Happy Faither’s Day to all the dads and grand-dads in the Celtic family…
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and guardians out there, it’s your day and hopefully it’s a great one.
One of the most famous ‘Faithers’ of all time, and a true Celtic legend was of course Lisbon Lion Ronnie Simpson, the man who was between the sticks that magical day in Lisbon on the 25th May 1967.
Dubbed ‘Faither’ due to his sense of humour, and advancing years, Ronnie was 36 when he lifted the Big Cup, and very much an elder statesman compared to his much younger teammates.
Signed by Jimmy McGrory from Hibs in 1964 , ironically due to a fall out with Jock Stein, Ronnie wrote himself into the history books with the rest of his teammates who are all now famously known as the ‘Lisbon Lions’ with Jock as manager
That certainly wasn’t something that Ronnie could have foreseen when the news broke that Jock was heading for Celtic Park in March 1965!
Celtic’s unsurpassed Quintuple
He would go on to win nine major honours with the club, including the Big Cup, which of course formed part of an unsurpassed Quintuple, is regarded by many as the greatest Celtic goalkeeper of all time, and rightly so.
Ronnie who stood at 5ft 10in, a height relatively small in goalkeeping terms, was known was for his terrific shot-stopping ability, as well as his fantastic distribution skills, due to his fantastic ball control skills, Something that was rare in a keeper in those days, which was well known to regularly irk his legendary boss!
Ronnie’s dad played for Rangers
Ronnie started his career at Queen’s Park, and made his debut at the tender age of 15 in 1945, becoming the youngest ever player in Scottish league history, before moving to Third Lanark, via a move down south to Newcastle United.
Ronnie is a twice FA Cup winner at Newcastle United
Spending nine years with the Magpies, Ronnie made over 300 appearances, winning two FA Cups, meaning he is also considered something of a club legend at St James Park.
Ronnie helped Scotland beat reigning World Champions at Wembley in 1967
Ronnie would also represent Scotland on five occasions, making his international debut in the famous 3-2 victory over England at Wembley in 1967, and in doing so, at 36 became the oldest player to make his Scotland debut.
Happy Faithers Day
But to us Celtic supporters, Ronnie who passed way in 2004 at the age of 73, will always be the ‘Faither’ of the legendary Lisbon Lions. Happy Faithers Day and Hail Hail to everyone who is celebrating.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
PS Thanks to everyone who orders Father’s Day gifts from our bookstore at celticstarbooks.com – sale prices continue for the dads who got something other than a gift from Celtic Star Books.
And thanks too to everyone who has followed us over to Celticshorts.com from The Celtic Star. ALL the writers and photographers moved to Celtic Shorts and we hope to welcome more readers to the site in the days, weeks and months ahead….
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