LISBON Lion Willie Wallace is selling his collection of football medals, including the coveted European Cup winner's medal he won with Celtic.
The 18 carat gold medal - which Wallace was awarded after Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon in 1967 - is expected to fetch between #10,000 and #12,000 at Christie's later this month.
Wallace, now 59, has given no reason for the sale of his prized awards, which also include the Scottish cap he won against England in the 1966-67 season, which is expected to realise up to #1000.
He is the third Lisbon Lion known to have sold all or some of their medals and international caps in recent years.
A collection of medals and caps owned by Tommy Gemmell, including his European Cup winners' medal, was auctioned for more than #32,000 in Glasgow in October, 1994.
Former teammate Jimmy Johnstone sold three medals, including a Scottish Cup winner's medal, which fetched almost #2000 in November, 1995.
At this month's auction, Wallace's Scottish Cup winner's medal from 1966-67 is also expected to make up to #1000, while his winning medal from the same competition in 1970-71 may go for up to #900.
An inscribed gold and enamel Celtic Football Club lapel badge, dated 1967, is given an estimate of #500-#700 and a silver-gilt Scottish Football League Division One Championship runners-up medal from 1964-65, which he won with Hearts, should go for #350-#550.
Born in Kirkintilloch on June 23, 1940, William Semple Brown Wallace played for Kilsyth Rangers, Stenhousemuir and Raith Rovers before joining Hearts in April, 1961.
While he was with the Edinburgh side, they won the Scottish League Cup in 1963. Wallace was transferred to Celtic in December, 1966, for #30,000 and was believed at the time to have been earmarked as a replacement for Steve Chalmers.
However, both played together and were a formidable partnership. On May 25, 1967, he helped Celtic become the first British team to win the European Cup when they defeated Inter Milan
2-1, although perhaps his most famous game was the semi-final home match against Dukla Prague when he scored two goals in a 3-1 win.
When Mr Gemmell and Mr Johnstone sold their medals the collections were not lost to Celtic supporters as most of them were bought by Celtic director Willie Haughey for display at Celtic Park.
Mr Wallace's medals will be on view at Christie's in Bath Street, Glasgow, today and will go under the hammer in London on September 24.
Mr Wallace, who lives in Australia, is believed to be visiting relatives in the Kirkintilloch area but could not be contacted yesterday.
Another Lisbon Lion, Billy McNeill, said yesterday: ''I don't know why Willie's selling his medals. It's a personal thing and I know he wouldn't be doing this without a lot of consideration.''
q Sir Alf Ramsey, who led England to World Cup glory in 1966, left #200,000 gross (#200,000 net), it emerged yesterday.
The former manager, who died in April aged 79, left his estate mostly to relatives. Probate was granted to his wife, Lady Victoria Ramsey.
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 hereComments are closed on this article