The night 'Big Jock' Stein died: Scotland players, staff and fans remember the tragedy 25 years on

IT was the night Scotland made the World Cup play-offs and it didn't matter - because Big Jock was dead.


Twenty five years ago today, Scotland manager Jock Stein collapsed in a Cardiff dugout just as his team clinched a vital draw against Wales.

Substitute Davie Cooper netted a penalty with minutes to go. But in the final seconds of the match, TV cameras showed Jock being carried up the tunnel.

The man who led Celtic to European Cup glory was pronounced dead in the medical room minutes later of a heart attack at the age of 62.

Midfielder Graeme Souness, suspended for the tie, had kept a vigil outside the door of the medical room, his face plastered with tears and sweat. He refused to budge until it was confirmed Jock had gone.

Ashen-faced players cut short their celebrations over the Ninian Park result.

And Scotland's success against the best Welsh team in years suddenly meant nothing to the 12,000 members of the Tartan Army who attended the game.

Professor Stewart Hillis, the Scotland medic for the match on September 10, 1985, was also Big Jock's doctor.

He said: "Near the end of the game, all the photographers were cramming around the Welsh bench at 1-0.

"Everything changed though when Cooper's penalty went in. The focus changed to our bench.

"Jock ushered at least one photographer away. He looked his normal self, strong and vital.

"But with around two minutes to go, the referee's whistle sounded and Jock thought the match was over. He got up and then collapsed to his knees.

"We had a full medical team in the stadium's medical room. We were trying to revive him.

"His last words were, 'I'm feeling much better now, doc'.

"For me it is very difficult to fail to resuscitate any patient like that. It was even more difficult because it was Big Jock.

"But I knew there was nothing more that could possibly have been done. We had all the available equipment.

"I was concentrating on trying to save Jock and I think one or two players may have looked in the door.

"I stayed with Jock after he was gone. Big Jock had heart muscle disease and was supposed to be taking tablets to help remove fluid from his body. It was later revealed he had been skipping the tablets."

In the days before the match, Jock was doing interviews with the various TV channels and press which may have influenced his decision not to take his medication.

Professor Hillis said: "I still believe that had Jock taken his medication he would not have died. But Jock was his own man."

Richard Gough, who went on to captain Rangers and Scotland and win 61 caps, was a 23-year-old member of the team.

He revealed: "Wales had Hughes and Rush up front. They also had a world class goalkeeper in Neville Southall.

"We went in at half time a goal down.

Goalkeeper Jim Leighton had a problem with his contact lenses.

"Jock hit the roof. He was furious because no one had told him Leighton wore contacts.

"But Alan Rough replaced Jim at halftime and had a great match."

That change meant Jock and his assistant Alex Ferguson only had one more substitution available.

Jock chose Davie Cooper, who would tragically die from a brain haemhorrage just 10 years later.

Richard, now 48, said yesterday: "I remember the feeling of elation when Coop's penalty went in.

"We were celebrating on the pitch at the end when Alex Ferguson came over and said, 'Big Jock's taken ill. Keep the boys on the pitch'.

"We were worried and concerned but no more than that. It all changed when I got into the dressing room.

"I saw our massuer, Jimmy Steel, in tears. At that moment I knew. No one had to tell me Big Jock had gone.

"We saw thousands of Scots fans on the way to the airport, but none were celebrating."

Alan Rough, now a radio football analyst, revealed: "Word came out I was on in the second half.

"It was mayhem. Jock was shouting about contact lenses and Fergie was shouting as well. I kept out of it and prepared myself.

"As I walked out of the dressing room Big Jock was standing near the door. His last words to me were, 'Good luck, ya fat b*****d'.

"In the days before the game Jock did not seem his normal self. He did look pale. But his thoroughness of preparation was as good as always, so we thought little of it.

"In the aftermath the dressing room was quieter than any one I had ever been in.

"Players simply did not know what to say to each other. The result really didn't matter."

Record man Rodger Baillie was covering the match along with chief sports writer, the late Alex Cameron or "chiefy".

Rodger, now a freelance sports writer, said: "At the end of the match we knew something was wrong with Jock.

"Alex Ferguson's head popped out of a door and he dragged me over because I had phone numbers for Jock's family.

"The Welsh boss Mike England came over to me and said he hoped Jock was going to be okay and that arrangements were being made for an air ambulance to take him back to Glasgow. I squeezed out of a door and climbed a fence to get back to the press box.

"But by the time I had climbed back down into the area underneath the stand it was clear that Jock had gone."

Rodger added: "I will never forget the chilling silence, absolute silence from the whole press pack as we boarded the bus to take us back to our hotel."

Maurice Malpas, now assistant to Terry Butcher at Inverness Caley Thistle, said: "I was a young player at the time.

"I noticed nothing different about Big Jock in the run-up to the game. Everything was done as it normally was and we were totally prepared.

"On the pitch I had no idea anything was happening at the technical area.

"Only much later, in the dressing room when I saw Steely, did it register what had happened.

"Steely was the one guy who could say anything he liked to Big Jock because they were so close.

"He was absolutely devastated and soon we were too. The result meant nothing to us."

Hamish Husband, 62, now spokesman for the Tartan Army, was in the crowd that night.

He said: "Like many fans we had left the ground elated that we got the point we needed.

"At the end of the match, I had seen a lot of activity in the technical area. But I didn't really see what was going on.

"My family were travelling home in four different cars and in the one I was in we didn't even have the radio on.

"One of the other cars overtook and someone shouted, 'Big Jock died, put the radio on'.

"Jock, of course, was not family to me or the other fans.

"But we did all feel bereaved as if he was family."

Jock's loss devastated the Welsh supporters too.

Ceri Stennet, now official Welsh FA historian and press officer, revealed: "I was sitting in the stand right behind Rod Stewart.

"We left the ground bemoaning the fact that the Scots had got another dodgy penalty to deny us again.

"But when the news about Jock came through, the result went out of the window. He was a giant in the game, part of the golden age of British managers."

Ceri, 50, added: "Our doctor, Dr Graham Jones, worked alongside the Scots doctor, Dr Hillis. Big Jock's passing left him devastated along with our players and manager."

Scotland, under caretaker manager Alex Ferguson, would go on to qualify for the World Cup after play-offs against Australia.

But the loss of the man later hailed Scotland's best manager overshadowed any achievements on the pitch.

Life and times of a legend

Jock Stein was born into the mining village of Burnbank, now largely swallowed up by the sprawl of Hamilton, in 1922.

He followed his father down the pit and never lost his respect for miners.

Even after signing for Albion Rovers as a centre half in 1942, he continued to work in the mine.

Jock then joined Welsh club Llanelli. But he only stayed a year after becoming homesick for his wife Jean and young daughter.

Celtic paid £1200 for his services as a reserve, a move which was unpopular with his Rangers-supporting dad.

But Big Jock excelled and eventually captained Celtic, leading them to the "double" in 1954.

He landed the manager's job with Dunfermline and in 1961, guided them to their first Scottish Cup win.

He became manager of Hibs in 1964 and took them to the Scottish Cup semi-final.

Jock then returned to Celtic as manager and led them to the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in 1966, before masterminding their 1967 European Cup win.

Stein led Celtic to 10 Scottish Championships, eight Scottish Cup wins and six League Cup wins.

He was awarded the CBE in 1970. Many felt he should have been knighted.

In 1978, he left Leeds United after only weeks in charge to become Scotland boss, leading them to the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain.