Lisbon Lions-how many were from a Celtic supporting background

A recent post about not wanting huns to play for Celtic (daft IMO) got me thinking about this. Just wondered if anyone has a definitive answer to this. I know the lions were all from around Glasgow in an area where most would have supported one side of the OF or the other. I was once told only about 3 ro 4 of the 11 were tims. Anyone know any more about this?

NB-I am not saying religion matters. My point is it doesnt but its stil of interest.

 

They don't have to come from an Irish Catholic background to be Celtic supporters though so if you are basing it only on those from Irish decent then it's flawed to start with. For example McNeill is from Lithuainian decent (one of his grandmothers I believe) but his family could well have been Celtic fans for all we know.

Makes no difference imo.

I did here Bertie Auld say once that 7 players had fish on a Friday if that counts :icon_mrgreen:

 

The Lithuanian granny is interesting. Must be a family story there. I know teh politicisn Malcom Rifkind (wnker BTW) and comedian Jerry Sadowitz are from Lithuanian Jewish families. Have to say too that Lithuanian women are nearly all tall blonde stunners!!

 

Murdoch, McNeil, Clark, Johnstone, Chalmers and Lennox were all Celtic fans before playing for them. Not too sure about Craig and Auld. Every one of them were worthy of pulling on the hoops though.

 

no want to be a * here! but does it honestly matter if they were or werent? the did the buissness for the club,became LEGENDS!,and to this day love speaking about the celtic! so to me thats what counts.

 

I think the Quality Street Gang, had more Rangers supporters amongst them than the Lisbon Lions did.

In many ways it's often even more satisfying to see a Rangers supporter playing well & winning titles for Celtic, than it is to see a Celtic supporter doing the same.

That was always one of Stein's best psychological advantages over the Huns - he would sign them & he knew they wouln't sign catholics...lol, what idiots.

 

Its weird but the internet seems to have little on this. The most common statistic seems to be 5 protestants and 6 catholics but some say there was more protestants. Surnames do not help because all of them seem to have Scottish surnames rather than Irish ones so they must have been from mixed backgrounds/the catholicism came from the mother's side. Of course it doesnt matter but it does shows just how very open we were in terms of rectuirment in the 60s compared to Rangers even 25 years later. I

 

I only brought this up to make a point because of a 'no huns' post in the transfer thread. Without people who were or who you suspect actually once were Rangers supporters (and have airbrushed it a bit) we would not have won the EC.

 

in religion terms the ones I am fairly sure were protestants were Simpson, Gemmill, Auld, Wallace and Lennox but I think there were at least 2 or 3 more when I looked into this some time back.

 

Scotland has more protestants than catholics, the Lisbon Lions were all Scottish - it's natural there will be a good amount.

I wonder how many are Celtic fans now though, if they weren't before? All of them I'm pretty * certain.

I know this wasn't your intention Keltoi, but it does seem quite a Hunnish topic...lol :icon_mrgreen:

 

lennox was celtic fan

 

on the programme Time Of Our Lives on Sky sports, Bobby Lennox said when being asked about religion by jeff stelling said 7 had fish and 4 had steak, indirectly saying 7 catholics 4 protestants nothing really to with whether or not they were cwltic supporters mind you, Tommy Gemmell, and Bertie were def brought up Protestant and Wallace was Boyhood rangers fan I read.

 

ronnie simpon , gemell , wallace & bertie auld are all rangers fans..or were

 

Auld has always been a Tim, I'v got his autobiography. John Clark used to be a Hun.


So the 4 presumed Protestants were Gemmell, Simpson, Wallace & Clark I'm sure.

 

Auld's a protestant, but supported Partick thistle says that on celtic tv anyway

 

i always thought that a lot of scottish protestants would have supported celtic, i mean, i thought that our support wasn't exclusively catholic, like the team isn't.


Although it doesn't matter, i was sure Auld was protestant but his Neice was my school teacher in Primary 4, obviously she was a catholic, but who knows so many split families it doesnt really matter, * religion..

 

i know slightly off topic but i read alex fergusons book and he was brought up a protestant and supported rangers but his dad was a catholic that was a staunch celtic fan. i suppose there is a lot of mixed marriages and as a result you might get a protestant celtic supporter in glasgow.

 

Is it of any importance?
Ability is the only concern. Kenny Dalglish was not a fan but his status is legendary. Wearing the Hoops with distinction makes any player a Celtic family member.

 

It's a well known fact that when Sean Fallon came to his door to sign Kenny, Dalglish snr quickly tore all the Hun posters down from his bedroom wall!

Didn't the Hun also reject Dalglish and McGrain - another Rangers youth - because they were Catholics?

 

From this site, Chris Hunt | The Lisbon Lions

The whole article is a fantastic read.