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Fullname: Ian Young
Born: 21 May 1943
Birthplace:Neilston
Signed: June 1961
Left: May 1968
Position: Defender/Right-back
Debut: Celtic 1-1 Third Lanark (Glasgow Cup) 5 May 1962
Internationals: none

Biog

Defender Ian Young came to Parkhead in June 1961 from Neilston Waverley.and made his debut at Hampden in the final of the Glasgow Cup on May 5th 1962 when the Celts drew 1-1 with Third Lanark.

Originally a centre-half Young switched to full-back and by the autumn of 1963 he had succeeded Dunky MacKay as the Hoops right-back. However, those early days were to see Celtic at their worst and this was being reflected by an increasingly vocal support against the board, team and manager. We hadn't won a trophy since 1957, and we were very much in the shadow of more teams than even just Rangers.

However, all was to change with the arrival of Jock Stein, and this allowed Ian Young a good opportunity to shine as well.

A member of the famous Celtic side that won the Scottish Cup in 1965, he helped play his part in the first steps on the road to glory for Celtic. After many years in the doldrums it was pure heaven for the support, and Ian Young was a good player in this turnaround.

Ian is perhaps most famous for his performance in the League Cup Final of 23rd October 1965 against Rangers when in the first few seconds of the game he put in a "crunching" tackle on Willie Johnston the Rangers winger and this set the tone of the match in that there was no way this time that Celtic were going to lie down and be second best to Rangers brute strength.

Celtic went on to win 2-1 although Ian put through an own goal in the dying minutes which - thankfully - did not matter. He had cleared a certain goal off the line at one point in the game, and as for the own-goal, in his own words: "My own goal glanced off my head and was going in any way - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!"

Many supporters to this day believe that this was the game were Celtic finally laid down the marker of dominance to come over Rangers which resulted in nine successive league titles in a row - "The Nine in a Row". In some ways, Ian Young can be said to be the one who left the marks being one of the hardest full-backs in the business and uncompromising in his challenges. In another way, it also shows Ian Young as having made his own mark on Celtic's history, and remains a lesser known hero amongst the many we have had.

He retained his place right up to the early days of the now legendary 1966-67 season when Willie O’Neill and then Jim Craig took over the right-back berth.

Ian was unlucky that Jock Stein eventually settled on Jim Craig as he was possibly a better defender than Jim but certainly not as good at going forward and as Stein used "Cairney" as an overlapping full back he got the nod ahead of Ian Young. If Ian Young had kept his place he would more than likely been part of the Lisbon Lions.

An athletic and tough tackling player Young was a fine full-back and won a Scottish Cup winners medal in 1965 and a double of League Cup & League Championship medals for season 1965-66. After 164 appearances and three goals he left Celtic in May 1968 and went on to play for St Mirren.

Some of you may not necessarily have heard of Ian Young, however you will be partly mistaken as he is mentioned in the famous Celtic Song "Celtic, Celtic, That's the Team for Me". In that way, he is forever immortalised in Celtic supporters' culture.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Division One

• 1965-66

Scottish Cup

• 1965

Scottish League Cup

• 1965-66

Pictures

• Player Pics

Podcasts

• Ian Young Interview with the LostBhoys Podcast (no.157)