Wee Billy's gone and so has big Jim, both of them taken before their time. It haunts me and I wonder if it will be my time soon. Yesterday, launching his book Celtic's Lost Legend at Parkhead, the 58-year-old said: "I didn't know how I was going to get received that night. For youths brought up on stories of the club’s legends such as Jimmy Johnstone, Danny McGrain and Billy McNeill, George Connelly appears to be a bit of an enigma.The truth is, that is exactly what George Connelly was and still is, an enigma.

I’ll give you in a nutshell. When Billy was playing you had a chance against anybody, he meant that much to the team. A couple of years later, Connelly made his first team debut, as a skilled midfielder and looked perfectly at home playing alongside some of Europe’s best players, like Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox and Bobby Murdoch. The 1968-69 season had a tremendous finish for him, personally, and the club as a whole. He fills his days now by driving a taxi and by walking for miles, two, three, four days a week, anything from five to 25 miles at a time. It keeps him busy, keeps him out of the pub, away from the gargle that has done him such harm. With the scores level after extra-time, how do you decide who goes through to the quarter-finals? Penalties? A replay? No. The referee took the two captains, Celtic's McNeill and Mario Coluna of Benfica, into his dressing room for a coin toss. And, in doing so, his disenchantment with the game and his remarkable decision to walk away from the big stage at 26 years old was a huge loss both to Celtic and Scotland.

In a matter of a few seconds, referee Concetto lo Bello blows the final whistle, confirming Feyenoord as European Cup winners for the first time - and Celtic as European Cup final losers for the first time. Delirium for the Dutch and dismay for the Scots. The transfer of David Hay, his closest friend, after a dispute over wages was the final straw. Connelly had even gone on strike with Hay over their wages. But in 1975, after a long absence, Celtic released him. After a few walk outs, it was no surprise when George Connelly left in 1975, at a very young age. One of the most talented players Celtic had ever produced was gone.

Money features heavily in any discussion about players leaving Celtic Park at that time, but Connelly has perhaps provided the ultimate example of how poorly paid the players were. After he quit Celtic he took a job lagging pipes. In his first week he cleared almost double what he was getting with Celtic. Oh, all right. Maybe, when I was driving, I would say to myself: Christ Almighty! I played for Celtic, appeared in five Scottish Cup finals, won four league medals and played in four League Cup finals, and won two Scotland caps. I'm still a very famous person, yet here I am driving a taxi.'"See if I thought about it seriously, I might have parked the car and ran away from it all, eh? I used to think about those things when I was driving, but I've no' done it for a long time now. Months." He remembers the day well. "I'll do you a wee reference," said Stein, accepting now that the genius he helped nurture was a lost cause. "Och, you're all right, Mr Stein. I need to be heading up the road." How stupid, was he? "Aye, not clever. I know how I felt that day. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. Not in a bad way mind. I didn't want to wait around while they put something through a typewriter. I used to tell that story to people years ago but I stopped telling them because it was embarrassing." The fact there was nothing right with my home life had started to affect my judgment when it came to football. I had been voted Scotland's Player of the Year in 1973 and that was when I also walked out on Scotland as we were about to fly to Switzerland.

With the benefit of hindsight he says: "Can you imagine the number of people who wanted to tell me what a mug I had been?" Hay gives more weight to the argument, however, and is convinced that they did indeed take Feyenoord lightly. Sean Fallon, Stein's assistant, maintains that Connelly was the best player he worked with in his time at Parkhead, and such high praise makes his story all the more poignant. It's all out in the open now. The rise and fall, the attempt to explain it all. He kept it hidden for 30 years but there is no secret left untold at this stage, no detail of his life that is bottled up inside him. "What's the word? Is it 'candid'?" Davie Hay came through to see me a couple of times and then when he became manager he phoned me one night to say come up whenever I wanted, but my head just wasn’t in it.

They should keep the young ones coming through and mix them in with the odd player they have bought,” he said. Basically, they should just keep doing what they’re doing. They have a nice mixture, a good balance. All of it is part of an attempt to combat chronic alcoholism which has affected him for the best part of 25 years. A long, melancholic silence descends. And then: "I'd tell him he's only a laddie, Only a laddie. Though he wouldn't believe it. I'd say that he has his whole life ahead of him if only he looked for help, but he wouldnae. Get yourself a bit of help, son. Go and see Mr Stein. Go and tell him what's going on inside your head, pour your heart out to him, hope that he'll be able to find the answers for you." He’d left the door for me again. Again. But it didn’t last long. I had a groin injury that I couldn’t get rid of and soon enough I was working at Torness nuclear power station as a scaffolder’s labourer then playing junior football at weekends.Along with Jimmy Johnstone, George Connelly put Leeds to the sword scoring the winning goal at Elland Road as Celtic went on to defeat United over two legs in the ‘ Battle of Britain‘. George Connelly played a key role in these games and was attaining legendary status for many. What more could Celtic achieve with someone of his quality in the squad? The final may ultimately have been lost to Dutch champions Feyenoord, but with the youngsters in the squad – added to the experience of McNeill and Co – the future looked bright and it was Green. It was a worry to me because I felt people would hold my walk-outs, and the fact that I quit the game when I was only 26, against me.