‘All Hampden was covered in green, white and gold,’ David Potter’s Seven Magnificently Random Celtic stories

DAVID POTTER’S Seven Magnificently Random Celtic stories – which is attracting a faithful audience every day, continues today and will run all this week, only on The Celtic Star…

1. BRITISH LEAGUE CUP

Otherwise known as the Glasgow Exhibition Trophy, or the Coronation Cup, the British League Cup was a one-off tournament held in 1902 for the Ibrox Disaster Fund. Rangers had won the Glasgow Exhibition Trophy in 1901, and put up this cup for the first-ever British tournament between themselves, Celtic, Sunderland and Everton, the champions and runners-up in each country.

The Ibrox Disaster Fund would benefit, and the winners could claim to be the best in Britain. By coincidence, the tournament was played in the run-up to the coronation of King Edward VII, and is sometimes referred to as the Coronation Cup, but it should not be confused with that of 1953.

Celtic beat Sunderland 5-1 at Celtic Park on 30 April 1902 with two goals from Tommy McDermott and one each from the old faithful left wing partnership of Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell. After a draw at Goodison, Rangers beat Everton on 3 May at Celtic Park, the venue determined by Ibrox still being out of commission.

Cathkin was the venue for the final between Celtic and Rangers on 17 June 1902. The late date of this game can be explained by the desire to have the game played as close as possible to the coronation of King Edward VII, which was scheduled for 26 June. In the event, King Edward VII took ill with appendicitis and the coronation had to be postponed until 9 August. The receipts from this final were a very healthy £314, and it took a late header from Jimmy Quinn, in the last minute of extra time, to decide the issue.

Celtic had gone two goals ahead through Jimmy Quinn, but before half time Bob Hamilton had taken full advantage of a goalkeeping fumble to reduce the leeway, then Finlay Speedie equalized for Rangers. The second half saw no further scoring, and when full time came many of the public and the press had gone home, assuming that there would be a replay. But both teams agreed to extra time of ten minutes each way, and Jimmy Quinn scored at the very end.

Celtic: McPherson, Watson, Battles, Loney, Marshall, Orr, Crawford, Campbell, Quinn, McDermott, Hamilton.
Rangers: Dickie, N. Smith, Crawford, Gibson, Stark, Robertson, Lennie, Walker, Hamilton, Speedie, A. Smith.

This triumph was much celebrated by Celtic fans
Some say the Rangers are guid at fitba’
Wi’ Speedie, Gibson and Lennie an a’
But Jimmy Quinn, he diddled them a’
At the Glasgow Exhibition oh!,
but it was very much a Celtic team in transition. They had disappointed their fans by losing the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup in 1902, and the great Celtic team of a few years later had still to assemble.

2. CORONATION CUP

This was a competition held in Glasgow to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was decided by both the English and the Scottish authorities that four teams from each country should be invited to take part. Newcastle United, Arsenal (English league champions), Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur accepted the invitation, as did Hibernian, Rangers (Scottish League and Scottish Cup winners), Celtic and Aberdeen. Blackpool, the winners of the FA Cup, did not take part, nor did Preston North End or Wolves, who finished second and third respectively in the English league.

The Glasgow grounds of Hampden Park and Ibrox were chosen because it was felt that London would be too busy with the coronation itself. Celtic Park would have been big enough but in 1953 the facilities lagged behind those of the other two Glasgow grounds.

The teams chosen were considered to be the best available crowd pullers and Celtic, who had had a poor season, finishing eighth in the Scottish League, were invited to take part only because of the size of their following and the fact that all games were to be played in Glasgow.

Yet they ended up the winners in an epic final against Hibs, in which Johnnie Bonnar, the Celtic goalkeeper, aided by captain Jock Stein, famously defied Hibs ‘Famous Five’ forward line. The whole competition was a pleasant surprise for Scottish teams, particularly Hibs and Celtic, and was well attended throughout. The irony, however, of the Coronation Cup final being played on an occasion when ‘all Hampden was covered in green, white and gold’ rather than the red, white and blue which one might have expected, was not lost on supporters of Celtic and Hibernian. The triumph was celebrated with street parties and “dancing in the streets of the Gorbals”.

