THE night of the Lisbon Lions is held fondly for many in Scottish football, especially for those who made the long journey to watch the now iconic game 50 years ago.

On May 25, 1967, Celtic won the European Cup after defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in front of an estimated 45,000 people in the Estádio Nacional.

Among them was an intrepid band of Wee County die-hards who picked up and drove all the way from Alloa to the Portuguese capital.

John McParland, a former joiner at Kincardine Power Station, rented the caravanette and concocted the plan along with Bill Heriot, Pat Gilmartin, John Lynch, Francis Curran and Ian Banks.

After adding a few finishing touches to the vehicle – including the installation of Yogi Bear on top – they journeyed all the way to the showpiece encounter, spending just £25 each.

Speaking with the Advertiser half a century later, John, 81, said: "We drove from Alloa to Lisbon, and the only time we stopped was to re-fuel.

"It was a long journey for us all, but we shared the driving between the three of us.

"The final itself was brilliant; the football was marvellous. The Celtic players were all first class and we couldn't have faulted them at all."

Ian, a former roads officer, remembers watching on as Celtic went behind after just seven minutes.

Jock Stein's side then tried to mount their comeback in the hopes of at least forcing the game to a replay.

Ian, 72, recalled: "One thing that sticks in my mind is at half time we discussed what would happen if the game ended up a draw. There was no extra time and penalty kicks then, and so between us we decided that we would journey on to the replay.

"They were a great bunch of boys and we all got on so well together."

Luckily for the group, no replay was required as Celtic scored twice in the second half to lift the trophy.

In the end it proved to be a historic night for the club, as well as the Wee County supporters, with Ian even managing to claim his own piece of history as well.

He said: "My late brother-in-law Pat Gilmartin and I ended up in an area where the team bus was to the rear of the stadium.

"Sean Fallon [the Celtic assistant manager] appeared from a doorway, there was only a handful of supporters here, one of them shouting for a souvenir.

"Sean told us to wait there and he went back in to the dressing room and returned with some memorabilia. I ended up with Ronnie Simpson's gloves and a pair of pants."