And they gave us James McGrory and Willie Hughes

Part 4: And they gave us James McGrory…and Willie Hughes

In the first part of this article, I mentioned how the publication of my Copenhagen Diary on The Celtic Star recently had prompted an old friend, Paddy, to get in touch. He wanted to show me a couple of photographs, containing Celtic autographs of the past, which had been in his possession for years. Paddy was looking for some information, background or context for these items.

Part one of this story covered the autographed sheet from 1937/38, compiled before the transfer of Willie Buchan and retiral of Jimmy McGrory pre-Christmas 1937, with the only question remaining as to how it had come about that the Celtic team, or representatives of the club, were in Kingussie in the Scottish Highlands, around that time. I’ll revisit that specific point in the final part of the story.

Parts two and three then looked at the second item submitted by Paddy, an undated sheet containing the signatures of twenty men, some very famous and others unknown to me, however, all clearly associated with Celtic. This photograph had also been handed to the lady whose family owned the Star Hotel in Kingussie, albeit we then established that this special piece of Celtic memorabilia related to a group several years before that championship-winning team of 1937/38. The mystery deepens.

We’ve now reviewed the careers of fourteen of the twenty individuals on the second set of autographs and, through a process of elimination, narrowed the timeframe down to sometime after the debut of young Hugh O’Donnell, in September 1932, and the departure of skipper Jimmy McStay in spring 1934. Eat your heart out, Columbo.

Part three of this series covered the Celtic career of Peter McGonagle, with one of the more poignant tributes after his death in 1956 coming from another name on the list, former trainer, Jack Qusklay.

John Anthony Qusklay was born in Dundee on 11 December 1902, the family name of Quaskaly being amended at some stage following their arrival from Ireland, as often happened. My own maternal great-grandfather was christened McKeown, before adopting the ‘more Scottish’ McEwan, around the same time. Known as ‘Jack’, Qusklay became a trainer at Dundee United in 1927, the Tannadice club, ironically, having changed their own name from Dundee Hibernian, just four years earlier. He left United to pick up a similar role at Celtic in April 1932, remaining there for two seasons, a contemporary and colleague of Jimmy ‘Napoleon’ McMenemy, both assisting the ageing Willie Maley with the team.

On leaving Parkhead, Qusklay would set up a private physiotherapy practice in his native city, whilst also coaching at Dens Park. In 1937, he became Director of Physical Education at University College, Dundee, a role he would hold until his retirement more than thirty years later, in 1968. At that time, the college formed part of the University of St Andrews, and one of the star players in the football team Jack coached there during the war was student Danny Blanchflower, later to become the captain of the great Tottenham Hotspur side of the early-sixties, the first club that century to win the Double.

As a slight digression, two of Jimmy McMenemy’s sons would also feature prominently in the Celtic story, both in the 1920’s and beyond. Yet another product of junior club, St Roch’s, John McMenemy would make his Celtic debut in a 4-1 defeat by Falkirk at Brockville on Wednesday, 6 April 1927, a game where the most famous Garngad graduate of them all, McGrory, suffered an injury which would end his season, ruling him out of the Scottish Cup Final against East Fife, ten days later.

McMenemy would then score his first goal in the Hoops three days later, against Qusklay’s United at Tannadice, in a 3-3 draw. The following Saturday, he would enjoy his first taste of victory as a Celt and would win a Scottish Cup medal as a reward, following Celtic’s 3-1 win over the Second Division Fifers at Hampden. Not a bad way to complete your first ten days as a Celtic first-team player, John.

Strangely, John would make only eighteen appearances for Celtic in total, before joining Motherwell in 1928. However, this would prove a shrewd move, as he became a key part of the best side ever to wear the claret and amber, playing against Celtic in the 1931 and 1933 Scottish Cup Finals.

His 20th minute strike put the Steelmen 2-0 up in the club’s first final, in April 1931, a lead they held until eight minutes from time, before McGrory, then a Craig own goal in the dying seconds, forced an unlikely replay, which the Bhoys would win 4-2, with doubles from Bertie Thomson and, of course, McGrory.

