The great Steve Chalmers will always be remembered as the man who scored the most important goal in the history of Celtic.

It was the talented striker who, with just five minutes remaining, hit the winner in the 1967 European Cup final against Inter Milan in Lisbon. That one moment ensured Chalmers and his team-mates would be immortalised as the Lisbon Lions for all eternity and it seemed fitting that this historic goal should be scored by such a great and faithful servant to the Celtic cause.

Stevie was born in 1936 and brought up in the Celtic stronghold of Garngad (Roystonhill) in Glasgow, as was another famous Celtic son, Jimmy McGrory. His dad has tried to make it at Celtic with no success and moved over to Clydebank instead, so Stevie's success made up for his father's lost chance.

He joined Celtic in February 1959 at the age of 23 and became one of 'Kelly's Kids' along with others such as Jimmy Johnstone, Billy McNeill, John Hughes and Tommy Gemmell.

A junior internationalist Chalmers signed for the Bhoys from Ashfield in February 1959 and made his debut a month later in a 2-1 league defeat at home to Airdrie.

From his earliest days at Parkhead the raw talent of Chalmers was obvious. He had great pace, was a tireless runner and a clinical finisher. However some said there was a naivety about his play which meant that at times his ability was not always utilised as effectively as it could have been.

His talent though was undisputed. However playing in a Celtic side packed with ability but lacking real guidance the quest for silverware became an annually fruitless and frustrating task. All that would change in the most dramatic fashion with the arrival of Jock Stein as manager in early 1965.

Buoyed by the arrival of the new boss Celtic claimed the Scottish Cup soon afterwards. It was Chalmers’ first winners ‘medal as a Celt and the Bhoys’ first trophy in eight years. With Stein at the helm Chalmers and Celtic blossomed. The new manager not only recognised the talent of Chalmers he knew exactly how to get the best from the player.

The tactically astute Stein would often deploy Chalmers as a front runner knowing the immensely hard working and unselfish forward possessed the intelligence to create havoc for defences even when he wasn’t in possession of the ball. Chalmers excelled under Stein. Time after time his clever runs would draw defenders and create gaping holes for his grateful team-mates to exploit.

He was of course equally as capable of scoring goals as he was creating them. Great anticipation and awareness coupled with the ability of a natural finisher made him lethal in the penalty area. His pace meant that with the ball at his feet he could beat any defender and he posed a real goal threat with his considerable ability in the air.

Rangers were made painfully aware of the devastating prowess of Chalmers on January 3rd 1966 when he netted a second-half hat-trick as Celtic demolished their rivals 5-1 at Parkhead. That now iconic goal in Lisbon was typical of his uncanny ability to find space amongst even the very meanest of defences.

But as emphatically proved by his wonderful run and goal in the Bhoys 4-0 Scottish Cup final triumph over Rangers in 1969 there were so many strings to Chalmers’ bow.

A broken leg sustained in the 1969 League Cup final against St Johnstone all but ended Steve Chalmers’ Celtic career. He eventually left Parkhead in September 1971 to become player-coach at Morton.

By then he had scored 228 goals in 405 games for Celtic, and won the European Cup, four league titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups. Stevie is the fourth highest goalscorer in Celtic's history only Jimmy McGrory, Bobby Lennox and Henrik Larsson have been more prolific than him. His 228 goals was the record until Bobby Lennox overtook it (two incredible goal scorers in one side).

Pathetically, he was only capped five times for Scotland, where he scored 3 goals. It's almost too unbelievable, and this is even though one of his goals was against Brazil (a first minute "blazing goal" (25th June 1966)).

Steve Chalmers was a courageous, unselfish and immensely talented footballer and remains a humble and courteous gentleman. Inducted into Celtic's Hall of Fame in 2001 he was the complete centre forward. He is a Celtic great.

*A not so well known fact is that Stevie's first name is actually "Thomas" - He was registered at birth and baptised as Thomas Stephen Chalmers but has always been known as Stevie Chalmers.This fact was confirmed by Stevie to Kerrydale Street Wiki member CaltonBhoy1967 who asked Stevie about it in person at the 2-1 victory over Motherwell at Celtic Park on 13th April 2010 and Stevie confirmed that Thomas is in fact his real name.

Playing Career

Pictures

• Player Pictures

Articles

• Miscellaneous articles on Stevie Chalmers
  

Links

• Lisbon Lions

Books

• Stevie Chalmers: The Winning Touch (2012) by Stevie Chalmers with Graham McColl