By the end of that decade, Peter would both be wearing the Hoops – as part of a hugely successful school team representing St Patrick’s, Dumbarton – and following the fortunes of the Glasgow version, a particular hero being skipper John McPhail, scorer of the winning goal as Celtic yet again beat Motherwell in a Scottish Cup final, this time in April 1951, Jimmy McGrory’s first major trophy as Celtic manager.
That lack of success for McGrory and Celtic would all change from the spring of 1953, with Peter Goldie having a birds-eye view. On Saturday, 9 May 1953, Jimmy offered the 18-year-old Duntocher Hibs star a provisional contract with Celtic, an offer he was only too delighted to accept. Just 24 hours earlier, McGrory had brought Neil Mochan to the club in an £8,000 deal from Middlesbrough, a fee which would be paid off by the end of the month.
On the day Peter signed for Celtic, Mochan would score a double on his debut as the Bhoys beat Queen’s Park 3-1 at Hampden to win the Glasgow Charities Cup, Willie Fernie the other Celt on target. Two nights later, Celtic’s glorious Coronation Cup campaign would kick off with a 1-0 victory over English champions Arsenal at the same venue, Bobby Collins scoring midway through the first half to send the 60,000 supporters home happy.
Saturday, 16 May 1953 saw Mochan grab his third goal for his new club in as many matches, Matt Busby’s Manchester United sent packing in the semi-final of the Coronation Cup as Neil added to Bertie Peacock’s first-half opener to give Celts a lead they would not relinquish, despite a late strike from legendary United centre-forward Jack Rowley. And, of course, on Wednesday, 20 May 1953, Mochan scored a sensational opener and Jimmy Walsh a late second as Celts defied the odds and Hibernian’s feared Famous Five forward-line to win the Coronation Cup at a Hampden covered in banners of green. How the Celtic supporters who made up the majority of the 117,000 crowd would have enjoyed that unexpected victory, as Jock Stein lifted the coveted trophy above his head.
As an aside, that few weeks also created one of the great Celtic quiz questions, the challenge being to name the player who won two trophies in the famous Hoops before he played a match at Celtic Park.
Season 1953/54 would see Celtic build on that success as Jock Stein skippered the side to a first League and Cup double in 40 years, the only one as either player or manager for the great McGrory. Peter Goldie would complete a final campaign at Duntocher Hibs before signing on a full-time basis at Parkhead as the next season kicked off. It was of great interest to me that the first sign I see of Peter in the Hoops was as part of the Celtic side which opened the new covered enclosure at Petershill Park – just a few hundred yards from my home – with a 2-1 victory over Rangers on Thursday, 26 August 1954.
Beside him in that line-up was a mixture of new or fringe players, Coronation Cup hero Jimmy Walsh, Alex Boden, Jonas Kaduskeviechi – better known as John Jack – and Eric Smith perhaps the best known. The Rangers goalkeeper in Springburn that night was Bobby Brown, who had held the record as the oldest living player at Queen’s Park, Rangers and Falkirk before his passing this time last year at the age of 96.
October 1954 saw goalkeeper Dick Beattie and forward Jimmy ‘Peam’ Docherty both follow Peter to Parkhead from Duntocher Hibs, whilst another St Pat’s High School alumni, Benny McCreadie, was signed as cover for Beattie and first-choice stopper John Bonnar in May 1955. The open trial held at Celtic Park on Tuesday, 9 August 1955 would see Peter Goldie and Dick Beattie line up for the White & Greens, alongside Dunky MacKay and Bertie Auld, whilst Benny McCreadie and Jimmy Docherty were in the opposing Green & Whites team with most of the acknowledged first-choice players. The stronger side, with its legends Sean Fallon, Jock Stein, John McPhail, Bobby Collins and Neil Mochan, would enjoy a comfortable 6-2 victory.
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