Two years later, Jimmy McGrory, would score the only goal of the 1933 cup final. Motherwell must have been sick of the sight of him by then. By way of consolation, they would claim their only League title in the season between those games, 1931/32, thanks mainly to Willie McFadyen and his 52 goals.

As John’s Motherwell side were winning that 1932 championship, another of Jimmy’s sons, Harry, was winning the FA Cup at Wembley with Newcastle United, beating Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal. Whilst a third son, Joe, who played at junior level, is allegedly the man who saved Sean Fallon’s sister from drowning in Sligo, an event which would perhaps trigger the Iron Man’s lifelong devotion to Celtic FC.

Anyway, back to the original story.

The inclusion of Jack Qusklay confirms the photo timeframe as between 1932-34. There are five names remaining from the list. All players, who are perhaps not so famous or familiar. I’ll look at them in turn.

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Defender John Boyle’s introduction reduces the timescale yet further, as he only signed for Celtic from junior outfit, Bathgate, in February 1933. With Jimmy McStay leaving in spring of the following year, it is more than likely that the names on the list represented Celtic in season 1933/34.

As Maley’s latest attempt to provide cover for the injured Jock Morrison at left-back, John would have to wait more than three years to make his debut, a 5-0 victory over Queen of the South at Celtic Park on Saturday, 22 August 1936. The 22-year-old would impress the manager sufficiently to remain in the side for the next five matches, until Morrison’s return in mid-September. He would then shift across to right-back, to make an appearance beside Jock on Hallowe’en at Gayfield Park, Arbroath, before an injury crisis saw him play three games in the lead-up to the 1937 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen.

Both Bobby Hogg and Morrison would be in their normal positions for that record-breaking match at Hampden, with John Boyle making one final appearance in the Hoops in a 2-1 defeat at Rugby Park on Saturday, 28 August 1937, just over a year after his debut. He was freed at the end of that season and joined Hibernian on 6 June 1938, whilst his former teammates prepared for the Empire Exhibition Cup Final.

The Celtic career of Willie Hughes throws up a few surprises, as he played for the club for nine seasons and made over a century of appearances in the Hoops, yet remains largely unknown, speaking from a personal perspective anyway.

Like his aforementioned colleague, John Boyle, Willie would sign from Bathgate, in his case in March 1929, as Maley continued his search for a worthy successor to the incredible Adam McLean, perhaps the greatest Celtic outside-left of all time. McLean had left for Sunderland the previous August, having scored 153 goals in 433 games in twelve seasons at Parkhead.

Willie would make his Hoops debut that same month, featuring on the left-wing in a 2-0 home win over Motherwell, with Paddy Connolly and Peter Scarff scoring for the Bhoys. Celtic would then play their remaining five home games that season at Shawfield, home of neighbours Clyde, after a fire on the night of Thursday, 28 March 1929 destroyed the old Pavilion on Janefield Street. With the iconic but no-longer-suitable Grant Stand demolished, and the current main stand under construction, the Hoops had little option but to decant across the river.

Hughes would retain his place for seven of the final eight games of the season, missing the Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat at Rugby Park but scoring his first goals for Celtic in the League victories over Falkirk at Shawfield, then away to Kilmarnock.

He would reappear, at left-back, in November of that year, for a 2-1 win over Cowdenbeath at Celtic Park, then left-half against St Mirren the following month and right-back at Pittodrie in January 1930. The epitome of a utility player, sometimes a blessing but often a curse, Willie would be back for a run in the team at outside-left from February, before partnering Peter McGonagle at full-back for his final appearance of that season, against Partick Thistle at Celtic Park, on Saturday, 5 April 1930.

That pattern would repeat itself over the coming campaigns, with further games at centre-forward thrown in for good measure. He would enjoy a good spell back on the left-flank in March 1931, his three goals in four games including one in the 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final victory over Kilmarnock at Hampden, however, Charlie Napier would reclaim his spot for the two dramatic Final matches with Motherwell.

