Steve in Action with Celtic 1973/4
Former Dundee, Aberdeen and Celtic captain Steve Murray has been working with the club during our fall season and given his level of expertise and stature in the game it's a tremendous experience for players, parents and coaches alike.
Steve started with Dundee and was appointed club captain at the tender age of 22, leading them to the League Cup final and Uefa cup semi final in 1968 against Leeds FC.
His time at Dundee can be summarised by Chelsea legend and head of Coerver coaching worldwide Charlie Cooke in his autobiography The Bonnie Prince
"Stevie Murray was inspirational in a different way. He was young, skilful, fit and highly competitive whatever position he was asked to play. Sometimes it was wing back, sometimes forward, and he well deserved his success at Dens, his eventual transfer to Celtic and the Scotland caps that followed. Wherever he would play, Stevie seemed to know what was needed. He could adjust instantly, grafting with the best of them in midfield and just as easy making and scoring goals. Stevie was one of those players you could play anywhere and know you'd get your money's worth-the kind of team mate every player appreciates"
Steve was then transferred to Aberdeen for the Scottish transfer record between two Scottish clubs and was made captain during a successful period for Aberdeen, where they finished second in league and competed regularly in Europe against teams such as Bayern and Juventus. It was here Steve earned international honours with Scotland.
Bobby Clark was the goalkeeper at the time and now head coach of Notre Dame wrote
"I have a team photo in my office of the Scottish team in 1971/2 and Steve is in it. We won 1-0 and Kenny Dalglish also got his first cap that night. I always say when people ask about players I played alongside that Steve was the best all round player. He had a great engine, technique, a good passer and could win balls in a very fair way. He was a great midfield engine who could play and was a pleasure to have on the team. He could have won more caps but declined to come to South America because of his family"
From Aberdeen, Steve was transferred to Celtic and played under the legendary Jock Stein, during this period Celtic won 9 league titiles in a row and were the first British club to win the European Cup.
Celtic fc bio from Kerrydale Celtic web-site
Hard running Steve Murray was a mobile right-half whose Celtic career was sadly cut short by injuries. Dumbarton born Steve had started his career with the local St.Patrick's team.
Steve had been a fine adversary and had turned in many good performances against Celtic with Dundee and Aberdeen, and it was seen as a great coup when Celtic signed him in May 1973 for a notable fee of £50,000. He made his debut in the hoops against Leeds United on 7th May 1973 in Jackie Charlton's testimonial in the number 8 shorts in Celtic's thrilling 4-3 win.
Bobby Murdoch's departure to Middlesbrough in September 1973 paved the way for Murray to take over Bobby's role in the centre of Celtic's midfield. It is said that Jock Stein wanted a more mobile midfield for the modern game of the 1970's and Steve blended in superbly with his midfield associates Davie Hay, Tommy Callaghan and ,occasionally, or Pat McCluskey.Kenny Dalglish
Steve made a great impression with the Celtic supporters with great displays at Ibrox in the two victories over Rangers in August and September of 1973. He made it a hat trick of wins against Rangers in December when Celtic won the League Cup semi final at Hampden by 3-1 but sadly lost the final 10 days later to a Tommy Gemmell inspired Dundee side.
In March 1974 Celtic reached the quarter final of the European Cup against the Swiss champions of Basle. The game was finely balanced at 5-5 on aggregate when the second leg at Parkhead went to extra time. In the 98th minute Harry Hood superbly turned at the bye line and chipped a ball across goal. Jimmy Johnstone met it at the back post and headed the ball back to Murray and he sent a clever header looping high over the despairing goalkeeper. The 71,000 crowd in the ground exploded with joy as this was the winning goal bringing back memories of the winner against Vojvodina seven years previously. Unfortunately Celtic were booted of the park by the 'animals' of Atletico Madrid in the semi final first leg and they had three players ordered off but Celtic had played bravely in the intimidating atmosphere of the return leg and but for missed chances could have pulled off the impossible.
On April 27th 1974 Stevie was in the Celtic team that clinched their ninth successive League title at Brockville in a 1-1 draw and one week later he scored the crucial second goal in the 1974 Scottish Cup final against Dundee United in Celtic's fine 3-0 success. Around this period Steve shocked Scottish Football when he declined the opportunity to play with Scotland which was a curious decision considering Scotland's participation in the 1974 World Cup finals was approaching. However, he cited family reasons for not going as he was travelling regularly with Celtic and also had banking exams to contend with at the time.
Steve started the 1974/75 season in fine fashion and scored against Rangers at Hampden in August when Celtic won the Drybrough cup for the one and only time on penalties after a 2-2 draw, Steve also scoring in the penalty shoot out and at this time he was regarded as Celtic's regular penalty taker.
He scored the only goal in the League Cup semi final against Airdrie in October in a forgettable game when Celtic wore a hideous strip of green and black striped tops, black shorts and yellow socks with green trims. On October 19th Celtic took on Hibs in a rehearsal for the League Cup final at Hampden seven days later. Steve scored Celtic's first goal from the spot in a scintillating 5-0 demolition of the Hi-bees and one week later Celtic repeated the dose with a 6-3 thrashing, Steve Murray scoring Celtic's sixth after a magnificent passing move from right to left across the Hibs area. He now had a League Cup winners medal after he had been a beaten finalist with Dundee against Celtic in October 1967.
Sadly Celtic were not to get their 10 in a row after they capitulated in the League race in the Spring of 1975 but they progressed steadily in the Scottish Cup, Murray scoring the vital first goal in the 2-0 cup win at Easter Road in January. Celtic played Airdrie in the final and won by 3-1 in a game best remembered as Billy McNeill's last hurrah.
Steve had problems with a toe injury throughout 1975 and in the summer it was announced that he would retire as the damage was too severe to carry on. He was badly missed and Celtic's inconsistent form in 1975/76 was partly down to his absence. However he made a return in the new year after further treatment, replacing Roddy MacDonald as sub on January 3rd in a 3-3 home draw. He further played in the fine away wins over Motherwell and St.Johnstone, by 3-1 and 4-3 respectively, but a broken bone in his foot which occurred in training finally forced him out of Celtic for good. It was a huge disappointment to lose such a capable player and it took Celtic a long time to replace him.
Stevie Murray was a talented Celtic player who brought great success to Parkhead during his short spell at the club and it's a great tragedy that he received that injury as he had years of good service left in him.
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1973-76 | 62 (1) | 8 | 20 | 10 | 100 (1) |
( ) = Substitute Appearance
Honours
Division 1 1973-74
Scottish Cup 1973-74, 1974-75
League Cup 1974-75
Coaching Resume
During the 1980's and 90's Steve scouted, coached from youth level, reserves and assistant manager with Dundee United where they were a force in Europe and also coached and scouted for Dundee F.C where he coached players such as Duncan Ferguson, Christian Dailly, Billy Mckinley, Tommy Coyne, Miodrag Krivokapic, Morten Weighorst and Jim Duffy.
Media Work
Steve still provides analysis for media outlets in Scotland e.g
He plans to work with the teams each fall in San Clemente and spend time with his new grandson Matthew aswell as enjoying his career as a talented artist and painter.