As a Celtic fan living in Bournemouth, my time in Scotland can often be restricted to the airport, pubs and matches. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a few days out exploring places of Celtic historical interest in the past though and on my visit last week I decided to bring the car up with me, which allowed for a proper day of history before I went home.
The day started with Patsy Gallacher and ended with Jimmy Johnstone. There were other greats in between.
Firstly, one of my friends (John) who shares an enthusiasm for all things Celtic had said that he wanted to visit family members buried in Arkleston Cemetery (Paisley) on Friday morning. He told me that Patsy Gallacher was buried there and that as the cemetery is small we would have a good chance of finding his grave. I agreed to drive there and take a look. From the pictures, we noticed that Patsy’s grave had two angels on a cross, which made it quite distinctive. It stuck out almost immediately and John found it.
At Patsy Gallacher’s grave this morning.’The mighty Atom’ is one of the greatest Celts and famously scored in the 1925 Cup final with the ball between his feet as he somersaulted into the net.His eldest son,Willie(also a former Celt &Kevin of Dundee utd’s dad) is buried with him pic.twitter.com/sZYXKrdxP7
— Liam Kelly (@cfcliamk96) August 28, 2020
Known as The Mighty Atom, Patsy Gallacher is regarded by many older Celtic fans as the club’s greatest player of all time. Certainly, he has to be considered as one of the best Celts prior to Jinky and the Lisbon Lions. Perhaps James McGrory is the only player who could be placed in the same bracket as him. Indeed, Bob Kelly said of Patsy: “So long as there is a Celtic the name of Patsy Gallacher will be revered, and his sons and their families can rightly be proud of that.”
Born in Donegal, Gallacher moved to Glasgow and caught the eye with Clydebank Juniors. He signed for Celtic in 1911 and immediately became a hero. He was a genius. A dribbler. A terror for defenders. The Celtic support had seen great players and entertainers in the early years, but never anything quite like him. On top of that, he was a hardy man and he had to be, considering that his slight frame only reached 5ft 7in, leading the famous Jimmy Quinn to plead with Willie Maley not to hand him his debut at St Mirren as it would be akin to manslaughter! Patsy proved Jimmy wrong in a glittering career as he dazzled on the wing and never once was bullied by a defender.
Gallacher’s finest and most revered moment in a Celtic shirt came in the 1925 Scottish Cup final, which is now known as the Patsy Gallacher Cup final. It was then that he scored what must be the finest goal in Celtic’s history to equalise against Dundee, who led 1-0. Getting the ball just inside the Dundee half, he rolled past challenge after challenge, before a desperate tackle brought him down inside the six-yard box. Patsy hit the ground and for an instant his brave effort seemed to be at an end, but the ball remained between his feet and he rose to somersault over the opposition and into the net with the ball between his feet! It was the greatest and most crazy goal ever seen. Celtic then went on to win 2-1 thanks to a last minute header from McGrory.
As a person, Patsy Gallacher was a funny character. One great story of the man comes from a rare team trip to a luxury hotel in Dunbar for a period of training and relaxation. The team were put under curfew at night, which was a measure quite ahead of its time. Gallacher, however, wanted a drink and so persuaded a hotel chambermaid to lend him her uniform! Small and slight to look feminine in a woman’s attire, Gallacher walked past his manager (Maley) in the hotel foyer and disappeared through the door that Maley was holding open for “her”. Prepared to go out on the town in drag in 1920s Scotland, he really must have been fond of a drink!
Gallacher was also known for annoying bosses at the shipyards during the war, where he had to work. He was fined for bad time-keeping in the job and because of that he wasn’t allowed to play for Celtic on a Saturday afternoon for eight matches!
Having lost his wife at the age of 35 during the birth of the couple’s sixth child, Patsy had to combine playing for Celtic and working in the shipyards with looking after six children. Working in the shipyards was a dangerous occupation back then too, as shown by his absence from a Celtic match one weekend due to dropping a box of tools on his foot at work!
Despite being one of the greatest players in world football, Celtic treated him as poorly as they did McGrory. Indeed, in the summer of 1926, Willie Maley announced that Patsy Gallacher would be retiring. However, a furious Patsy denied all knowledge of this and subsequently joined Falkirk for £1,500 where he played on for another six years! Speculation at the time suggested that the board wanted to save on Patsy’s wages, which were considerably higher than those of any other Celtic player of the time.
Overall, Patsy Gallacher made 464 appearances for the Bhoys and scored 192 goals. His trophy haul with the club reads as follows: six league titles, four Scottish Cups, four Glasgow Cups and 11 Glasgow Charity Cups. He is an absolute Celtic icon and one of the unquestionable Celtic greats. It was magnificent to see his grave and read the inscription ‘former Celtic & Falkirk player’ on it.
To my shame, what I wasn’t aware of was that Patsy’s eldest son, William, also played for Celtic. I only realised this when I saw the same inscription on the grave beneath William’s name and conducted some frantic research.
William signed for Celtic from St Anthony’s Juniors in 1937. His father didn’t want him to go to Parkhead for fear of the pressure caused by inevitable comparisons to himself. Nevertheless, William made the move, but his Celtic career was in contrast to his father’s. He had to wait until September 1944 to make his debut! However, this was no issue for William, who stated: “I learned my game as a ball boy at Celtic Park. Bright prospects should be made ball boys, the apprentice as close as possible to the journeyman.”
William was an assured inside-right, though he lacked the pace or trickery of his father. He was very different from Patsy physically too. He was well built, tall and imposing. Like Patsy, William played for Celtic during wartime, but WW2 was much less successful than WW1 at Parkhead. After the war, Celtic were in dire straits as well. In 1947/48, the club were almost relegated and made sure of survival with a victory over Dundee. Incredibly, Dundee fielded William’s brother Tommy that day and the pair played against each other, in a match that Patsy was present to watch.
Despite Celtic being a bigger club, Tommy lifted the League Cup trophy in 1951 and 1952, whilst he also finished in higher league positions than his brother. In total, Willie would make 57 appearances for the Hoops, scoring 8 goals. His appearances were restricted due to joining the Royal Engineers during the War and that robbed him of his peak football years.
Like his father, Willie joined Falkirk in 1949 after being released by Celtic. Falkirk had finished above Celtic in the league that season though, so this wasn’t really a step down.
Incredibly, the Gallacher connection with Celtic didn’t end there as it was Willie Gallacher’s son, Kevin Gallacher, who opened the scoring for Dundee United in the famous 1988 Scottish Cup final as Celtic celebrated its centenary season. In October 2019, on behalf of the family it was also Kevin Gallacher who received the Scottish Hall of Fame award for the great Patsy Gallacher.
The Mighty Atom was a special man and it was phenomenal to share notes and research at his graveside last week. I hope that you have enjoyed these stories about a wonderful Celtic family.
We left Arkleston Cemetery and headed to Barrhead, where we explored more early Celtic stars. Join for part 2 of my journey later this evening.
Liam Kelly