Medal: John ‘Yogi’ Hughes was one of three squad players to receive medals.
A European Cup winner’s medal belonging to one of Celtic’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ has been traced more than 30 years after it was stolen in a break-in after it turned up for sale on eBay.
Although John ‘Yogi’ Hughes did not play in the famous Lisbon final, where his Celtic team-mates overcame Inter Milan 2-1, extra medals were struck for him and two other players who were involved in earlier rounds.
His son, also called John, said the 1967 medal and a runner’s up medal from the 1970 final against Feyenoord were stolen in a break-in at the family home in Hamilton when he was 11 years old.
He contacted police after spotting the medal on the internet auction site eBay.
The Garda in Ireland recovered the item from the seller, who was based in Dublin. Mr Hughes said it appeared to have been put up for sale in good faith after being bought at a football memorabilia auction in London.
He said the original break-in happened one night when he and his brother Kevin were at home.
“The intruder just walked in,” he said. “We both thought the other was making the noise.
“He took knives from the kitchen and proceeded upstairs to ransack the place.
“Fortunately he decided to stick the knives in one of my Mum’s coats, because the next thing he did was walk in on Kevin.
“He apologised for interrupting and calmly walked down the stairs. He was obviously a pro.
“It took Kevin a minute to realise what had just happened. He then pursued the guy in bare feet over an adjoining building site, but lost him in the street.”
The 1970 medal was later recovered, but the whereabouts of the medal commemorating the 1967 triumph had been unknown until it was listed on internet auction site eBay this week.
The item was removed from eBay’s website shortly before the sale was due to close on Friday evening, having attracted a top bid of £9,500.
The listing for the medal gave the seller’s location as Dublin and said it was bought at a football memorabilia auction at Christie’s, in London, in 2007.
The catalogue from the sale on April 3 lists a 1967 European Cup winner’s medal which sold for £6,000.