The Thistle Archive

The 17-year-old Stevie signed for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy in 1953 and, during his time doing national service at RAF Stradishall in 1955, he played for Newmarket Town. Moving back to Scotland, he signed with SJFA team Ashfield, and represented Scotland at that level in 1959. Shortly afterwards he signed for Celtic, making his league debut in March 1959 against Airdrie. At full international level, Stevie scored three goals in five games for Scotland from 1964 to 1966. One of the goals, the first-minute opener, came in a 1-1 draw against Brazil in June 1966, who were the reigning world champions and were led by Pelé. In 2011, Stevie recalled the great day:

The game had hardly started when Jim Baxter sent me through after conjuring up another of those wonderful through balls of his. He split the Brazilian defence and I raced on to it before slamming the ball high past the stranded Gilmar, their star goalkeeper. It ended 1-1 but I recall too what a great marking job John Clark did on Pelé that night. To be truthful, Billy Bremner had wanted the strip, Pelé knew he wanted it. Billy was close to Pelé when the final whistle sounded but he had kicked lumps out of him during the game. I wasn’t close to them but Pelé refused to give his jersey to Billy and turned and gave it to me. I was delighted. Later on after the game we had a refreshment!”

Stevie spent 12 full seasons with Celtic, helping the club to six league titles, three Scottish Cups, and four League Cups, as well as being part of the Lisbon Lions side that won the 1967 European Cup, beating Inter Milan and becoming the first British club to lift the famous trophy. He scored the winning goal in the 85th minute of the final, and in doing so also sealed the fabled Quadruple, an unmatched feat to date. His involvement became limited after he broke a leg in the 1969 Scottish League Cup Final, and he missed the rest of that season, including the 1970 European Cup Final. His total of over 230 goals is the fifth-highest in the history of the club, and he is remembered as one of the greatest players in Celtic's history.

After leaving Celtic Park in September 1971 at the age of 35, Stevie continued to appear in Scotland's top tier, playing with Morton in 1971-72. He did not enjoy juggling his dual role as player-coach along with a new job as proprietor of an off-licence in Maryhill, and left in summer 1972, signing with Davie McParland's Partick Thistle, where he'd play for 3 seasons, re-uniting with his old Celtic team-mate Bertie Auld who took over as Thistle manager in the summer of 1974. Stevie was slowing down in these years, and his troublesome knees reduced his agility, but he did score 6 top-flight goals for Thistle, as a 36, 37 & 38 year old. Although he had supposedly retired in 1975, Stevie made a very brief comeback with junior club St Roch's during the 1975–76 season, before finally retiring and becoming sales manager for the Celtic Pools. He retired from that position after a stress-related heart attack in the late 1980s and later moved from Bishopbriggs to Troon, where he indulged his other passion for golf (he was a +1 handicapper), although he continued to work as a match-day host at Celtic Park. Fans would always be delighted to meet the Hoops legend, though Stevie, as he always was throughout his life, remained humble about his extraordinary achievements.

Stevie was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He had been looking forward to joining the Lisbon Lions' 50th anniversary celebrations the following year, but his family announced he was suffering from dementia and was unable to attend. He passed away 2 years later, in his 84th year.

Stevie is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →