... was manager of Celtic from 1965 to 1978, leading them to victory in the 1967 European Cup final when they became the first British team to lift the trophy.
In 1975 he was critically injured in a car crash, but eventually made a full recovery.
After winning their tenth League and Cup double in the 1976–77 season, Celtic struggled in the 1977–8 season and Stein was persuaded to stand down. He was appointed as manager at Leeds United in August 1978, but never settled there and the anticipated results were slow to materialise. When Ally MacLeod resigned as Scotland manager following their failure at the 1978 World Cup finals, Stein made it known that he was interested in replacing him. He resigned his position at Leeds after 44 days – the same length of time that Brian Clough had spent there four years earlier – to accept the position as Scotland manager on his 56th birthday.
Scotland failed to qualify for the 1980 European Championships, but in qualification for the 1982 World Cup finals they lost only one game and finished top of their group. In their opening match in Spain a patchy performance resulted in a 5–2 victory over New Zealand, but this was followed by a 4–1 defeat at the hands of Brazil – despite taking a shock lead in the 18th minute. Qualification for the second round depended on victory in their third game, against the Soviet Union, but they managed only a draw and so went out of the tournament.
The qualification campaign for the 1986 World cup started well, with victories over Iceland and Spain, but later results were mixed and Scotland needed at least a draw in their final game, away to Wales, to qualify for the play–offs. They achieved the draw thanks to an 81st–minute penalty, but at the end of the game Stein suffered a heart attack and died shortly afterwards in the stadium's medical room. He was 62 years old.
Stein's death had a profound effect on his assistant, Alex Ferguson, who at the time was also manager of Aberdeen. Ferguson, who had regarded Stein as a mentor, was appointed as interim manager and led the Scotland team to qualify for the 1986 World Cup via the play–offs. But they failed to progress beyond the group stage, and Ferguson stood down shortly afterwards. He remained at Aberdeen over the summer, but left in November to take over at Manchester United following the sacking of Ron Atkinson.
Stein's permanent successor as Scotland manager was Andy Roxburgh. He achieved qualification for the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1992, but resigned in 1993 after his team failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Finals.
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