The Celtic FC Miscellany E-Book

David W Potter

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Celtic is an unusual football club, inspiring strong feelings in almost everyone. It is of course virtually impossible to chronicle all that has happened in the history of the club, but this little gem draws together some of the most interesting, quirky and downright odd events that have taken place over their long and auspicious existence. Packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legend, the reader will delve deep to find out all about the events and people who have shaped the club into what it is today. Featured here are a plethora of stories on this charismatic football club ranging from how the club was formed, to little-known facts about players and managers. Here you will find player feats, individual records and plenty of amusing quotes. Rivalry with Rangers, favourite managers and cult heroes from yesteryear – a book no true Celtic fan should be without.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title

Introduction

Record Score

Scottish Cup

Rescued from Drowning

George Whitehead

Penalties!

The Trooper

A Hammering

The Tragedy of Kenny Dalglish

Floodlights

Dziekanowski, Aitkenoffski and Milleronandoffski

‘Is it True What they Say About Dixie?’

Zero to Hero

The Redoubtable Jimmy Delaney

The Strangest Sending Off of Them All

Forgotten Boots

The Lost Celt

Baird’s Bar

The greatest of them all?

Davie Mclean

Celtic’s War Heroes

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Direct from a corner Kick – Twice!

Dun

The Jungle

Hands Across the Atlantic

Frank and Number Nine

No Road this Way

Celtic Park

There’s Surely No Denyin’, WI’ OOR Captain Willie Lyon

Irish Flag

Tom ‘Tiny’ Wharton

Andy with the Billiard Table Legs

The Green Brigade

The Shamrock

Hearts Fans Invade the Jungle

Danny of the Many Injuries

A Hat-Trick of Penalties

And they Gave us Jimmy Mcgrory

The Celtic Song

Amazing but True

He Started it all!

Not Chosen Against Celtic One day but Playing for them the Next

Napoleon

Rafael Scheidt

Eck the Icicle

Happy Birthday, Mr Maley!

Record Attendances

The Mcstay Dynasty

Ibrox

Neil Mochan

Walk Out

Bobby Murdoch – Different Class

Scapulars

Will You no Come Back Again?

The Boy from Croy

Floods of tears?

Ten Internationals and …

Backs to the Wall

The Thomson Pilgrims

The Powder Monkey

Andy Lynch and 1977

The Frail Lad that Wore the Green

Berwick Rangers

Relegation

Goalkeepers are we!

The Three Thomsons of 1931

Lennoxtown

Celtic’s Country Bumpkin

Glasgow Cup 1908

Sunny Jim

British League Cup

Coronation Cup

Leigh Roose

The Brothers Maley

Tommy Duff the Goalie

Empire Exhibition Trophy

The O’Donnell Brothers

Scottish League

Great Men do Great Things

Scottish League Cup

Glasgow Charity Cup

Glasgow Cup

European Cup/Champions League

Three Unhappy New Years in a Row

European Cup Winners’ Cup

Not That We’re Paranoid

Inter Cities Fairs Cup/Uefa Cup/Europa League

Huddle

Managers

Four Awful Scottish Cup Finals

Message to the Vatican

Hello! Hello!

Tommy Sinclair – Celtic’s Rangers Goalie

Winning the League for Rangers

Ten Men Won the League

Celtic in Wartime

Eight Games in Twelve Days Wins the League

Willie O’Neill

The Bitter Sweet Year of 1970

Fear of Flying

Peter Scarff

Over the Line

The Fastest Hat-Trick

Arthurlie

Merry Christmas

All the Trophies in a Month

Albert Kidd

Celtic’s coldest ever game?

Sunny Jim the Goalie

Tony Cascarino

1963/64 The Year of the Rangers Complex

The Year After the Year Before

Penalty Shoot-Outs

Celtic’s Home Cup Final

George Connelly Entertains

McNeill’s Deputies

Queen’s Park

The General Strike

The Ghostly Passenger

Well, Well, Well, it was Nearly Well, Well, Well

Industrial Action

Frank Connor

Spats and Fisticuffs

Charlie Nicholas

Hampden Our Home

Cheats

Joe Miller

The Kilmarnock Hoodoo

Very Wee Jimmy Johnstone

Why, Alec, Why?

