POSE OF IMMORTALITY

Tommy Gemmell was a powerful defender and an impressive goalscorer too

FOOTBALL is a numbers game. And at Celtic, the number 1967 is synonymous with the club’s greatest success. Tommy Gemmell was among the 11 heroes that triumphed in Lisbon that year, all of whom lived within a 30-mile radius of Celtic Park. Better still, it was the right back’s equaliser in the 63rd minute that laid the groundwork for Stevie Chalmers’ matchwinner six minutes from time.

In doing so, Celtic overcame Internationale, then two-time European Cup Winners, by two goals to one. Against the odds, they became the first British club to lift the continent’s biggest prize.

At age 73, half-a-century after lifting the Big Cup, Tommy Gemmell left us too soon following illness. A sea of tributes followed, before the numbers game went full circle. In the most fitting of chance tributes, Moussa Dembele hit the net in the 67th minute in a 4-1 win over St Mirren, three days after Tommy’s passing.

Now, three years after the No.3’s untimely death, businessman Martin McCrum heads the Tommy Gemmell Community Project, who are working to honour the club legend with a statue in his hometown of Craigneuk in Wishaw.

“I’m from the local area and Tommy and myself were very friendly, as were many people from Craigneuk,” said McCrum in an exclusive interview with the Celtic View. “Craigneuk is a very working-class area that’s become more downtrodden in recent years because of the demise of the Ravenscraig steelworks, but it’s very rich in talent. Tommy is the perfect example of that.”

Before his passing, Tommy met up with Craigneuk native McCrum on a weekly basis, and often discussed his desire to give something back to the community. Before pursuing football, Tommy was an apprentice at the now shuttered Ravenscraig steelworks, and would travel to Paradise by bus on the same route as Jimmy Johnstone.