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McBride, Joe
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Personal
Fullname: Joseph McBrideaka: Joe McBride
Born: 10 June 1938
Birthplace: Govan, Glasgow
Signed: June 1965
Position: Striker
Celtic Games: 94 for Celtic
Goals for Celtic: 86 goals in 94 games for Celtic.
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 2
International Goals: 0
Biog
Joe McBride joined Celtic in June 1965 from Motherwell for £22k, a dream move for the lifelong Celtic fan (despite being brought up not far from Ibrox), and there are few if any other players who have had as great an impact in the whole of football as the great Joe McBride in as short a spell. There also is unlikely to have been fewer as unfortunate as him either. A truly wise man once wrote: "McBride? He's no use - all he can do is score goals!", and that is exactly what made him one of the greatest ever, boasting a strike rate of over 91%!In his first 18 months Joe blossomed into the most prolific striker in the world and the sky was the limit, only for injury to curtail what should have been.
The fans even made a ditty for him parodying a Rangers chant that went:
"Side by side with Joe McBride, We'll kick down Derry's Walls!"
While speculation in football is essentially meaningless (but mandatory in football), it is a reasonable suggestion that if Joe's career had not been seriously interrupted by injury at such a crucial point, he might have established an unparalleled club scoring benchmark.He'd played a crucial role in the 1965-66 season to bring the league back to Celticafter12 years and we were unlucky not to have reached the European Cup Winner's Cup final in the same season.
In the glorious Season in the Sun of 66/67, he had amassed an astonishing 36 goals before Christmas, but then an injury at a match v Aberdeen saw him aggravate a knee injury. He was out for a year, and despite not kicking another ball following his breakdown at Pittodrie, he remained the country's top-scorer at the end of that season.He ended up missing out on a place in the Lisbon Lions, the glory that was the European Cup win. Few would argue against that if fit that he would have been in the side.
Sadly for Joe, by the time he had regained match fitness a year later (though it was doubtful whether he was ever fully fit again), events had overtaken him. Celtic were now a major force in Europe and Stein, a man of unwavering determination once his mind was made up, had evolved a system around a main strike force of Chalmers and Wallace. Joe McBride becme a peripheral squad player which was unthinkable at one point.He moved on a year or so later to play out the rest of his career with relative success at Hibs and Dunfermline. In the minds of those who saw him in his peak, though, he will always be, simply, 'Super Joe'.
McBride was rated the very best by two Celtic legends:
- Jock Stein, who made Joe his first Celtic outfield signing (from Motherwell in the summer of 65') described him as the quintessential striker, a man who stuck the ball in the back of the net when he couldn't think of anything else to do with it.
- Jimmy McGrory included him at centre-forward without a moment's hesitation in his all-time Celtic XI.
The courage, style and obvious relish of his performance in the 'Hoops', allied to the cruel way he was robbed of his rightful destiny, won him the undying affection of a generation of Celtic supporters. For whom Joe McBride will always be an honorary Lisbon Lion.He was awarded with a European Cup medal for his efforts in the campaign, but he is too often sidelined rather than being on the pedestal along with the others. He'd had the greatest moments stolen from him by injury and poor fortune, and it is hard not to feel for him in that sense, but the positives outshine all else and his record means he can more than hold his head up high with any others throughout our club's history.
Joe McBride made 94 appearances for Celtic scoring 86 goals and is still very fondly remembered. With such a record, it's a bizarre fact that he won just two caps for Scotland (don't ask why he won so few, its a story for another day when it comes to Celtic and Scotland).
Joe's son, Joe McBride junior was a talented youth international who went on to play for Everton, Rotherham and Hibs amongst other teams. He was often linked with a move to Celtic but it never materialised.
While speculation in football is essentially meaningless (but mandatory in football), it is a reasonable suggestion that if Joe's career had not been seriously interrupted by injury at such a crucial point, he might have established an unparalleled club scoring benchmark.He'd played a crucial role in the 1965-66 season to bring the league back to Celticafter12 years and we were unlucky not to have reached the European Cup Winner's Cup final in the same season.
In the glorious Season in the Sun of 66/67, he had amassed an astonishing 36 goals before Christmas, but then an injury at a match v Aberdeen saw him aggravate a knee injury. He was out for a year, and despite not kicking another ball following his breakdown at Pittodrie, he remained the country's top-scorer at the end of that season.He ended up missing out on a place in the Lisbon Lions, the glory that was the European Cup win. Few would argue against that if fit that he would have been in the side.
Sadly for Joe, by the time he had regained match fitness a year later (though it was doubtful whether he was ever fully fit again), events had overtaken him. Celtic were now a major force in Europe and Stein, a man of unwavering determination once his mind was made up, had evolved a system around a main strike force of Chalmers and Wallace. Joe McBride becme a peripheral squad player which was unthinkable at one point.He moved on a year or so later to play out the rest of his career with relative success at Hibs and Dunfermline. In the minds of those who saw him in his peak, though, he will always be, simply, 'Super Joe'.
McBride was rated the very best by two Celtic legends:
- Jock Stein, who made Joe his first Celtic outfield signing (from Motherwell in the summer of 65') described him as the quintessential striker, a man who stuck the ball in the back of the net when he couldn't think of anything else to do with it.
- Jimmy McGrory included him at centre-forward without a moment's hesitation in his all-time Celtic XI.
The courage, style and obvious relish of his performance in the 'Hoops', allied to the cruel way he was robbed of his rightful destiny, won him the undying affection of a generation of Celtic supporters. For whom Joe McBride will always be an honorary Lisbon Lion.He was awarded with a European Cup medal for his efforts in the campaign, but he is too often sidelined rather than being on the pedestal along with the others. He'd had the greatest moments stolen from him by injury and poor fortune, and it is hard not to feel for him in that sense, but the positives outshine all else and his record means he can more than hold his head up high with any others throughout our club's history.
Joe McBride made 94 appearances for Celtic scoring 86 goals and is still very fondly remembered. With such a record, it's a bizarre fact that he won just two caps for Scotland (don't ask why he won so few, its a story for another day when it comes to Celtic and Scotland).
Joe's son, Joe McBride junior was a talented youth international who went on to play for Everton, Rotherham and Hibs amongst other teams. He was often linked with a move to Celtic but it never materialised.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
Honours
[Indicate any known awards (player of the year, etc)]Pictures
Interview
Best moment with Celtic"I had been a Celtic fan since I was a kid so just signing for them was a dream come true. I was Jock Stein's first signing when he took over as manager at Parkhead in 1965."
Best Celtic player
If you asked any of the Lisbon Lions - including Jimmy Johnstone, Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill or Bobby Lennox - the pick of the bunch was Bobby Murdoch.
Favourite goal
In the 1966/67 season I netted an absolute screamer against Hibs at Easter Road in a match I scored four goals in.
Most influential boss
Jock Stein by some distance.
Memorabilia
I still received a medal for Celtic's victory in the European Cup in 1967. I had scored 36 goals up until Christmas when I got injured. I netted three goals in the first two rounds.
Playing Liverpool in Cup-Winner's Cup semi-finals
"The game at Parkhead was terrific. Bobby Lennox scored the winner but I missed one from under the bar.
"Heading was a strong point of mine but I missed a certainty. The ball came across and I got under it and headed over the bar instead of under it.
"We should have won. Bobby Lennox's goal at Anfield should have stood.
"Even the referee admitted, after seeing the television, that he had made a mistake.
"The ball came through from midfield and I was furthest forward with Ron Yeats at my back and I flicked the ball beyond him.
"Bobby had started his run five yards behind me and ran past both of us to score but the referee gave offside. How he did I'll never know.
"Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners to go through. I guarantee that we would have won the Cup- Winners' Cup with the final at Hampden, which was virtually a home game for us.
"Borussia Dortmund beat Liverpool but we would have beaten them on the night."
Goal Scoring Feat 1966-67
McBride had scored 36 times by Christmas in the 1966-67 season when Celtic won the Treble and the European Cup.
But he was sidelined for the rest of the term with a knee injury.
McBride said: "Gerd Muller won the Golden Boot that season and he admitted at a function that the trophy would have gone to me but for the damage I did to my knee.
"The pain of being denied the opportunity to see what kind of goalscoring figure I could have achieved will live with me until the day I die.
"But 60 goals would have to have been a possibility.
"The doctors thought I needed a cartilage operation but the problem was caused by flaking bone behind my knee and it took a year out of my playing life."
Of McBride's goals, 33 were scored in the league and he finished top marksman despite missing the second half of the season.
He scored 86 goals in 94 games for Celtic.
Anecdotes
Jim Craig/Bertie Auld - Would Joe McBride have played in Lisbon?Joe McBride was one of the most prolific goalscorers to have ever graced the Hoops.He was signed in 1965 from Motherwell by Jock Stein and in the 1965/66 season he scored 43 goals.
The following season he was on fire and had scored 37 goals before Christmas when he sadly picked up a very bad knee injury against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on December19th.Joe was out injured for a year and it is a near certainty had he been fit he would have played in the Final in Lisbon - it was not to be but despite not playing again that season after Christmas Joe was still the top scorer in the League.
Bertie Auld tells of how in later years he wound up Jim Craig the Celtic right back that glorious day in Lisbon when discussing Joe's injury.
Jim Craig - "Bertie - Do you really think Big Jock would have played Joe in Lisbon had he been fit"?
Bertie Auld (mischieviously) - "Aye, Jim - he would have played him at right back"!!!!!
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Latest page update: made by joebloggscity
, Feb 15 2010, 8:36 AM EST
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