Willie would be part of Celtic’s cup-winning squad which embarked on the nine-day Atlantic crossing for the club’s poignant tour of the eastern American seaboard in May, sitting out the first five games, including the 1-0 defeat by Fall River in Mark’s Stadium, Rhode Island, on the last day of the month, where John Thomson and Joe Kennaway would face each other for the first and, sadly, only occasion. Hughes would be on the left wing for the sixth tour match, a 5-0 victory over Brooklyn Wanderers at Ebbets Field, on Sunday, 7 June 1931, apparently ‘flooring’ an opponent in a roughhouse which saw Jimmy McGrory leave the field with twenty minutes remaining, nursing a broken jaw. Only after he had scored twice, right enough, McGrory being McGrory.

Willie (missing from he picture above) retained his place for the next game, scoring in a 7-0 win over Montreal Carsteel, Peter Scarff, wearing a green dress shirt borrowed from a spectator, such was the dearth of kit available, deputising for McGrory in every way, by netting five of the goals. The following day, the same team drew 1-1 with New York Hakoah in Upper Manhattan, Charlie Napier and Scarff dismissed, as were Hungarian internationalists, Bela Guttman and Rudolph Nikolsburger, in another brawl of a game. Guttman would go on to become one of the all-time great managers, winning national titles in Hungary (with Ujpest & Honved), Portugal (Porto & Benfica) and Uruguay (Penarol).

He would also win two European Cups whilst in Lisbon, the first coach to break Real Madrid’s five-year stranglehold on the tournament, two play-off goals from Santos star, Pele, denying him the chance to add the South American version, Copa Libertadores, with Penarol in 1962.

Hughes was on the scoresheet the following week, scoring Celtic’s fourth goal in a 6-3 win against the exotically-named Chicago Bricklayers & Masons (no punchlines please!) then again four days later with the opener in a 5-0 defeat of Michigan All-Stars in Detroit, believed to be Celtic’s first floodlit match.* (*Alternative reports of the game in Detroit credit the first goal to either Joe McGhee or Peter Scarff).

Willie would sit out the 3-1 victory over Ulster United in Toronto, then return for the grudge match at Yankee Stadium, on Sunday, 28 June 1931, Celts looking for revenge following their 4-3 defeat by the Yankees at Fenway Park, Boston, four weeks earlier, their first loss of the tour. And they would get it, with a 4-1 win, thanks to a brace from Charlie Napier and one each from Bertie and Alec Thomson.

The thirteenth and final game of the club’s gruelling tour of the USA and Canada would take place in Baltimore the next day, a hastily-arranged replacement for the planned fixture in Newark, New Jersey, which the American football association had refused to sanction for some reason. Hughes would again be on target for Celtic in Maryland, in another 4-1 win, this time over the Canton Soccer Club.

Two days later, on Wednesday, 1 July 1931, the Celtic party would depart New York City to commence the long sail home. The weary group which would eventually disembark at Yorkhill Quay would be lighter by one, Jimmy McGrory dropped off in Moville, County Donegal, for the biggest match of his life, his wedding to Veronica Green. The newlywed couple would only enjoy a decade or so together, before Veronica died suddenly, during a routine medical procedure. A broken-hearted Jimmy would later remarry, in 1946, to Barbara Schoning, with whom he would later be blessed with three children.

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Broken hearts would become a feature at Celtic Park in the decade to follow the North American tour.

In the aftermath of John Thomson’s tragic death at Ibrox on 5 September 1931, Willie Hughes would be reintroduced to the grief-stricken Celtic side, replacing Jimmy McGrory as attacking spearhead a fortnight later, opening the scoring then gaining a penalty, which Charlie Napier converted, in the 3-3 draw with Morton at Cappielow. John Falconer had the horrendous task of replacing the spirit of The Prince in the visiting goal, as he had in making his debut the previous Saturday, against Queen’s Park, perhaps the saddest introduction ever to the Celtic first team, in the 2-2 draw at a silent Parkhead. The youngster would do his bit by saving a spot kick, which would ultimately win a point in Greenock.

This was previously covered  on The Celtic Star article in my article of 5 September 2018, ‘A familiar face was missing…’?

Falconer would actually face Rangers three times in his first seven games for the club, within a month of his debut, fracturing his finger during the last of those, on Wednesday, 7 October 1931.

John had excelled in a nine-year career at Cowdenbeath, once saving three penalties at Easter Road then another from Everton great, Dixie Dean, whilst representing the Scottish League against their English equivalents at Ibrox, in 1928.

Later that year, Falconer suffered a broken kneecap at Tynecastle, which effectively ended his career in Fife. He had only signed for Celtic on 15 August 1931, three weeks before the death of John Thomson, thrust into a limelight he would no doubt rather have avoided.

With the arrival of Joe Kennaway in October 1931, his opportunities would be few and far between, a home defeat by Partick Thistle in November then a three-game winning run in January 1932, the highlight of his Celtic career, would be his final outings for the club. He would remain as an unused deputy for Kennaway until the end of the following season, before being released in spring 1933.

Willie Hughes had not featured in the Celtic sides which beat Falkirk 4-1, a return to Parkhead for the peerless Patsy Gallacher, five years after his acrimonious departure from the club, then drew 1-1 with Rangers at the same venue in the semi-final of the Glasgow Cup, Sam English winning a penalty for the visitors after an innocuous challenge from Peter McGonagle, Marshall converting for the equaliser.

October 1931 would commence with Willie on the left-wing for the 3-2 victory at Kilmarnock then at left-half for the visit to Ibrox for the Glasgow Cup semi-final replay three days later, Tuesday, 6 October 1931, just one month after John’s fatality at the same ground. A miskick by Rangers centre-half, Jimmy Simpson, allowed Jimmy McGrory to score a last-minute equaliser, the game finishing 2-2.

Simpson had moved to Ibrox from Dundee United in 1927, following the Tannadice club’s relegation from the top-flight, perhaps briefly crossing paths with Jack Qusklay, who arrived on Tayside the same year. He would then go on to play around 300 times for Rangers, winning fourteen Scotland caps in the process. It seems poignant that Jimmy Simpson would have played in the match on 5 September 1931, when the Celtic goalkeeper lost his life, when you consider that his son would go on to become a Parkhead legend between the sticks. Jimmy was ‘Faither’s Faither’, the dad of Lisbon Lion Ronnie, my first hero. God bless him.

Simpson senior would enjoy more luck the following night at the same venue, Rangers having won the toss for choice of grounds, a first-half header from Jimmy Smith (remember him?), deciding the second replay, the Ibrox defender earning praise in the press for his effective marking job on Jimmy McGrory.

Willie Hughes had been moved across to right-half three days later, Saturday, 10 October 1931, when he scored Celtic’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Clyde at Parkhead, 19-year-old Joe Coen the latest man to play between the sticks for the Bhoys, with broken-finger victim, John Falconer, on the sidelines and new signing, Joe Kennaway, still making his way from Canada.

Signed from Clydebank, Joe Coen would manage just three appearances for Celtic before being released at the end of the season. He would eventually become first-choice at Luton Town but sadly, just like John Thomson, he would be taken far too soon. Joe was killed in an air accident in October 1941, whilst training to be a fighter pilot, still several weeks short of his thirtieth birthday. Rest in peace, Joe.

Utility-man Hughes was then shifted across to left wing-half the following Saturday, for the 2-0 defeat at Dens Park, McGrory again struggling to free himself from the shackles of a future Ibrox icon, Dundee centre-half, Scot Symon. He would play in the Rangers team of the late thirties with Jimmy Simpson, later winning fifteen trophies as their manager in the fifties and sixties.

In the debit column, Symon would oversee two of the Ibrox club’s greatest humiliations, the 7-1 Hampden in the Sun defeat by Celtic, in the League Cup Final of October 1957, and the shock Scottish Cup defeat at Berwick, almost a decade later, having become the first Rangers manager to suffer from comparisons with Jock Stein. Nevertheless, it was still a shock when Scot Symon was sacked as Rangers manager in November 1967, replaced by the young Clyde boss David White, at a time when the Govan club were top of the table.

Willie was replaced by Peter Scarff in the side for the visit of Ayr United, on Saturday, 24 October 1931. Unbeknown at that time, this would be a significant and ultimately sad day for the incoming Celt. A double from outside-left Joe McGhee and goals from Jimmy McGrory and Charlie Napier had helped the Hoops to a 4-2 victory, although Peter had not lasted the ninety minutes, withdrawn early as he was struggling to breathe. He would continue to turn out for his beloved Hoops over the coming weeks, however, following the 6-0 home victory over Leith Athletic on Saturday, 19 December 1931, he coughed up blood after the game, Peter later diagnosed as suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. He would never play again.

After battling the illness formerly known as consumption for two years, he passed away on 9 December 1933, just 25 years old, Willie Maley placing a Celtic jersey on his coffin. A Peter Scarff CSC was established in his honour in his birthplace, Linwood, in 1947. It runs to this day.

Both Hughes and Scarff would be accommodated in the team which faced League leaders Motherwell at Fir Park on Hallowe’en, 1931. This would mark the Hoops debut of Joe Kennoway, the game ending 2-2, with Charlie Napier grabbing a brace. Willie Hughes would then face a two-month spell on the sidelines, his next appearance coming on Boxing Day, as a Celtic side minus the struggling Peter Scarff ended the club’s own annus horribilis of 1931 with a shock 1-0 defeat by Dundee United at Tannadice.

Willie Hughes would feature in seven of Celtic’s first eight games of 1932, defeats to Rangers, Hamilton Academical and Falkirk ending any remaining hopes of clinching a first league title in six years, the Ibrox club and Motherwell left to fight it out for the flag, a race the Steelmen would ultimately win. He did manage to score in the 2-0 victory over Aberdeen at Parkhead on Saturday, 9 January 1932, however, his goal that day was dwarved by the eight he notched five days earlier at the same venue, as a Celtic and Falkirk Select beat a Scottish League eleven 10-7 in a testimonial for Patsy Gallacher. Almost four years to the day, the great McGrory, for whom Hughes often deputised, would repeat his feat in a 9-0 League victory over Dunfermline Athletic on that same Parkhead pitch, to create history.

Hughes would make ten appearances in the following campaign, four of those in the ultimately-successful Scottish Cup run, which would end with a second victory over Motherwell at Hampden in just three seasons, thanks to a goal from Guess Who. A 4-2 League defeat by the Steelmen at Fir Park in March, all four scored by the prolific McFadyen, had seen Willie’s best run in the team end at seven, albeit he did feature in the final League match of the season, a 3-0 defeat at Dens Park. Uniquely, for Willie, all of his appearances had been at left-half. On the flipside, he had failed to score a single goal.

Season 1933/34 would prove to be the pinnacle of Willie Hughes’ career at Celtic Park. He was a virtual ever-present in the side, making 41 appearances in all, mostly at left-half, albeit scoring his solitary goal that season, against Airdrieonians in December, during a brief spell back on the left wing.

During that summer, another chapter of his unique story would unfold, as he married his sweetheart, Bride Kelly, daughter of James, Celtic’s first superstar and chairman of the club until his death two years earlier, and sister of Bob, the current Parkhead director and future supremo.

Back on the field, Hughes remained a fixture in the side as the ‘34/35 campaign began, scoring Celtic’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Rangers at Parkhead in September, until a 2-1 defeat by Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill, at the end of that month, following which young George Paterson would make that position his own. Willie would only appear in three meaningless games in April, as a deputy for Charlie Napier, all of which Celts won.

