In one memorable chapter in the excellent George Connelly biography Celtic’s Lost Legend, the great Fifer and his closest pals in the famed Quality Street Gang, Davie Cattenach and Davie Hay, reminisce about their playing days and the characters they met on and off the pitch.
All of them speak in glowing terms about Celtic’s Iron Man – Sean Fallon. The Sligoman had been instrumental in Celtic picking up many of that exceptionally talented group of youngsters and helped guide their early careers as Jock Stein’s assistant.
Talking in 2007, when Sean was still alive, Davie Cattenach gets the ball rolling – before recalling one of his favourite Fallon stories . . .
CATTENACH: Talking about brilliant servants, what about Sean? Anyone shaking his hand would suffer from broken bones. What a strength!
HAY: He’s no’ changed that much.
CATTENACH: He looks great.
CONNELLY: He was a good guy to look up to.
HAY: Sean was for us.
CONNELLY: He wasn’t coming in there shouting, or trying to unnerve you. He had a nice away about him.
CATTENACH: We beat Rangers 3-1 in that Glasgow Cup final on a Monday night. Quinn scored. Oh, what a goal he scored! We were all there that night. Alex Macdonald was playing for Rangers – he could be a dirty so-and-so. The ball came between us on the halfway line and we were both going for it.
I did him up high, at the top of his neck. He was carried off on a stretcher. Stein went ballistic at half-time. ‘Oh, you f****** bastard! he screamed.
He called me for everything. I was shattered.
Sean comes up and says quietly: ‘All right Catt? That was one of the finest tackles I’ve ever seen in my life!’
Buy the George Connelly book here: Celtic’s Lost Legend (Amazon)
Buy the wonderful Sean Fallon biography by Stephen Sullivan here: Celtic’s Iron Man (Amazon). One of the best Celtic books ever.
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