John Fallon (footballer)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | John Fallon | ||
Date of birth | 16 August 1940 | ||
Place of birth | Cambuslang, Scotland[1] | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Youth career | |||
Halfway Boys Guild[1] | |||
1958[1] |
Fauldhouse United | ||
1958–1959[1] | Celtic | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1959–1971 | Celtic | 114 | (0) |
1971–1972 | Motherwell | 10 | (0) |
1972–1973 | Morton | 0 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
John Fallon (born 16 August 1940) is a Scottish former professional footballer and member of the
Career
Fallon signed for Celtic, the team he supported in childhood,
Fallon became the only Lisbon Lion not to play in Celtic's win in the
He was presented with a winner's medal by captain Billy McNeill at a post-match dinner, but then had it taken from him in suspicious circumstances. According to his autobiography, Keeping in Paradise (2015), manager Jock Stein, asked Fallon for his medal back. Fallon was then presented with a replica, while the real medal ended up with Celtic's chairman, Sir Robert Kelly.[4]
As a result of winning the European Cup, Celtic entered the Intercontinental Cup later that year, a two-leg match against Racing Club of Argentina. While warming up for the second leg, a brick (Robert Kelly said in his book, Celtic that it was a "flat iron bar") thrown or catapulted by a member of the crowd, struck Ronnie Simpson on the head. With Simpson unable to play, Fallon was called on to keep goal in a bad-tempered second leg, and an even more bad-tempered play-off. Although Celtic lost the return leg, and the subsequent play-off in Montevideo, amid accusations of extreme foul play from the Racing players, Fallon distinguished himself with a string of saves which caused one commentator to remark: "If that's the reserve keeper, what must the other guy be like?"
According to Kelly, when Celtic tried to get the second leg declared void because of the Simpson incident, Racing Club used Fallon's heroic performance as their counter argument, and the result stood. Fallon also played in the team that won the
After Simpson's retirement, Fallon took over as first choice at Celtic. He lost his place to
In May 2019, Fallon was reunited with his European Cup winner's medal after an "eagle-eyed good samaritan" spotted it and returned the medal to Celtic. "It feels great to be reunited with my medal, and I've got to thank [Celtic chairman] Peter Lawwell and everyone at Celtic for going to all this effort and finding the medal that was lost," Fallon told Celtic TV. "I did get a replica one at one point, but it didn't seem the same."[9]
References
- ^ ISBN 9781845029753
- ^ "Budapest 4–0 Celtic". TheCelticWiki. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
- ^ Celtic player Fallon, John, FitbaStats
- ^ "Lisbon Lion reunited with winner's medal 52 years after victory". The Scotsman. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ Alfredo Di Stefano Trophy Archived 3 September 2012 at archive.today
- ^ John Fallon, MotherWELLnet
- ^ Morton player Fallon, John, FitbaStats
- ^ John Fallon, The Blantyre Project, 8 October 2016
- ^ Cairney, James (1 May 2019). "Lisbon Lion reunited with lost European Cup medal". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
External links
- John Fallon at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database