MEMORIES OF….ALFIE CONN
Saint Anthony on the famous switcher of clubs
Picture the scene: A cold, pitch dark, morning, in March 1977. My dad wakens me very early from my sleep, before he leaves for work, with me thinking it was still the middle of the night. As I struggled to work out why he was wakening me, he showed me the Daily Record he had bought that morning, which was adorned with Alfie Conn in a Celtic jersey, stating that Alfie had signed for Celtic from Tottenham Hotspur. It’s fair to say we were both in shock.
It’s hard to relay to younger fans just how sensational a signing this was. Alfie was an ex-Rangers player but it was more than that, he was enormously popular with their fans, almost to the point of being a cult figure. He had been instrumental in Rangers winning the ECWC in 1972 and had become a hero with the Ibrox hordes when he scored in Rangers’ 3-2 win in the 1973 Scottish Cup final against Celtic, which had rounded off Rangers’ centenary season.
Indeed, in the previous few weeks, when it became clear Conn was unhappy at White Hart Lane, Rangers fans had been urging the club, through the media, to bring him home. Jock Stein, a well known long time admirer of Alfie, had moved swiftly, and it’s to Alfie’s eternal credit that he came to Celtic, knowing the level of abuse he was about to experience in the west of Scotland goldfish bowl.
Stein had taken the unusual step of consulting his captain and vice captain, who were Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain respectively, to ascertain if there would be any difficulties within the Celtic dressing room. Both men assured Jock that there were no concerns whatsoever, and were said to be excited by the signing. When the news broke there was the predictable media hullaballoo with the obvious headlines of ‘What’s it all about Alfie ?’ in reference to the popular Cilla Black song.
When Alfie appeared at Celtic Park for training, one thing became very obvious. When he was at Rangers, he was known for his long flowing locks and heavy facial hair with a moustache. Now here he was with a smart hair style and clean shaven on Stein’s instructions. In later years Alfie was asked, ‘Who was your most difficult opponent ?’ to which he humorously replied – ‘The barber after I signed for Celtic.’
It should be noted that Alfie’s transfer was originally referred to in the media as a loan deal, which very few people seem to recall from that time. This was perhaps due to both parties wanting to test the water before agreeing to a permanent deal.
There was a big debate in the media, as to how the Celtic fans would take to the sight of Alfie in the green and white. He made his debut as a sub at Pittodrie on 5 March 1977. Celtic were in a strong position, sitting on top of the league with games in hand and in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. The Celtic fans chanted his name throughout the game and there were expectant roars from the huge travelling Celtic support when Alfie replaced Pat McCluskey in the second half. Despite this, Celtic lost 2-0, a disappointing result but Aberdeen was definitely their bogey side that season under their flamboyant manager, Ally MacLeod.
Four days later on the Wednesday evening, Celtic hosted Partick Thistle at Parkhead. As Alfie ran out with the team he was given a tremendous ovation, with the Jungle coming up with their own personal chant, ‘He used to be a Hun but he’s alright now, Alfie, Alfie Conn!’ The fans were absolutely thrilled when, just before half time, Alfie ran on to a through ball to unleash a tremendous shot past Scotland goalkeeper Alan Rough, in the Thistle goal. Alfie was off and running.
On 19 March, Alfie faced his biggest test yet when Celtic faced Rangers at Ibrox. This was Gers’ last chance to haul Celtic back in the league race. In the opening session Celtic were terrific. Alfie hit the post with a cracking 20 yard shot and it was remarked that the old Rangers’ stand would have crumbled into pieces had that shot gone in. An exciting game finished 2-2 with a young Roy Aitken being Celtic’s hero with two goals and the league victory was only to be a matter of time. A week later Celtic beat Dundee United 2-0, in front of a huge crowd, which the media reported as 37,000 but many more were obviously in attendance. Alfie created Celtic’s vital opening goal with a great cross for a terrific Joe Craig header and Celtic were all but home.