Celtic beat Arsenal in the quarter-final at Hampden on 11 May before 59,538 fans through a Bobby Collins goal, while in the other games, Hibs beat Tottenham Hostspur, Manchester United beat Rangers and Newcastle United beat Aberdeen. 73,466 then came to Hampden to see Celtic, with goals from Bertie Peacock and Neil Mochan, beat Manchester United 2-1 while in the other semi-final, Hibs’ “famous five” forward line put Newcastle United to the sword and beat them 4-0.

The final was played on a very pleasant summer evening before a crowd given as 117,060, but with many more locked out of Hampden when the gates were closed, as the east terracing was dangerously over-crowded. Hibs, the form team, who had only narrowly lost the Scottish League on goal average, were expected to win. In addition Hibs had demolished Newcastle United in the semi-final with a breathtaking display of attacking football – but Celtic, strengthened by new signing Neil Mochan, who compensated for the absence of the injured Tully, scored first, then resisted the intense onslaught of the Hibs forward line throughout the second half until a breakaway led to another and decisive goal for Celtic.

And alas for the hopes of our true royal blues
The Celtic beat Manchester and Arsenal too
The Hibs in the final, all lo and behold!
All Hampden was covered in green, white and gold!

The teams were:

Celtic: Bonnar, Haughney, Rollo, Evans, Stein, McPhail, Collins, Walsh, Mochan, Peacock, Fernie
Hibs: Younger, Govan, Paterson, Buchanan, Howie, Combe, Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Ormond.
Referee – H. Phillips, Wishaw

3. LEIGH ROOSE

This remarkable goalkeeper, an amateur who had played for Wales against Scotland at Kilmarnock the week before, played one game for Celtic – and it was a very unfortunate one as Celtic, without Sunny Jim Young and Jimmy McMenemy and of course goalkeeper Davie Adams, went down 1-3 to Clyde at Shawfield in a Scottish Cup semi-final. Leigh distinguished himself by running after Jackie Chalmers when he had scored the third goal for Clyde and shaking him by the hand! This amiable gentleman then returned to Sunderland. Tragically he was killed on the Somme in October 1916.

4. THE BROTHERS MALEY

Willie Maley had three brothers, two of whom played a part in Scottish football. The elder brother Tom, of course, played in Celtic’s first game and at the end of his career became a manager. In 1904 the Maley brothers, as managers, won the Scottish and English Cups. Willie watched Jimmy Quinn score the hat-trick that won the Scottish Cup final on 16 April 1904, and the following week was at the Crystal Palace to see his brother Tom’s Manchester City beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 in the English Cup final.

Tom was sacked from Manchester City in 1906 after an illegal payment scandal but later became manager of Bradford Park Avenue. One of the things he did was to introduce a new strip for Bradford – green and white horizontal stripes! He did a great deal for Celtic on the administrative side, and was widely believed to be the journalist of The Glasgow Observer who was known as “Man In The Know”.

On two occasions Willie Maley faced his younger brother Alec as manager in a Scottish Cup final. One was in 1912 when Alec was manager of Clyde, and the other was in 1923 when Alec had moved on to manage Hibs. On both occasions Willie and Celtic emerged triumphant. Alec was also reputed to be the man who rescued the Scottish Cup from the mob on the occasion of the Hampden Riot in 1909.

5. TOMMY DUFF THE GOALIE

Celtic had no League or Cup game on New Year’s Day 1892 and thus arranged a friendly against Dumbarton so that they could pioneer their goal nets. A few “fringe” player were given a game as well, including goalkeeper Tommy Duff who had played for a few other teams, notably Cowlairs.

He had suffered from rheumatism (a common complaint in Victorian Britain) and was on medication for it. He should not have taken alcohol while he was on such medication, but New Year being New Year, could not resist doing so.

The result was that he turned up for the game less than 100% focussed and gave a performance which was “mediocre in the extreme” in the brilliant meiosis of The Glasgow Observer, and the team lost 0-8 to the incredulous Sons of the Rock. It was of course no disgrace to lose a game to Dumbarton (current Scottish champions) but 8-0 was a bit much, especially when the real reason for Duff’s poor performance became obvious.