The Uncertain Future

Nine Championships Never Won at Parkhead

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

It has been a singular and peculiar pleasure for me to write this miscellany of Celtic Football Club. Far too often, writers tend to become over-concerned about players’ appearances for the club, goalscoring records and the ‘heavy’ stuff of football. There is of course a place for this, but one must not also lose sight of the light-hearted, offbeat and humorous side of football.

Celtic Football Club is such a vast organisation and it is now over fifty years since Glen Daly recorded ‘The Celtic Song’ with the lyrics, ‘if you know their history, it’s enough to make your heart go oh-oh-oh-oh …’ Some think that the word ‘sad’ should be there instead of ‘oh-oh-oh-oh’, but if this is the case, the word ‘sad’ can only really apply in the emotional, tears-springing-to-your-eyes sense of the word, for there is nothing about Celtic that really should make anyone sad. It is a magnificent example of how, in the early days at least, an ethnic minority, underprivileged and discriminated against, simply decided to do something about it. There was no real mileage to be got from moaning and self-pity; far better to build the best football team in the world!

Times have of course changed, and Celtic’s support is now drawn from all social classes, nationalities and ethnic groups, proving (long before Western society acknowledged it) that what Walfrid and Maley said was true – ‘It’s not the man’s creed or nationality that counts; it’s the man himself.’

A visit to Celtic Park on matchday reveals all sorts from fresh-faced youngsters bedecked in green to wizened old men who talk about Charlie Tully and Willie Fernie. There is the Green Brigade with their occasionally revolutionary and subversive sentiments in the North-East corner, the hosts of mothers and children, the staid habitués of the South Stand whom advancing years has compelled this author to join, the physically handicapped, the ex-players, the occasional personality – politician perhaps or television entertainer, actor, sportsman or -woman distinguished in snooker, swimming or golf. Glance at the provenance of the buses in the Bus Park – Elgin, Northampton, Donegal, Teesside, for example – it’s not unlike the description of ‘far-summoned allies’ of ancient Troy in Homer’s Iliad. They all have one thing in common – they love ‘the’ Celtic, the definite article used unselfconsciously and deliberately. It is to such people that this book is dedicated.

My thanks are due to my friends like Tom Campbell, Marie Rowan, George Sheridan, Dan Leslie, Mark O’Brien, Craig McAughtrie and many others who have encouraged me and shared their love for ‘the’ Celtic.

This book does not claim to be comprehensive. It is a hotch-potch, an amalgam whimsically selected to entertain and hopefully to bring a smile to the faces of the support as Celtic face a new era. At the time of writing, our greatest rivals are seriously and perhaps permanently crippled. They almost left us altogether and may yet do so. On the surface, this sounds good for Celtic, but the new era will bring fresh challenges and fresh problems, and will impose great demands on the support and the players.

But I have little doubt that Celtic will rise to it. Celtic are, after all, a very special club. To those who are not yet imbued with the Celtic spirit, I say one thing – Join us!

Enjoy this book!

David Potter, August 2012

RECORD SCORE

Celtic beat Dundee 11–0 at Parkhead on 26 October 1895 in the Scottish League in what is still a Celtic record score for a competitive match, but one should not really read too much into it. The pitch was frankly unplayable after heavy overnight snow and Dundee were very critical of referee Mr J. Baillie’s decision to let the game go ahead. Dundee had three players injured and in the second half took the field with only nine men, but by this time the score was already 6–0 to Celtic, who had to change their strips because the green and white vertical stripes clashed with the blue and white vertical of Dundee. Accounts of who scored all the goals vary, but the general consensus seems to be that Johnny Madden scored 3, Jimmy Blessington 2, Barney Battles 2, Allan Martin 2, James Kelly 1 and Willie Ferguson 1.

SCOTTISH CUP

This competition is, not without cause, looked upon as Celtic’s favourite competition, for they have won it on 35 occasions between 1892 and 2011, and that is twice more than Rangers. Celtic’s love affair with the competition started as early as their first season when they reached the final in 1889 only to lose to Third Lanark. It is often felt that there is nothing better than Hampden in the sun on a warm day in April or May for those who wish to see quintessential Celtic football. Certainly there have been many epic Scottish Cup finals in the past – 1904, 1925, 1931, 1965, 1985, 1988 – all of which have been much celebrated in Celtic folklore. Curiously Celtic have never done something that Rangers, Aberdeen, Queen’s Park and Vale of Leven have all done and that is win the trophy three years in a row. Of the three hat-tricks scored in Scottish Cup finals, the first two were scored by Celtic players – Jimmy Quinn in 1904 and Dixie Deans in 1972. Celtic’s 35 successful Scottish Cup finals have been as follows:

Celtic 5–1 Queen’s Park, Ibrox, 9 April 1892

Campbell (2), McMahon (2), own goal

Originally scheduled for 12 March but declared a friendly after crowd encroachment, this was Celtic’s first Scottish Cup win and the victory that really put them on the map, causing outlandish scenes of joy in the East End.

