title in 1964/65, the League Cup in season 1962/63 was Willie Wallace’s only winner’s medal before joining the Hoops. However, within months of signing on the dotted line with Celtic, he had a full set of domestic medals and a European Cup one to boot. There can be little doubt as to the highlight of Willie Wallace’s career or that of his team-mates on May 25, 1967 for that matter. He played a crucial part in the semi-final by netting the two vital goals against Dukla Prague. His signing that season only reinforced an already potent goalscoring team and Lisbon wouldn’t even have been in his mind when he started the season with Hearts. Aside from that historic Lisbon win, Willie Wallace won five championships, three Scottish Cups, scoring both goals in the first of those, the 2-0 1967 win over Aberdeen, and two League Cups, scoring in both finals.

BOWING OUT
Season 1970/71 would be Willie Wallace’s last with Celtic and he continued to gain more winner’s medals, with a league and Scottish Cup double procured. He scored 28 goals that season across all competitions, which included a hat-trick against Waterford in the second round of the European Cup. Europe also provided the platform for Willie Wallace’s last goal for Celtic and it came just over a month before he left the club for Crystal Palace in a transfer that also saw John ‘Yogi’ Hughes move to Selhurst Park. It was the first round, second leg tie against BK 1903 Copenhagen, and the Danish side had shocked Celtic, along with the rest of Europe, by winning the first match 2-1. Natural order was restored in the return game, however, with a 3-0 victory for Celtic that came courtesy of two Willie Wallace goals and one from Tommy Callaghan.

232 CELTIC CAREER APPEARANCES
League: 141, Scottish Cup: 26, League Cup: 36, Europe: 29

134 CELTIC CAREER GOALS
League: 88, Scottish Cup: 12, League Cup: 21, Europe: 13

11 CELTIC CAREER MAJOR HONOURS
League Titles: 5, Scottish Cup: 3, League Cup: 2, European Cup: 1