Latest News from Llanelliafc.org The Online Home of the Reds| THE JOCK STEIN CONNECTION |
 |
 |
 |
|
By GARY SUTHERLAND
IT IS a long road from Llanelli to Lisbon but the Welsh town retains its association with Jock Stein. The supporters of Llanelli AFC can watch home games at Stebonheath Park before having a pint in the Jock Stein Lounge where walled photographs of the former club captain are the added reminder to visitors that Llanelli is a chapter in the Stein Story.
The Llanelli club historian, Graham Williams, remembers Jock Stein well. "He was a very well-spoken man; a nice chap. My wife and I lived in the road leading up to the park and Jock would always say 'good morning” if he met us on the way to training.
When Jock defended for Llanelli, he would use every part of his body, he’d make clearances with his knees! He’d often put the ball out of touch that way!
Stein was 27 when he quit the mine and part-time football at Albion Rovers for full-time football in Wales. He sought financial betterment and his ex-Rovers team-mate Dougie Wallace bent his ear about Llanelli's ambitions in the potentially lucrative Welsh League. Stein moved south in 1950 - wife Jean and daughter Rae remaining in Hamilton for the time being - to earn the princely sum of £12 per week.
There was a false start to Stein's spell with Llanelli, the switch deemed illegal, a recent FIFA regulation requiring some form of clearance from the home football authority. Stein had walked away from Albion Rovers, so, when the SFA contacted the Welsh FA, Stein, who had started playing for Llanelli, had to stop. As Llanelli were contesting an FA Cup tie with Ebbw Vale, Stein was back in Coatbridge, clearing the air with Rovers before his return to Wales with the necessary documentation
Thereafter, Stein enjoyed considerable popularity at Llanelli. Solid, if not spectacular, he captained them to mid-table respectability in 1950-51 and played a role in the club's historic FA Cup run which was only ended by Bristol Rovers after a third-round second replay at Cardiff's Ninian Park.
Nor was Stein the only Scot at Llanelli. Other footballers from Dundee United, Aberdeen and Motherwell joined him in the post-war migration for improved monetary conditions. It wouldn't last forever though with Llanelli's progress undermined by rejection for a place in the Football League. Dissent over wages and bonuses followed and during one fixture punches were thrown. Stein was sent off, docked £2 wages - and suspended for 28 days.
But the most insurmountable difficulties were family. Stein's wife had travelled to Wales and his daughter had started at a local school but it was difficult and when the news came from Scotland that their home had been burgled, Stein informed the Llanelli manager Jack Goldsborough that he was heading back north of the border, a year or so after his arrival in Wales. "He liked it in Llanelli," says Williams, "but in the end he hankered for home."
Stein had little idea what would happen next. Probably back down the mines but not back to Albion at any rate. Stein began with them in 1942, impressing in a trial against Celtic. He had joined Rovers as a teenager from Blantyre Vics, his dad George's old club. With mining a 'reserved' occupation, Stein was exempt from conscription, and was able to rack up more than 200 games for Rovers between 1942 and 1950. In one game his nose was broken by the Rangers striker Jimmy Smith but, when not facing Rangers, Stein still wanted to know their result first when he walked off a pitch. He was a vocal presence at Rovers, influencing team selection and negotiating for better wages. In 1948 Albion Rovers won promotion to the first division but they would go straight back down again, winning only three of their 30 matches. When Rovers rejected Kilmarnock's offer for Stein he wasn't best pleased. Llanelli came calling after that and Stein's eight seasons with Rovers ended messily. "He walked away from Albion," says their club historian Robin Marwick. "Britain was on its knees and Jock was a miner strapped for money. While you don't deny him the right to self-improvement, his leaving of Rovers was not a happy thing."
The return of Stein to Scotland was to Celtic, of course. Reserve team trainer Jimmy Gribben was asked to find a defender and remembering Stein, tracked him down in Wales when Stein was at the point of leaving anyway. Celtic paid £1,200 for his services and the rest, as they say, is history. Stein never forgot Gribben's role in bringing him to Celtic. After Celtic's 1965 Scottish Cup Final win over Dunfermline, Gribben carried the trophy into Glasgow's Central Hotel for the post-match celebrations. Arriving back from Lisbon two years later Stein went directly to the Celtic Park bootroom to let Gribben see the European Cup. Neither would Stein forget Llanelli. Finding himself in Swansea in February 1975, he made an impromptu trip to Stebonheath Park. With no forewarning, there was no-one there to greet him, Stein's presence going unnoticed. Talking years later about that day, Stein said: "It was nice to recall my playing days and enjoy a wee bit of nostalgia and it would have been nice to have met some of the club officials at the ground but my visit was only brief." Though his playing days with Llanelli were but brief, in the club's next home game after Stein's death in Cardiff, the team wore black armbands and observed a minute's silence, in honour of their former club captain, a centre-half who would clear the danger with his knee when it suited him.
 Above. A copy of Jock Stein's transfer from Llanelli to Celtic in December 1951!
|
