Hood: We heard news of the Ibrox Disaster on team bus

Dec 30 2010

FORMER Celtic hero Harry Hood will never forget the look on Jock Stein's face as he stood before his players and told them to cancel their evening's plans and head straight home after the 1-1 draw in the 1971 New Year derby.

After narrowly missing out on a win over their fierce rivals due to a late Colin Stein equaliser, Hood and his team-mates were totally unaware of the tragedy that had unfolded following the match until their ashen-faced boss - who had helped lift injured fans onto stretchers - climbed on to the team bus to deliver the heartbreaking news that hundreds of Rangers fans had been crushed in Stairway 13.

Harry (66), who now owns a series of pubs, including Angels in Uddingston and the Parkville Hotel in Blantyre, recalled: "The game was finished, so we went to the dressing room, got changed, and we were totally unaware of anything happening.

"There were two goals scored in the last 20 seconds of the game - as I'm sure everybody knows - and it wasn't until we were on the bus about to leave Ibrox that we heard about the disaster.

"Jock Stein came onto the bus and said to us 'I don't care what you have arranged, go home and stay there tonight'.

"The news then came through on the bus that two had died, then five, 13, and by the time we got back to Parkhead - which was a 20-30 minute bus ride - it had risen to 27 people, and we just couldn't believe it.

"We knew very little about it except what we saw unfolding on the news in front of us, but it was horrific really."

Harry said he and everyone at Celtic had tremendous sympathy for their Rangers counterparts, who had to deal directly with the horrors of that day.

The former striker, who netted 74 times in 189 appearances for the Parkhead club, explained: "At Celtic, we didn't have the same trauma that the Rangers players had to go through because they had to attend a number of funerals - 20 or 30 of them - and visit people in hospital who were in various conditions.

"I believe they were quite traumatised by that, and there was no counselling at that time to help them.

"They might have known some of the fans who died and were injured, and might have established some kind of relationship with them, so although all of us at Celtic were obviously upset, it was much harder for the Rangers players.

"It must have been horrendous to see bodies lying at the side of the park."

When Harry casts his mind back to the 1971 Ibrox disaster, he believes that if anything good came out of the disaster, it was that fan safety was improved in Scottish stadiums.

Harry, who still holds the distinction of being the last Celtic player to score a hat-trick against Rangers, said: "It happened in a game between Rangers and Celtic because there was a huge support there, but the way stadiums were built at the time meant it would have happened somewhere at some point anyway - it could have been at Hampden or Celtic Park or any of the big stadiums.

"At least what happened brought new safety standards in."

The 1971 disaster led to a huge redevelopment of Ibrox, spearheaded by general manager Willie Waddell, who used Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion as inspiration.

Ibrox was converted to an all-seater stadium as a result of the tragedy and has since been awarded UEFA five-star status.

A memorial service will be held before the Old Firm derby at Ibrox this coming Sunday and a minute's silence will be observed inside the stadium prior to kick-off. Former club captains John Greig and Billy McNeill will also lead the teams out.

Harry acknowledges that supporters of both clubs will be united in their grief for the fallen, but hopes that more bridges would be built.

He said: "I thought at the time that Celtic and Rangers fans would become closer because of the disaster - sadly that didn't happen, but the players did.

"We used to go to functions together if we lived in a nearby area - for example I would go to events with Ronnie McKinnon, and we helped raise funds for various causes.

"Supporters were united in their grief, however.

"The late Bill Shankly was famous for saying that 'some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that', but the Ibrox disaster proved to me that his sentiment was totally wrong.

"Something like this brings you together and talking about the disaster brings all the memories flooding back."