Celtic 2–0 Rangers, Second Hampden, 22 April 1899

McMahon, Hodgeˆ

A victory which was all the more creditable as Rangers had been league champions with a 100 per cent record.

Celtic 4–3 Queen’s Park, Ibrox, 14 April 1900

Divers (2), McMahon, Bell

Commonly referred to as the ‘hurricane’ final, this game saw Celtic go in at half time with a 3–1 lead. Despite facing the strong wind in the second half, it was Celtic who scored the crucial fourth goal early in the period and after Queen’s Park scored two, they held out to register their third cup final victory.

Celtic 3–2 Rangers, Hampden, 16 April 1904

Quinn (3)

This is the game which made Jimmy Quinn. Celtic were two down, but Quinn levelled before half time then scored the winner in the second half to register the first ever Scottish Cup final hat-trick.

Celtic 3–0 Hearts, Hampden, 20 April 1907

Somers (2), Orr (penalty)

Celtic became the first team to win the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup in the same year. Hearts were handicapped by the absence through injury of Charlie Thomson. This was the beginning of Hearts’ trophy famine of 50 years and also the start of their perpetual and irrational hatred and complex about Celtic.

Celtic 5–1 St Mirren, Hampden, 18 April 1908

Bennett (2), Hamilton, Somers, Quinn

It would have taken a great team to beat this all-conquering Celtic side, and the Buddies were not that. Jimmy McMenemy controlled the game from start to finish.

Celtic 2–0 Hamilton (after 0–0 draw), Ibrox, 15 April 1911

Quinn, McAteer

By no means a vintage Celtic side, but a great day for the village of Croy which supplied three men for Celtic – Jimmy Quinn, Andy McAtee and Tommy McAteer.

Celtic 2–0 Clyde, Ibrox, 6 April 1912

McMenemy, Gallacher

Another windy final and Patsy Gallacher marked his first cup final with a goal.

Celtic 4–1 Hibs (after 0–0 draw), Ibrox, 16 April 1914

McColl (2), Browning (2)

A superb performance by Celtic in the ‘Irish’ Cup final on this Thursday evening. Patsy Gallacher played magnificently.

Celtic 1–0 Hibs, Hampden, 31 March 1923

Cassidy

A poorish Celtic side had to work hard for this narrow victory, but Joe Cassidy’s goal was the difference.

Celtic 2–1 Dundee, Hampden, 11 April 1925

Gallacher, McGrory

Patsy Gallacher’s famous goal in this final was scored with the ball wedged between his feet as he somersaulted into the net. Young McGrory scored the winner with a stereotypical diving header.

Celtic 3–1 East Fife, Hampden, 16 April 1927

McLean, Connolly, own goal

Second Division East Fife did well to reach the final but were outclassed by Celtic. Tommy McInally clowned throughout and deliberately missed chances so as not to embarrass the Fifers. This was the first cup final to be broadcast on the radio and it was listened to in ice cream parlours in Methil.

Celtic 4–2 Motherwell (after 2–2 draw), Hampden, 15 April 1931

McGrory (2), R. Thomson (2)

A great performance after being lucky to earn a replay, yet it is the first game that is the more famous. Celtic were now able to take the Scottish Cup with them on tour to America.

Celtic 1–0 Motherwell, Hampden, 15 April 1933

McGrory

A dull game on a dull day with only Jimmy McGrory’s tap-in separating the sides.

Celtic 2–1 Aberdeen, Hampden, 24 April 1937

Crum, Buchan

Hampden’s record crowd for a Scottish Cup final (with a lot more inside than the 147,365 officially given) saw a tight game with Celtic emerging victorious.

Celtic 1–0 Motherwell, Hampden, 21 April 1951

McPhail

John McPhail’s first-half goal was enough to separate the teams and give Celtic their first piece of silverware since before the Second World War.