Hughes would make just five further appearances for Celtic, in three different positions of course, over the next two seasons. On Saturday, 28 December 1935, after eight months on the sidelines, he was one of two changes in the Celtic eleven chosen to face Hamilton Academical at Douglas Park. Willie replaced Jimmy McGrory, the great man having, presumably, suffered an injury during his record-breaking hat-trick performance in the previous week’s 5-3 victory over Aberdeen at Celtic Park, as featured in the previous part of this story.

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The other introduction to the Celtic team who beat the Accies that day, goalkeeper Jim Foley, is worthy of mention. The Cork-born stopper had stepped in for Joe Kennaway, to make his second appearance between the posts, following his debut against Airdrieonians two months earlier, Saturday 19 October 1935, at Celtic Park. McGrory’s double in the Hoops’ 4-0 win that autumn afternoon had seen him beat Steve Bloomer’s British goalscoring record of 352, whilst another name from the autograph list, John Connor, led the Broomfield club’s attack against his old side and fellow Garngad man, McGrory. More to follow on John Connor in the final part of this story.

Jim Foley had played for Belfast Celtic before winning the FAI Cup with his hometown team, Cork FC, on St Patrick’s Day, 1934, two days shy of his twentieth birthday. The opponents of the former Ford’s work team at Dalymount Park that day had been Dublin’s, St James’s Gate, the first winners of the cup some twelve years earlier and definitely now my favourite Irish side, given the brewery they represent.

Two months later, the red-haired goalkeeper, nicknamed ‘The Fox’, already capped twice for the Irish Free State team, against Belgium and the Netherlands, moved to Glasgow as the deputy for Kennaway.

Jim would make a further three appearances for the national side, in defeats by Hungary, Switzerland and Germany, the National Socialist German Workers Party (to give them their full title) swastika emblem displayed ominously in the latter’s flag, before taking his Hoops bow. He would claim a clean sheet against Airdrieonians and another in Lanarkshire, as goals from Celtic’s ‘Two Williams’, Buchan and the aforementioned Hughes, earned the Bhoys a 2-0 victory. Foley would then play against Rangers at Celtic Park on New Year’s Day 1936, the 4-3 defeat which would sadly prove to be Peter McGonagle’s final match for the club, the 2-0 victory over St Johnstone at the same venue, three days later, then the McGrory-inspired 5-0 home romp over Queen of the South the following Saturday, for an impressive record of four clean sheets from five games.

Whilst the youngster could be pleased with his introduction to the team, the return to fitness of Joe Kennaway saw the big Canadian regain the gloves for the visit to Albion Rovers on Saturday, 18 January 1936. He would remain between the posts as Celtic won its first championship title in a decade, with Jimmy McGrory netting an all-time club seasonal record of 50 League goals in the process.

With the continued excellence of Kennaway, Jim Foley would play just two more games in the Celtic first team, both 3-1 wins away from home in the last week of August 1936. A midweek victory over Third Lanark at Cathkin in the Glasgow Cup was followed by a trip to Cliftonhill three days later in the League, Albion Rovers providing the opposition for Foley’s last-ever top-flight Celtic appearance.

On the same day, 7,000 fans had turned up to see Mohammed Salim play for Celtic’s reserve side in a Scottish Alliance fixture at Parkhead. Curiosity would be the key here, as Salim did not wear football boots, preferring to turn out with his feet protected by bandages. In other news, which would interest Celtic Saddos of the day, William ‘Dixie’ Dean, Everton’s McGrory, equalled Steve Bloomer’s English League record of 352 goals, the old British mark passed by the Celtic legend fourteen months earlier.

The Scottish Alliance had served as an early 20th-century version of what we would know as a Reserve League these days. The ‘A’ teams from Scottish League clubs were supplemented by the first-choice elevens from a number of non-League sides, such as Ayrshire’s Galston, in the game referred to above. Celtic had taken part from 1919-22, winning in it in that final season, then again from 1930. It would be back to these fixtures for Jim Foley, following Joe Kennaway’s return from injury. This would have unexpected but severe consequences for the young Irishman.

