Celtic have paid tribute to the man who scored the most famous goal in their history after it was confirmed that Lisbon Lion, Stevie Chalmers, had died.
Chief Executive Peter Lawwell led the tributes to the scorer of the famous winning goal in Lisbon in 1967.
READ MORE: Celtic legend and Lisbon Lion Stevie Chalmers dies aged 83
Writing on the club's website, Peter Lawwell said: “This is such terrible news, and on behalf of the club, I would first of all like to pass on my condolences to Stevie’s wife, Sadie, their children, Stephen, Carol, Paul, Ann, Martin, Clare, and their grandchildren.
“Stevie was a much-loved husband, father and grandfather, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this desperately sad time.
“This is a particularly devastating time for the Celtic Family, with the passing of Stevie
Chalmers coming so soon after his friend and former team-mate, Billy McNeill. My condolences also go to the Lisbon Lions, already mourning the loss of their captain, and now grieving the death of another one of their own.
“Stevie Chalmers was a Celtic legend, and one of the greatest goalscorers this club has ever seen. Indeed, only three other legends in Jimmy McGrory, Henrik Larsson and Stevie’s close friend, Bobby Lennox, have scored more goals.
“However, there is only one man who is able to lay claim to having scored the most important goal in Celtic’s 131-year history, and that man is Stevie Chalmers.
“When Stevie steered the ball home with just five minutes of the game remaining in Lisbon’s Estadio Nacional to put Celtic 2-1 ahead of Inter Milan, he ensured that Celtic created football history as the first British team to win the European Cup.
“It also guaranteed his place amongst the pantheon of Celtic greats, forever loved and revered by supporters of all generations.
“Yet, whenever I was lucky enough to meet Stevie over the years, his humility gave little indication of his incredible accomplishments as a player, which saw him win four league titles, three Scottish Cups, four League Cups and, of course, the European Cup, in the course of scoring 231 goals in 403 appearances in the green and white Hoops.
“Like his team-mates, he remained a quiet, humble man, happiest in the company of his fellow Lions and his fellow Celtic supporters.
“These are the saddest of days for Celtic supporters, and the wider football world, as we mourn Stevie Chalmers’ passing and send our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.
READ MORE: Celtic legend Billy McNeill dies aged 79
“Though as we do, we also remember everything Stevie Chalmers did for Celtic Football Club, and in particular, that special day of May 25, 1967 when Stevie scored his historic goal.”
The news of Chalmers' death comes just days after the death of Lisbon Lions captain Billy McNeill.
Others from the club have shared their condolences with the striker's loved ones.
Celtic chairman Ian Bankier said: “Our thoughts are with Stevie’s wife, Sadie, and their family, at this desperately sad time.
“We all mourn his passing, and it is another devastating loss, following so soon after Billy McNeill’s death.
“Stevie and Billy, along with the rest of their team-mates, achieved extraordinary success in the green and white Hoops, and it was Stevie who ensured that already great players became Celtic legends.
“That goal in the Estadio Nacional is the most famous and important in our history, and it still gives every fan goosebumps whenever we see it again.
“Meeting Stevie was always a genuine pleasure as a supporter, and while always aware of everything he did for our football club, it was his humility which always stood out.
“We will always be thankful for Stevie’s incredible contribution to Celtic as we also offer our support to his family at this time.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel