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The Celtic career of Stevie Chalmers will always be defined by the events of the 25th of May, 1967. On that famous night in Lisbon, Chalmers scored the winning goal for Celtic in the European Cup Final, as the Bhoys defeated Inter Milan 2-1.
That wasn’t his only achievement in a Celtic jersey, but it is the biggest, and understandably so.
Chalmers was at Celtic for 12 years, from 1959 to 1971, and the first part of his Hoops career was disappointing, as the team failed to win honours under manager Jimmy McGrory.
Thankfully that all ended when Jock Stein was appointed manager in 1965, and Celtic went on to dominate Scottish football for years to come. In his time at Celtic, Chalmers won four titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups.
Despite his great form for Celtic, which saw him score 228 goals for the club and become the fourth top scorer in Hoops history, Chalmers was awarded only five caps for Scotland, which is a ridiculously low amount in retrospect.
Everyone rightfully talks about Chalmers’ goal in Lisbon, but a year earlier he did something very few Celtic players have managed to do, and that is score a hat-trick against Rangers in the league.
He scored the treble in a 5-1 win over the Ibrox side in January 1966. That feat was not achieved again until 50 years later in 2016, when Moussa Dembele scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win.
YouTube: celtic 5 rangers 1 1966
Chalmers’ goal against Inter was the pinnacle of his career though, and it is worth discussing due to how important it was, and continues to be.
Arguably it is not only Celtic’s most important goal of all time, but it is the most important goal in British football history, as the Hoops became the first British side to win the European Cup.
The goal was an instinctive finish by Chalmers, who showed real smarts to stay onside and get on the end of Bobby Murdoch’s initial shot on goal.
YouTube: Stevie Chalmers Goal – Celtic 2 Internazionale 1 – 1967 European Cup Final (25/5/67)
No doubt Chalmers scored goals that were more pleasing on the eye in his time at Celtic, but when it comes to importance, none were bigger than the winner in Lisbon.
A few years later Chalmers scored another memorable goal for the Hoops, this time the fourth goal in Celtic’s emphatic 4-0 Scottish Cup Final win over Rangers.
YouTube: celtic 4 rangers 0 1966
That was Chalmers’ last hurrah at Celtic, as he left the club for Morton in 1971. He had a spell working at Celtic Pools in later years, and died in 2019, shortly after the death of fellow Lisbon Lion Billy McNeill.
Chalmers has to be remembered as one of the greatest strikers in Celtic history. Not only did he score a lot of goals for the club, but they were important ones as well, none bigger than that goal in Lisbon.
That goal has been mentioned a lot in this article, but it deserves to be, as it is so important to the history of Celtic. The hat-trick against Rangers is also important, as so few Celtic players score trebles against the Ibrox side in the league.
Chalmers is a Celtic legend, and his some of his goals will be remembered forever.
