More than 50 years ago, an event took place in Fraserburgh that perhaps encapsulated why Celtic like to describe themselves as “more than just a football club”.

In April 1970, Jock Stein and his players flew north to the Aberdeenshire fishing town to play the local junior club in a benefit match for the families of the victims of the Duchess of Kent lifeboat disaster.

Just three months earlier, the lifeboat boat had overturned in a freak wave while on a rescue mission to help a distressed Danish fishing vessel. Five men died that day and the impact of the tragedy was felt far beyond Fraserburgh.

It represented the ultimate in human heroism; men sacrificing their lives to help others. It also raised awareness of how men and women in the lifeboat service always put their lives on the line whenever they are out at sea to answer a call of distress.

Throughout their history Celtic have always been ready to play in matches like these but this one was particularly significant.

For starters, Stein chose to bring all of his biggest stars north rather than merely a reserve team. The timing was also remarkable. Eight days later, most of these same players would play at the San Siro against Feyenoord in the European Cup final.

At the time – and this continued for many years afterwards – some questioned the wisdom of playing in such a game on a rudimentary surface just days before one of the biggest occasions in the club’s history. There are even suggestions that Celtic’s subdued display against the Dutch champions was partly as a result of being made to play in Fraserburgh so close to the game and that it wasn’t ideal mental preparation for the biggest club match in the world.

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Stein, though, spoke with profound poignancy about why he was determined that Celtic should honour the men who had died and their families. Describing them as heroes, he said: “We’re not as important as people make us out to be. Take the cause that we’re up here in Fraserburgh playing for, the lifeboat disaster fund, these are very important people and possibly we all look at them as just something that happens, but these are important people in life.”

Later, Stein met the families of the victims and ensured that his players stayed on for a little while to mix freely with the locals. It’s an occasion that’s never been forgotten by this little town and an object lesson to his players and Celtic supporters about what the club is supposed to represent.

Stein was reared in a Lanarkshire mining community and worked down the pits himself. He knew that each time he and his colleagues did so they risked death and he was very knowledgeable of the many pit disasters that had claimed the lives of thousands of miners across the UK.

With the benefit of hindsight it’s easy to say that Celtic’s visit north on that cold, April day was far from ideal preparation for what awaited them in the San Siro. I think, though, that it was actually ideal preparation for that group of players.

Having defeated Leeds United home and away in the European Cup semi-final, they were being hailed as the best team in the world and had been installed as runaway favourites to beat Feyenoord. In taking them to Fraserburgh, Stein was perhaps reminding his men that some things in life are more important than winning trophies.

Celtic Way:

Stein, in all of his pronouncements about what Celtic represented for their fans, was always aware that the vast majority of them came from some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the UK. He was always stressing the importance of ordinary people, having been reared in such a community himself.

If any player was approaching the European Cup final thinking he was a rock star then that trip to Fraserburgh and the cause that carried them there would have given them a sense of reality.

And besides, Celtic lost that European Cup final because they were simply outplayed by a brilliant team containing players who would help form the nucleus of the Dutch international team which mesmerised the world over the course of the next five years.

To a lesser or greater extent, almost all of the Celtic managers that have succeeded Stein have been knowledgeable about just what this club means to the people who follow them… and why.

But I can’t think of any who have articulated this better than Ange Postecoglou. Whether it’s stressing the humanity and character of his Japanese players as individuals or pointing to the importance of Celtic in the lives of the supporters, he has channelled Stein.

Amid all this, and not unlike Stein, he is always respectful of rival managers and players. This became evident prior to his first league game as Celtic manager, against Hearts at Tynecastle.

The characteristic narrow-mindedness and lack of imagination of Scotland’s football writers was evident in a pre-match suggestion that he might not know of the threat offered by Hearts, on account of having come from a country far, far away. This was the football writers channelling their inner Father Dougal from Father Ted.

“I’m still on the same planet mate,” Postecoglou replied. “I haven’t come from outer space. You’d be surprised how much I know about Hearts.”

Last month he acknowledged the part Celtic fans play in maintaining Celtic as Scotland’s biggest and most successful club as well as one of the world’s best-supported.

“I actually don’t mind people saying we have the biggest budget because we have the biggest fan base and we are the biggest club,” he insisted. “People forget that that money is on the back of hard-earned supporters who don’t have a lot of money and choose to spend a significant portion of it on this football club.”

It’s one of several interventions by our manager where he’s exhibited a Stein-like grasp of the realities of playing for Celtic and what it really means in the grand scheme of life.

Of course, winning cups by honest endeavour is vital to Celtic and their supporters but just as crucial is the way in which they do it. And the comfort that comes from knowing that the man at the top knows why this club plays such an important role in our lives can also never be overstated.

Postecoglou is building a team in the image and likeness of Stein’s greatest sides; playing sweet, sweet football at a blindingly fast pace and with a smile on its face.

Underpinning it all though, and just like Stein, is a commitment to the values that have held our communities together over centuries.