Jim would gain his sixth international cap in the 5-2 victory at Dublin’s Dalymount Park over Germany on Saturday, 17 October 1936, as Hitler basked in the glory of his Berlin Olympic Games that summer, and the world looked on and wondered. The following month, he was part of the Celtic side which faced the Hearts ‘A’ side at Tynecastle in an Alliance fixture. Foley was subjected to a torrent of racist and sectarian abuse from ‘fans’ behind his goal at the Gorgie Road end. I’m sure you have the picture, the same stuff that James McLean gets today. At one point, he retrieved the ball from the track then, depending on what version you believe, volleyed the ball off a wall and/or into the crowd. Cue bedlam. In the ensuing melee, Foley was headbutted by a spectator, one of many who had invaded the pitch to attack the Celtic keeper.

What happened next borders on the farcical. A Hearts fan claimed that he had been ‘momentarily hurt by a glancing blow’, and Foley was charged with assault, ‘by kicking a football deliberately and with great force in his direction’.

Despite evidence to the contrary, including the word of teammates, John Doyle and Bertie Duffy, and requests from Foley’s King’s Counsel to dismiss the charge on the grounds of triviality, with ‘no question of injury having been inflicted’, Jim was convicted and fined £2, as an alternative to a 20-day custodial sentence. It was a strange interpretation of Scottish justice. Sadly, for whatever reason, he would not be the last red-haired Irish Celt to be assaulted in the Gorgie stadium.

By the time of his sentence, Jim Foley was a Plymouth Argyle player, having been sold within a month of the Tynecastle incident, on Hogmanay 1936. He would make 41 appearances in a two-year spell in Devon before returning to his native Cork in February 1938.

Foley would enjoy as much luck initially back home as he had in the Edinburgh court back in 1936, his old club Cork FC going into voluntary liquidation the very month he arrived, then the new entity created to replace it, Cork City, going the same way two years later. The sequence would continue, with yet another new club formed in 1940, calling themselves Cork United. This third side from the Rebel County would enjoy great success during the decade, winning five Irish titles and two FAI Cups, defeating Waterford United in 1941 and Bohemians just before Foley retired in 1947. The club would survive just one more season before going the way of its predecessors in October 1948. Sadly, Jim would not last much longer, becoming yet another to die before his time four years later. He was only 38 when he passed in October 1952.

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On the same day that Foley left Celtic for Plymouth, Everton signed a 17-year-old centre forward from Burnley called Tommy Lawton, as plans to replace the great Dixie Dean commenced. By June 1938, when he lined up against Celtic at Ibrox in the final of the Empire Exhibition Cup, Tommy Lawton would be both first-choice striker at Goodison and the top goalscorer in the English First Division. His Everton teammates that day included two familiar names, Willie Cook and Joe Mercer.

Mercer would become famous to football fans of my vintage as the manager who delivered the English title to Manchester City back in 1968, that side of Colin Bell, Francis Lee and co competing with the Best, Law and Charlton offering of former Maine Road hero Matt Busby, across the city at Old Trafford.

Coleraine-born Cook had joined Celtic in February 1930 from Port Glasgow juniors, as a potential successor to Willie McStay, quickly establishing himself in the Hoops defensive triumvirate of the time, beside John Thomson and Peter McGonagle. The trio would enjoy the thrilling Scottish Cup replay win over Motherwell in April 1931, before embarking on the North American tour that summer.

On 5 September 1931, Willie Cook would be the closest player to the incident between his goalkeeper and Sam English, as the young Celt tragically lost his life. One year on, he would wear Ireland’s green to make his Six Counties debut beside English, in the 4-0 defeat by Scotland at Windsor Park, Belfast. Jimmy McGrory, another who played at Ibrox that horrible day, scoring the second goal for the Scots. Who writes these scripts?