The league was officially clinched on 16 April at Easter Road. There remains sadness to this day that no cameras were there to record the game for posterity. In a fit of pique, Hibs chairman, Tom Hart, had banned all cameras from Hibs’ ground, due to his concerns about the impact which TV was having on attendances. This was a strange argument given that Hart had said nothing all season and waited until weeks from the end of the league campaign to make a spurious argument. It was more to the point that he did this to spite Pat Stanton. Stanton, a Hibernian legend in the eyes of their fans, was signed by Celtic at the beginning of the season and had enjoyed a terrific season, being in the running for Scottish player of the year. Hart had faced tremendous criticism from Hibs supporters for allowing Stanton to join Celtic and had therefore decided to spoil Celtic’s big day. It was particularly vindictive of Hart to ban the Celtic Film Club who were keen to record the game on a not for profit basis. On the day, Joe Craig was the Celtic hero with the winning goal, and Alfie Conn was a league winner with Celtic.
On 7 May 1977 Alfie was selected to play in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden. There was huge pressure on him to justify his transfer fee. Celtic were strong favourites to win, although an injury to 26 goal midfield man, Ronnie Glavin, forced Jock stein into changing his tactics. Perhaps for the first ever time, Celtic lined up in a 3-5-2 formation and it worked a treat with Danny McGrain and Andy Lynch playing as wing backs, and Shuggie Edvaldsson and Roddy MacDonald utilised as twin centre halves to nullify the aerial threat of Rangers strike pairing of Derek Johnstone and Derek Parlane. Celtic won 1-0 through a penalty by Andy Lynch, after Alfie’s corner had caused some consternation in the Rangers defence. He played well in the game and Celtic’s winning margin should have been more emphatic, with Joe Craig missing two great chances in the second half.
Much was anticipated of that Celtic side at the start of the 1977-78 season. On a summer tour they had beaten Arsenal and Red Star Belgrade to win a prestigious pre-season tournament in Australia, where Alfie had performed well. Storm clouds had gathered upon Celtic Park upon the team’s return, when Kenny Dalglish, reputed to be the best player in the UK, was sold to Liverpool for British record fee of £440,000. Dalglish was irreplaceable, no matter how much money Celtic had. On the opening day of the season when the league flag was unfurled, Alfie and Pat Stanton suffered serious injuries, with Pat eventually having to retire. A few weeks later, Danny McGrain sustained an injury which kept him out for 18 months and Celtic went on to suffer a miserable campaign, which at its end, Jock Stein left his post as Celtic manager after 13 remarkable years.
Alfie regained full fitness and was keen to impress the new Celtic manager, Billy McNeill. He scored 9 goals in his first 11 games as the Celts enjoyed a good start to the season. Some of them are worth recalling. Against Hearts on 19 August he scored with a terrific swerving free kick which brought comparisons with the South American stars from the World Cup in Argentina just a few months earlier. On 26 August he played a one-two with Roy Aitken for a fine goal in the 5-1 win at Fir Park, and on 30 September, he scored an exquisite goal against St Mirren when he gathered a long ball, beat a defender, rounded the goalkeeper, and rolled the ball into the net. Alfie was an entertainer and the fans lapped it up.
Celtic’s form dipped badly in autumn and fierce winter weather arrived at an ideal time, to ensure that the Celts did not play a league game for ten long weeks which helped them to regain their confidence. Their first league game of 1979 was played on 3 March against Aberdeen at Parkhead and the ground exploded when Alfie scored the winner to get Celtic back on the rails. Alfie’s last game for Celtic was a Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen on 14 March. Shortly after that game, Celtic players from that period speak of a heated training ground bust up between Alfie and Billy McNeill. On 30 April Celtic surprisingly announced that Alfie had been awarded a free transfer and his Celtic career was now at an end.
In later years I was researching a book about Celtic’s 1978-79 season and I contacted Alfie to ascertain exactly what had happened at the end of his Celtic days. He admitted that there had been a fall out with McNeill but that there was more to it than that. He didn’t want to say any more as this was still a sore point in his career for him to recall and, in any case, he was looking to write his own book and give his own account of what had actually happened.
Sadly, Alfie’s book never materialised so we may never know his version of events. This was a really sad way for Alfie’s career at Celtic to end. He left the Celtic fans with a number of happy memories from his time at the club and he is still fondly remembered for his talent and skill.