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The
rise of Bobby Murdoch
from trainee to first team fixture at Celtic mirrored his club’s
emergence from Rangers’ shadow and the liberating atmosphere of
the Sixties. Following a promising performances in Celtic’s dysfunctional
teams of the early 60s, Murdoch went on to become a powerhouse in
the team that swept all before them in the latter part of the decade.
Aside from the Celts’ Annus Mirabilis of 1966-1967, when they won
every tournament they entered, becoming the first British team to
triumph in the European Cup in the process. Celtic, with Murdoch
in midfield, became one of the most formidable teams in British
football history - winning an unprecedented 9 Scottish titles in
a row, 5 Scottish Cups and 5 Scottish League Cups between 1965 and
1973.
Murdoch played a big part in this success. The accuracy of his passing
was his hallmark while his combative ability in the middle of the
park was essential to the team’s ability to win possession and power
forward. The turning point in Murdoch and Celtic’s career, came
with the arrival of Jock Stein. Before ‘The Messiah’s’ influence
Celtic always appeared to cow to Rangers’ physical approach and
many Celtic supporters reckoned that their domination by their Old
Firm rivals in the late 50s and early 60s came about more because
of an inferiority complex rather than footballing ability. Stein
changed all this and his decision to move Murdoch from inside-left
to wing-half was of particular importance, utilising the youngster’s
energetic approach in midfield.
Until
the end of his Celtic career in 1973, Bobby became synonymous with
the Celtic style of play and it came as a surprise to many when
he was sold to Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough at the age of just
29. In England he contributed to a resurgence on the Tees, helping
Charlton’s team to a Second Division title in his first season and
First Division responsibility thereafter.
Yet Bobby’s career was curtailed by a painful knee injury not helped
by a particularly energetic style of play. Bobby became youth team
coach unearthing the likes of Craig Johnston before being appointed
manager at Ayresome Park in the summer of 1981. Unfortunately Bobby
had joined a sinking ship and, with few funds available for players
the club were duly relegated in his first and only season as a football
manager. This season of management also proved to be the end of
Murdoch’s meaningful football life. Yet throughout his enforced
retirement from the game Bobby suffered for his playing career and
his premature death in 2001, as an indirect consequence of it, was
mourned by football supporters everywhere.
David
W. Potter’s biography of one of Celtic’s greatest players,
is a celebration of the era and the man. The 1960s represented the
dawn of a new era for Britain in general and Glasgow in particular,
while Potter’s prose sings with the delight of being around at the
time. As the author says of the period, to borrow a line from Wordsworth’s
celebration of the French Revolution of 1789;
‘Bliss
it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!’
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