Sean Fallon: I had never even heard of Jock Stein . . .

Celtic were 12th in the table when Jock Stein arrived on December 4, 1951. They had taken just 10 points from their opening 11 matches, raising fears of a relegation battle to match their final-day escape three years earlier. What the fans craved was an injection of quality. What they were presented with was a journeyman centre-half from non-league Llanelli. As chairman Bob Kelly acknowledged years later: ??The club was almost boycotted because I bought Stein.??

The signing baffled not only Mallan and the Celtic support, but Stein himself. ??Celtic, after me? It was laughable,?? was his recollection of hearing of the club??s interest. Even the player??s father was incredulous, considering his son to have found his level in the lower reaches of the game. Sean Fallon was one of the few not to be found asking: ??Why??? But he did have one question. ??Who???

??I had never even heard of Jock Stein," he admitted in his authorised biography, Sean Fallon: Celtic's Iron Man. "I was told he had played for Albion Rovers but I honestly had no idea who he was. I reserved judgment for that reason, but a few of the players definitely weren??t happy. Jock was seen as having no pedigree whatsoever. Plus, he was going on 30, so folk thought he was washed up. Charlie Tully was one of the worst. ??Him? That old fella could be my grandfather,?? he??d say. The fans were exactly the same. Everyone wrote Jock off before they??d even seen him play. I thought he at least deserved a chance to prove himself, but I can??t say I was excited by him coming to the club. No-one was.

"I can still remember the day he arrived at Celtic Park and was taken to the reserve team dressing room. I actually think that was what Bob Kelly had in mind for him. We had four or five centre-halves already, so Jock was coming in - as I understood it - to help develop the young players by bringing a bit of experience to the reserves. Still, it was a strange signing. You have to give credit to the people in charge for knowing better than everyone else.??

The man most deserving of praise was well known to Fallon. Jimmy Gribben might have been reserve coach, but he was an influential and respected figure among the first team players. Stein would later describe him as ??my mentor??, and made a point of taking the European Cup directly to the former Bo??ness player??s boot-room on returning from Lisbon.

This gratitude was well merited. Having been a miner and part-time footballer before leaving for Wales, Stein anticipated returning to more of the same. It was Gribben's recommendation that kept him out of the pits and set a course towards fame and glory. Yet Fallon's understanding of the signing had been correct. Years later, Kelly confirmed that neither he nor Gribben expected Stein to feature in the first team. Fate determined otherwise within a week, however, when three defenders - Mallan among them - were sidelined by injury.

??Once Jock got himself in the team he never looked back," Fallon recalled. "The thing is, people underestimated him as a player. I honestly thought he was a great centre-half. I liked him from the start, both as a player and as a person.??

Having not been expected to make a single appearance, Stein went on to rack up 148. Fallon was alongside him for most of those, and joked that their on-field relationship was based on a simple understanding: ??Anyone he didn??t kick, I did.?? Naturally, there was a great deal more subtlety involved. With no direction from the manager, a small group of the more diligent and forward-thinking Celtic players began formulating tactics in private. At the heart of discussions were Stein and Fallon. A strategic partnership had formed.

??Sean and my dad were interested not just in going out to play, but in thinking how the team should play,?? said George Stein, Jock??s only son. ??Celtic didn??t have a great deal of leadership in that area and the two of them spent a lot of time together even at that stage, talking about how things could be changed and improved.??

??We??d always get together in Ferrari??s restaurant," said Fallon. "We would work on moves and systems for our area of the park, talk about games coming up and any players we felt could steal a goal. When you??re not quick - and neither Jock nor I had much pace - I think it forces you to think more about the game. Jock and I were similar in that we could read situations and read opponents. Pace was our weakness, but our opponents had weaknesses too. We made it our job to find them.

??Neither of us were drinkers or great socialisers, so football was our big passion. We had similar ideas about the game and I was always impressed by what he had to say. We became good friends very quickly. Our ritual was always the same: lunch in Ferrari??s, talking football, and then off to the Paramount Cinema across the road to see what films were showing. We both loved our westerns, although that was one area we actually did have a bit of a disagreement on. Jock thought no-one could beat John Wayne, whereas I was more of a Gary Cooper man.??

The partnership between Stein and Fallon would, in time, become the most potent in Celtic's history. But while the Irishman was the sidekick to Stein's leading man in the era of Lisbon and nine-in-a-row, those roles were reversed during the early stages of the friendship. At that stage, Fallon was the senior player, the fans' favourite and, by December 1952, the obvious successor to John McPhail as Celtic captain. Stein was not even a guaranteed starter. Yet when asked to select his deputy, the Irishman looked beyond Bobby Evans, a Scotland star of that era, and Bertie Peacock, his closest friend, to the bit-part centre-half signed less than a year before.

??I don??t think anyone, including Jock himself, expected it," he said. "A few players weren??t happy because there were still a lot of people who didn??t really rate Jock at that stage, and some would certainly have expected to be given the job ahead of him. But my reasoning was very simple: I saw him as being the best man for the job, and the best for Celtic. He wasn??t a star player but, as a man, I thought he had something special. He was a natural captain for the same reasons he was a natural manager: he was clever, determined, a leader and a winner. There were a few who didn??t believe in him like I did at that stage but he won them round in the end, as I knew he would.

"Being made vice-captain was important for Jock because it gave him a new status at Celtic, especially when I had to drop out of the team through injury. He captained the Coronation Cup-winning team and became very close to Bob Kelly around that time. That was very important in the years ahead when Jock became coach and manager. Making him my deputy strengthened our relationship too. Jock and I already got on well but after that we were very close. I think he appreciated that I took a big step in doing what I did, especially as it wasn??t the popular thing to do.??

Unexpected and unpopular as it was, the decision was typical Fallon. His uncanny ability to identify greatness was as evident here as it would be later in his career, spotting potential in young footballers such as Dalglish, McGrain and McStay.

The Irishman's faith in Stein would, of course, be vindicated. As for Mallan, he was released just weeks before Celtic's Coronation Cup triumph, his question having been forcefully answered.

Sean Fallon: Celtic's Iron Man, the authorised biography, is out now in hardback and ebook