a Tuesday and Thursday for two years. And at the end of that two-year period, they were going to tell me whether I would be given a contract to be with the ground staff or not.”
Lou Macari
A Special On and Off
the Pitch
In 12 years and 400 games for Man United, Lou Macari scored 97 goals, winning the FA Cup and the Second Division title. In March I had the privilege and honour to interview Lou, one of the Manchester United’s all-time legends. During our chat we spoke about his early days as a player, how he broke into the first team at Celtic, his move to United and then the transition from playing to managing. I also found out about his heart of gold when he decided to help the homeless away from the streets in the town where he lives today. It was so fascinating to hear Lou’s story which began when he was a young boy and a big football fan from Scotland. He was born on 7 June 1949 in Edinburgh and after spending some years living in London, his family returned to Scotland and moved to Largs in North Ayrshire. He was football mad and for him everything was about football. In his own words “every boy in Scotland played football for as long as possible until the night and until your parents told you to come in. So, I grew up just playing football in the streets and supported Celtic. While I was supporting Celtic, they won the European Cup in 1967, the first British side to win the European Cup. And those Celtic players, who weren’t known to a lot of people, at the time, but quickly became
by Ray Calleja
household names, especially in Scotland. And I was one who obviously supported them. And my dream was to play for Celtic. And because they had won the European Cup and the team was so good, I never ever thought that could happen. I thought it would be impossible because all players like them would play for a long, long time ago. They keep playing and I’ll never get a chance to play for Celtic. However, I got invited by the club two nights a week, on
He was sixteen years old at the time and he trained at Celtic Park twice a week. He trained with famous players like Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, David Hay and other players, some of whom went on to play in English football later on in their careers. After two years they called him in as it was decision time. He was told that he was going to be employed as a young lad on the ground staff. He was obviously delighted and he got the job and worked very hard at it. As ground staff, his duties included cleaning the stadium, cleaning the players’ boots, taking the players’ kits to the laundry, putting it back out again the next morning. At that time, it was more about work than playing football. They would let him kick a ball around Celtic Park in the afternoons but not before he did all the work, which he had to do day in day out. The main job of a young apprentice, at the time, was to clean everything. He had to clean Celtic Park after the games and painted the terraces in the summer when they had nothing else to do. Lou pointed out that it is completely different now. They have academies and he says he’s not so sure that method has worked. He said the ground staff system when he was a young boy certainly worked because he and so many others came through. He eventually got into the team, even though he never thought he would because of the Lisbon Lions, who were there in front of him. However, Lou never gave up and once he was in the team he never looked back. He fondly remembers how they were a great bunch of lads, who looked after him, supported him and wanted him to do well. He made progress and stayed in the team and replaced some of those who had achieved European glory for Celtic but who had grown older and found out that their time was up. Lou fondly remembers the time he won a winner’s medal when Celtic defeated Rangers in the 1971 Scottish Cup Final and scored in a 2-1 win in the replay at Hampden Park in front of a 128,000 crowd. Macari was Celtic’s
Macari lining-up for Celtic at the Empire Stadium Gzira vs Sliema W with no. 8 on his shorts in 1971.
VOL 49 - ISSUE 3 - APRIL 2022
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