THE last time Celtic won four titles in a row, the acclaim for Jock Stein's side in this country was almost drowned out by sneering from south of the border.

The English media took one look at Celtic securing a fourth successive Scottish League in 1968-69, slated the achievement as "too easy" and claimed that a weak league produced weak champions.

Stein hit back, not only defending his own players, but the whole of Scottish football. And just 12 months later, would be proved correct about the merits of the Scottish League, when Celtic defeated the English champions, Leeds United, in the European Cup semi-final in April 1970.

However, in April 1969, his side were putting the finishing touches to his second Treble as a manager, something only Martin O'Neill has delivered for Celtic since. In the space of a five days, Stein's side won the league at Rugby Park on Monday April 21 and then defeated Rangers 4-0 in the Scottish Cup final to add to the League Cup, lifted after beating Hibernian 6-2 in a final which was also held over until April 5.

The fact that Dunfermline finished third in 1968-69 might have added to the English downgrading of Stein's success, but that was the same season the Fife club reached the last four of Europe, as did second-placed Rangers.

Stein's fourth title had a bigger winning margin than the previous three. Celtic were five points ahead of their Glasgow rivals, but Stein insisted the success was much harder on the pitch than it may have seemed on paper.

"I don't think it was any easier," the legendary manager declared 46 years ago in Celtic's own book. "It was a better league, all-round. A harder one. No team went undefeated all season, or even looked like it, and that is a healthy sign.

"Our standards (in Scotland) are not as bad as they are made out. Airdrie took five points off the Old Firm and Kilmarnock took four. That shows there is no monopoly in every fixture. The difference is often not in ability, but in atmosphere.

"I know what its like to be manager of a small provincial club, when I was at Dunfermline, and to play in front of small crowds. That's why all teams lift their game when they play Celtic or Rangers but often cannot keep that up.

"You rarely go to an English first division game without seeing big crowds. Our game, suffers from a lack of them."

A hint of envy from Stein about the glamour in England, simply shows that some things never change. All Scottish clubs then were victims of huge peaks and troughs when it came to attendances, veering from lockouts to modest gatherings. Stein's 'Treble' side played in front of 75,000 against AC Milan at Parkhead in the European Cup but just 24,000 when Falkirk came to the east end of Glasgow for one of ten games played in a packed April.

To underline the strength of opposition 46 years ago, Kilmarnock finished fourth and Dundee United fifth. Just two seasons earlier, Killie had also reached the last four in Europe, while Dundee United had beaten Barcelona home and away. Stein's 'Treble' side paraded all three trophies at Parkhead on a sunny Monday night, just two days after beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup final, and the Greenock side won 4-2.

Modern fans might wonder, where were Aberdeen in all of this? Well, the Pittodrie side endured one of their worst campaigns, finishing in 15th out 18 teams, just above the relegation zone. A year later, the Dons would win the Scottish Cup by beating Celtic in the final and would become on of the major challengers to Stein's side in the early 70s.