The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty pays tribute to Pele

I recognised the voice on the other end of the phone. It was Peter McLean. Former Celtic PR man. A great guy.

Peter now owned his own PR company PMPR. Alongside another wonderful fella called Russell Kyle, they were two brilliant operators and total professionals to boot.

Two finer gentlemen you could never hope to meet in the football PR world. If you got an invite from PMPR to cover a football gig then you knew instantly that the content was going to be special. More often than not there would also be a legendary name attached to the brief. Legendary? In this case, that word was the understatement of the year.

I let out a massive laugh. It was more in amazement, wonderment and to be honest total and utter disbelief. "The actual Pele? The Brazilian legend? Edson Arantes di Nascimento? The King of Kings?” I asked inquisitively.

McLean had business and football connections in Brazil as part of the PR agency. Somehow Pele was coming to Glasgow. An Evening With Pele at the Crowne Plaza Hotel back in September 2016 remains a cherished career memory.

Some 300 guests had paid up to £900 for a ticket to see the legendary player. He would be taking part in a question and answer session on the only Scottish date of a British tour.

Pele scored a staggering world record of 1,281 goals in 1,383 games for club sides Santos and New York Cosmos including 77 in 92 international appearances for Brazil. He even scored eight goals in one match and he remains the only player to have won the World Cup on three separate occasions in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Nobody who knows anything about football needs an introduction to Pele. Genius. Legend. If you are of a certain vintage Pele remains the greatest footballer of all time.

READ MORE: What Pele and Neymar can teach Celtic about title race squeaky bum time - Tony Haggerty

Before he took centre stage, Pele was ushered into a room where the lucky assembled pressmen who had answered the PMPR call lay in wait.

There are few times in your life when you are in the presence of true football greatness. It is an astonishing feeling being stood feet away from a cultural, sporting and global football icon.

In the 1980s, BBC2 ran a wonderful series called 100 Great Moments in Sport. It was edited highlights of wonderful feats achieved in various sporting arenas from various disciplines were replayed. It was a brilliant programme. This was my 100 Great Moments in Sport equivalent.

It didn't matter what Pele said. For only the second time career-wise I had reached a state of football nirvana. The other time was when I met Argentine legend and my ultimate football hero growing up Diego Armando Maradona.

As I have stated many times, I am just a humble wee guy from East Kilbride and there was Pele a few feet away from me. It was all very surreal.

Pele, who was 75 by then, sat in a chair scanning the room. He oozed class; he was cool. He was laughing and chatting with his entourage as he prepared to answer some questions from the Scottish media.

I stood there staring at greatness. Transfixed. Enchanted. I was solid gone by this time. I was drunk again on the high of life and where my career as a sports journalist had once again taken me. I mean I was about to speak to Pele... the actual Pele.

I swear he beamed a smile straight at me... just me and nobody else in the room. It was the kind of smile I imagined he had given legendary Brazilian team-mates like Jairzinho, Garrincha, Gerson, Rivelino et al when they had contributed an assist for one of his many goals. It lit up the room as bright as the colours of the Rio de Janeiro carnival. It radiated so much warmth.

Even as a septuagenarian he somehow still glowed. He had an aura about him. A wonderful stage presence. Pele hadn't even spoken a word yet and he held us all in the palm of his hands like play-doh. What a wonderful quality to possess.

Like Muhammed Ali in boxing, Pele transcended football. Both men can lay justifiable claims to the title of 'The Greatest' in their respective sports (I couldn't bring myself to tell Pele that I'm actually a Maradona man!).

Pele reminisced about the time he first visited Glasgow 50 years ago in June 1966. The Scots held mighty Brazil to a 1-1 draw as the Samba superstars warmed up for the 1966 World cup finals tournament in England. The reigning world champions were shocked when the Scots took a first-minute lead through ex-Celtic striker and Lisbon Lion Stevie Chalmers. Although Servilio equalised for the visitors the match ended 1-1 in front of 74,933 fans inside the national stadium. It was one of the rare occasions when Pele or Brazil did not net a winning goal. 

He revealed that the 1970 Brazil World Cup-winning side which he played in is still the finest team to ever play the beautiful game. No argument here.

He also believed that Lionel Messi was the greatest player he had seen in the past two decades. Again no argument here. It’s perhaps apt that before his passing Pele got to see his Argentine heir to the throne of the greatest of all time lift the famous gold trophy earlier this month.

Back in the Crowne Plaza on that unforgettable evening Pele even dished out sage advice to any budding young Scottish football talent. He knew his audience alright.

He said: “When I was a boy, my father, who had been a striker, told me never to think that I was the best and that I couldn’t get any better. That is what I did and I think that is good advice for any young Scottish player.”

Sage advice indeed. The best advice from, er, the best.

Pele celebrates winning his third World Cup in 1970 (Image: Getty)

All, or nearly all, of the journalists that piled into the room had their moment with the superstar. We got the chance to quiz the great man as he gave his thoughts on football. It was an absolute joy, honour, pleasure and privilege just to hear Pele speak in all honesty.

Legendary football journalist Ian Archer penned these beautiful words for a TV tribute the day after Celtic had won the league championship in their Centenary year in 1988: "They say the joy has gone out of football. It's no longer the beautiful game. But they weren't at Parkhead yesterday."

I am going to borrow these words now. if I may, and put my own twist on them.

They say the joy has gone out of football. It's no longer the beautiful game. They weren't in the Crowne Plaza that night alongside the man who coined the famous phrase 'The Beautiful Game'.

For a brief moment in Glasgow with the king, not only was the game beautiful but life itself was beautiful. I'll never forget the night Pele met Tony... or is it when Tony met Pele?

Of all the tributes that have poured in for Pele after his sad death at 82, perhaps ex-Brazil defender and World Cup winner Cafu summed up how everybody on planet football felt best.

Cafu said: “Pele dies, this news is not accurate... Pele will never die. Pele will never leave us. Pele will never cease to exist. Pele is eternal, Pele is king, Pele is unique... he just went to rest a little bit."

Obrigado Pele, O Rei dos Reis. Requiescat in pace.

This article is a truncated version of a portion of Tony's book Gonnae Gie's a Lift O'er Mister?: More from the sporting vault