John Hughes — Yogi Bear

Prelude to Paradise

A Coatbridge Bhoy, born on April 3, 1943, John starred for St Augustine’s School before blazing a trail with Kirkshaw Amateurs and Junior side, Shotts Bon Accord. It was from there that he made the move to the team had always supported and joined Celtic on October 3, 1959 at the age of just 16. It wouldn’t take this towering striker long to make the step up to the first team.

Debut Bhoy

Still only 17-years-old, John got the call-up to the first-team on August 13 for the opening game of the 1960/61 season, a League Cup tie against Third Lanark at Celtic Park and the 25,000 crowd saw him open the scoring in the 50th minute for the first of what would be a very impressive tally of 188 goals.

A week after making his debut, he ran Rangers ragged in the same competition at Ibrox and scored what proved to be the winner in a 3-2 victory for the Hoops watched by a crowd of 60,000.

Highlights

There were no fewer than six championship wins for Yogi, all of them in a row and he also played in the game that kick-started the glory years under Jock Stein, the 3-2 Scottish Cup final win over Dunfermline in 1965. In addition he played in four League Cup-winning teams, the first three successively and the first of those features two Hughes penalties in a 2-1 victory over Rangers watched by 107,600.

As far as individual performances go, though, there was his glancing header to put Celtic back in the driving seat on aggregate against Leeds United in the 1970 European Cup semi-final at Hampden as 136,505 looked on. However, in domestic terms, the red letter day was a performance against Aberdeen on January 30, 1965 when he borrowed Billy McNeill’s sandshoes to play on the icy rock-hard surface — he scored five goals in the 8-0 win.

Hampden Roar

One of John Hughes’ greatest nights came in the semi-final of the European Cup in 1970 as he scored the vital equaliser when Celtic faced Leeds United. The Hoops had won the first leg at Elland Road 1-0, and on an incredible return leg, held at Hampden Park in front of a European Cup record crowd of 136,505, Jock Stein’s side won 2-1 on the night to reach the final with a 3-1 aggregate win, despite losing an early goal when Billy Bremner scored for the English side.

Bowing Out

His final game was against BK 1903 Copenhagen in the European Cup with Celtic 2-1 down from the first leg. Willie Wallace had levelled the tie on aggregate by the time Hughes replaced Bobby Lennox at half-time. Roared on by a 53,000 crowd, the Celts took the game thanks to a 4-2 aggregate win. Just over two weeks later, he had moved to Crystal Palace, very much against his wishes.

Bearly Believable

John was known as ‘Yogi’ and the genesis of this nickname is debated. Perhaps because of his formidable size, or, in the slogan of the cartoon character, he was ‘smarter than the average bear’ or always outsmarting the Ranger! Perhaps because he got lost in the woods on one of Neilly Mochan’s legendary pre-European match walks, before emerging from the undergrowth unharmed! It was never definitively established where the name came from.