Celtic 2–1 Aberdeen, Hampden, 24 April 1954

own goal, Fallon

Celtic’s hard-earned victory over a spirited Dons side saw the first league and cup double for 40 years.

Celtic 3–2 Dunfermline, Hampden, 24 April 1965

Auld (2), McNeill

A truly epic occasion as Celtic with Jock Stein now at the helm ending their trophy famine in glorious style, after twice being behind.

Celtic 2–0 Aberdeen, Hampden, 29 April 1967

Wallace (2)

The all-conquering Celtic side had just become the first British side to reach a European Cup final on the previous Tuesday, and Wallace’s two goals on either side of half time were enough to do the trick.

Celtic 4–0 Rangers, Hampden, 26 April 1969

McNeill, Lennox, Connelly, Chalmers

Celtic completed a domestic treble with this comprehensive rout of Rangers.

Celtic 2–1 Rangers (after 1–1 draw), Hampden, 12 May 1971

Macari, Hood (penalty)

A good win for Celtic on the Wednesday night after a late goal on the Saturday had given Rangers an undeserved replay. George Connelly was superb.

Celtic 6–1 Hibs, Hampden, 6 May 1972

Deans (3), Macari (2), McNeill

A great victory for Celtic with Dixie Deans equalling the feat of Jimmy Quinn in 1904 with a cup final hat-trick, one of them celebrated with a somersault.

Celtic 3–0 Dundee United, Hampden, 4 May 1974

Hood, Murray, Deans

Dundee United’s first Scottish Cup final appearance and they were defeated by a Celtic team which had possibly passed its best, but was still too good for anyone in Scotland.

Celtic 3–1 Airdrie, Hampden, 3 May 1975

Wilson (2), P. McCluskey

Billy McNeill announced his retirement after this game. A Celtic victory was all the more essential because Rangers had won the league for the first time in a decade.

Celtic 1–0 Rangers, Hampden, 7 May 1977

Lynch (penalty)

A miserable rainy day and the first time that the Scottish Cup final had been televised live for twenty years. Celtic’s goal came from a disputed penalty, but they were the better team in any case.

Celtic 1–0 Rangers (after extra time), Hampden, 10 May 1980

G. McCluskey

A reasonable game of football overshadowed by the Hampden Riot afterwards as idiots from either side battled it out on the field after the game to the undisguised delight of the media.

Celtic 2–1 Dundee United, Hampden, 18 May 1985

Provan, McGarvey

A great Celtic comeback in the last 15 minutes over a stuffy Dundee United defence was much needed to give the support and manager Davie Hay something to cheer about after a dreadful season.

Celtic 2–1 Dundee United, Hampden, 14 May 1988

McAvennie (2)

Almost a carbon copy of 1985, but Billy McNeill was now the manager and this victory gave Celtic the double of league and cup in their centenary season.

Celtic 1–0 Rangers, Hampden, 20 May 1989

Miller

Joe Miller scored the only goal of this Cup final just before half time.

Celtic 1–0 Airdrie, Hampden, 27 May 1995

van Hooijdonk

A poorish game but Celtic’s early goal was enough to give manager Tommy Burns the only trophy of his managerial career.

Celtic 3–0 Hibs, Hampden, 26 May 2001

McNamara, Larsson (2, 1 a penalty)

This game over an outclassed Hibs side sealed a treble in Martin O’Neill’s first season in charge.

Celtic 3–1 Dunfermline, Hampden, 22 May 2004

Larsson (2), Petrov

A good Celtic comeback after a dodgy Dunfermline goal in the first half in what was Henrik Larsson’s last competitive game for the club.

Celtic 1–0 Dundee United, Hampden, 28 May 2005

Thompson

Celtic had disappointed their fans by throwing away the SPL at Motherwell the previous week in what became known as Black Sunday, and then Martin O’Neill announced his resignation to look after his ill wife. Not the greatest ever Celtic performance on a wet and misty day, but a welcome win nevertheless.

Celtic 1–0 Dunfermline, Hampden, 26 May 2007

Perrier-Doumbé

A poor game but the late goal from the unlikely source of Cameroon international Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé was enough to do the trick for Gordon Strachan.

Celtic 3–0 Motherwell, Hampden, 21 May 2011

Ki, Wilson, Mulgrew

A businesslike performance from Celtic to give Neil Lennon his first honour after the SPL had been lost in a strange performance at Inverness.