Born: 25 August 1939
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 26 July 1957
Left:
Position: Inside-Right
Debut: Celtic 0- Dundee, League, 7 Dec 1957
Internationals: none

Biog

Inside-right Mike Jackson signed for Celtic in July 1957 from junior outfit Benburb. He had been pursued by Manchester Utd but chose to become a Kelly Kid rather than a Busby Babe.

"I'd been down at Old Trafford for a couple of weeks and played a couple of matches but when I received a telegram to come up and play for Celtic against Dunfermiline, I jumped at the chance. Apart from the fact that I'd supported them as a boy, I was getting homesick down south. So I came up and played, Celtic offered me a contract after the game and I signed for them that night."

He made his debut in a goalless league clash with Dundee at Parkhead on December 7th that year. A clever and elegant attacker Jackson had a good eye for goal but was ultimately let down by a lack of real pace. He came through the Celtic ranks with players who would ultimately go on to be Lisbon Lions. He made 74 appearances for Celtic and scored 30 goals before joining St Johnstone in April 1963. With hindsight he has stated that he might very well have been hasty but that he was frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities.

He was unfortunate in many ways. He made his debut not long after the magnificent league cup win of 1957 (7-1 over Rangers), but then Celtic were not to win another trophy till 1965. Celtic were woeful and the environment very poor for any aspiring player, with the club management increasingly demoralised by the constant board inept meddling.

He went on to have a long playing career before finally retiring from playing at the age of 41. He played for Third Lanark, Drumcondra, Athlone Town, Clyde, Morton, Queen of the South, Clydebank, Hamilton Accies and Benburb.

One little bit of trivia on Mike Jackson is that he used to think of himself as a bit of a crooner, and regularly mimicked brat-pack star Dean Martin. He was then given a nickname by his team-mates of 'Dino' [pronounced Deano] but as Billy McNeill said that is despite only Mike believing that he actually sounded like the great old singer.

After his playing career Jackson put his excellent football brain to good knowledge working as a coach, manager and scout. He started as Reserve coach with Albion Rovers, coached Benburb in 1974 and became Queen of the South coach in September 1974. He was then appointed manager at Palmerston Park from August 1975 to May 1978. During this time he was asked by Billy McNeill, then managing Aberdeen, of his opinion of a certain ginger-haired Dundee player, whom Queens had just beaten, by the name of Gordon Strachan. He replied that the young lad, unlike most of his fellow Dundee players had not stopped trying and running. On the basis of this recommendation McNeill signed Strachan to Aberdeen.

He continued his managing and coaching career with spells at Morton, Albion Rovers, Partick Thistle and back again to Queen of the South before finally joining Celtic as a scout in 1988. In 1987 when Jack McGinn wanted to bring Billy McNeill back to the club as manager the negotiations took place at Mike's house in Crosshill. Mike's scouting role at Celtic took the form of compiling vast dossiers on teams for Billy McNeill. However he eventually moved on to become involved in the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) in Scotland, a role which saw him point young footballers who failed to make the grade into other lines of work.. His undoubted talents acquired through a long playing, coaching and managing career as well as his work with YTS led to Leeds Utd recruiting him as their scout for Scotland and was involved in recommending Mark Viduka to David O'Leary at Leeds Utd in 1999.

Later he was back fully at Celtic, and worked as a pundit on Celtic TV.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

Pictures

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