Behind the Spirit

The Glasgow Celtic team of 1967 were the first British team to win the famous European cup in what is regarded then and now as the absolute pinnacle of club football globally.

The Celtic team were massive underdogs playing the mighty Inter Milan team of Italy who had at that point won the cup twice on the early 1960s. The 11 players who took the field for Celtic were all born in a 30-mile radius of Celtic Park in the East end of Glasgow and the players also came from both traditions across the religious divide in the city. They played attacking football and effectively pioneered the concept of Total Football under their legendary manager Jock Stein. The great Dutch teams of the 1970s popularised the term, but the Celts of 67 were a fearless attack-based team in which players fluidly interchanged positions to overwhelm the defensive Catenaccio system employed by the Italians. The winning mentality of the “Lisbon Lions” and their indominable Spirit is the inspiration for our whiskey – The Spirit of the Celts on the 60th anniversary of their crowning achievement.