Some supporters thought that it was because he was an Orangeman that he had played so poorly, but the truth was a little more basic. At least the deployment of goal nets at Old Celtic Park prevented anyone from having to run after the ball on eight occasions (or actually eleven, because the referee, compassionate and kind-hearted, chalked off another three).

6. EMPIRE EXHIBITION TROPHY

In 38 there was a show
Glasgow was the place to go
A model of the tower was football’s prize.
England sent four of the best
They didn’t meet with much successful
For the trophy ended up in Paradise!

This was a one-off tournament, played between four leading sides of Scotland and four leading sides of England, in late May and early June 1938, to commemorate the Empire Exhibition being held at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. The Exhibition was to be ‘an exposition of the work, life, culture and progress’ of the British Empire, and was a much needed propaganda counterblast to what was coming from Nazi Germany.

As Glasgow, the ‘Second City of the Empire’, was frequently described as the football capital of the world, it was felt that a football tournament between eight invited sides would be a fitting part of the ‘work, culture, life and progress’ of Glasgow. A trophy was commissioned in the image of the Tait Tower, the symbol of the Empire Exhibition. All the games were played at Ibrox, because of its proximity to Bellahouston Park. Sadly, neither Arsenal (the English league winners) nor Preston North End (the FA Cup winners) took part, but the tournament was still hotly contested, and the winners could claim to be the champions of Britain.

Celtic needed a replay to dispose of Sunderland in the quarter-final (3-1 with goals from Johnny Crum and two from John Divers), while Aberdeen, Hearts and Everton were the other winners. Johnny Crum also scored against Hearts in the semi-final (the only goal of the game) before 52,000 fans while Everton squeezed narrowly past Aberdeen.

The final between Celtic and Everton was an epic between two great teams. “Fetch a polis man, Everton’s getting murdered” was the cry of the Celtic fans before the game, but the reality was quite different, for the game was tight and hard-fought, with a winner possible at either end. Celtic had Jimmy Delaney back from injury and his presence was probably crucial, although it was Johnny Crum who broke the deadlock when he scored the only goal of the game after seven minutes of extra time.

Famously, he then ran behind the goal and did a ‘Highland fling’ for the benefit of the fans. He had thus scored in every round. The second half of the game and the extra time was broadcast on radio on the BBC Regional Service, beginning at 7.50 pm, and the commentator was the Sunday Mail journalist Rex Kingsley. Johnny Crum, the hero of the hour, was married the following Wednesday.

It was a triumph much celebrated by Celtic fans, and it is a mystery why the team did not go forward from there. The club’s Golden Jubilee was celebrated a few days later, and it was confidently expected that the ageing Maley would announce his retirement but he failed to do so. The club then had a terrible season in 1938/39 and played through the Second World War with a distinct lack of success, and in was 1951 before a major Scottish honour was again won. So, although this was a great triumph, it also heralded the start of Celtic’s darkest days.

The teams were:

Celtic: Kennaway, Hogg, Morrison, Geatons, Lyon, Paterson, Delaney, MacDonald, Crum, Divers, Murphy
Everton: Sagar, Cook, Greenhalgh, Mercer, Jones, Thomson, Geldard, Cunliffe, Lawton, Stevenson, Boyes
Referee: T.Thomson, Northumberland

7. VERY WEE JIMMY JOHNSTONE

Everyone knew that he was small, and when he played in the first game of the 1963 Scottish Cup Final he impressed and was universally referred to as “wee Jimmy Johnstone”. But the week after that game, Celtic were at Tannadice Park to play Dundee United with the local fans all agog to see “wee Jimmy Johnstone”. A gasp arose from the crowd when a wee red-headed boy ran out with the team. “He’s surely not as small as all that!” No indeed, he wasn’t. This was the three year old mascot with read hair and his green and white strip, accompanying Billy McNeill. The “real” Jimmy Johnstone ran out with the rest of the team. He was still rather small, it had to be said, but a wheen taller than the three year old!

David Potter