Three months later, on 30 December 1932, Willie Cook left Celtic to sign for Everton, where he would win the FA Cup in his first season, following a 3-0 victory over a Manchester City side featuring Matt Busby and Wembley Wizard, Jimmy McMullan. Beside Cook and Dixie Dean in the Toffees’ line-up was another hero of Scotland’s famous 5-1 victory over England in 1928, Jimmy Dunn. Dunn had been in the Hibernian team beaten in successive Scottish Cup Finals by Celtic at Ibrox in 1923, with the McStay brothers in the Hoops and the Maley siblings Alex and Willie in opposing dugouts, then an Airdrie team featuring another Wembley hero, Hughie Gallacher, at Hampden the following year. It would be third time lucky for Dunn, who scored Everton’s third, after Dixie Dean had made it 2-0 in the second half. Everton’s first goal, their first-ever at Wembley, was also scored by Scot, Coatbridge-born Jimmy Stein.

Cook would make over 200 appearances for Everton before the outbreak of the Second World War effectively ended his top-flight career. Following the Empire Exhibition defeat at the hands of his old club, Celtic, in June 1938, his Everton side would go on to claim the English title that season, his last. The quality of the two English sides beaten by Celtic in that tournament, Len Shackleton’s Sunderland and Tommy Lawton’s Everton, is often very much under-appreciated, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, once again, I digress. (You don’t say? – Ed!)

Back in Glasgow in January 1936, Willie Hughes had missed out on the 4-3 Ne-erday defeat by Rangers, as Peter McGonagle played his last match in the Hoops. With Jock Morrison moved to full-back to cover for the out-of-favour McGonagle, Willie returned at left-half for the visit of St Johnstone, three days later, Celts winning 2-0 with goals from Frank Murphy and a late Willie Lyon penalty.

Hughes would then drop out of the side again until the end of February, before making his final appearances in a 3-2 win at Hampden, Jimmy McGrory scoring twice against his future chairman, Desmond White, the Queen’s Park goalkeeper, and the 4-0 victory over Clyde at Shawfield. He would score his last goal for the club in the win over the Bully Wee, played on my late ‘Leap Year Baby’ godfather’s birthday, Saturday, 29 February 1936. He was the man who accompanied my dad to Lisbon, and his last trip to see Celtic was even more emotional, determined to make his way to the Camp Nou in March 2008 despite knowing he had just months to live. A real superstar. I hope you enjoyed a very special, heavenly 21st birthday recently, Uncle Robert.

Celtic would go on to claim their first League title in a decade at the end of that season, with Hughes looking on from the sidelines. He played his final match in the Hoops on Saturday, 19 August 1936, at left-back in a 2-1 defeat by St Johnstone at Muirton Park, Willie Buchan with Celtic’s solitary goal.

Within a month, on 22 September 1936, Willie Hughes had moved across the river to join Clyde. In his first game against Celtic for his new club, the Scottish Cup semi-final at Ibrox on Saturday, 3 April 1937, there was another amusing anecdote involving the player. The legend is that left-back Hughes was doing such a great job of marking his player, Celtic outside-right, Jimmy Delaney, that an irate Hoops fan ran onto the pitch and withheld the ball from Willie until he had been chastised for the difficult time he was giving the Cleland maestro. Celts would win 2-0 in front of 76,000 to qualify for the final later that month against Aberdeen, where almost double that crowd would pack into Hampden.

Willie would play twice at left-back against Celtic for Clyde in 1937/38 then at inside-left for Arbroath at Celtic Park on Saturday, 1 April 1939. I guess some things never changed where he was concerned.

Unlike most of the heroes in my story, Willie did enjoy a long life following his retirement from the game, outliving two wives before passing away on New Year’s Day 1996, by then in his 87th year.

Thanks, as always, to the Celtic Wiki, a wonderful source of reference information.

Hail Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue

Matt Corr’s first Celtic book is titled Invincible will be published shortly by The Celtic Star.

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