As well as recalls for Danny Dawson and John Fitzsimons, that would mean a debut for Uddingston-born keeper, Tom Doyle, in the Hoops goal. All three youngsters would acquit themselves well, The Scotsman reporting that Doyle ‘executed a masterly save from Yardley, turning a cartwheel in doing so’. Sadly, the experienced hosts would prove far too strong for the makeshift Hoops on the night. Thirds legend, Jimmy Carabine hit the crossbar from the penalty spot, when conversion would have established a 5-1 lead, Jimmy Yardley having previously scored twice, with Willie Buchan scoring a late consolation goal, his second of the match, to enable Celts to escape with a rather-flattering 4-2 defeat.
John Fitzsimons would play just one more game for Celtic after that night, almost exactly one year later, on Saturday, 26 March 1938, for the visit of Ayr United. He again replaced Frank Murphy, who had been injured in the 1-1 home draw with Third Lanark the previous week. At left-back that day, making his one and only first-team appearance in the Hoops, was a young man with a name associated with Celtic from the early years. Not to be confused with the Irish patriot who laid the first sod of turf on the present Celtic Park back in August 1892, full-back Michael Davitt was nearing three years at the club since his arrival from junior side, St Francis in June 1935.
He would emerge with credit, as would John Fitzsimons, as Celtic eased ever closer to a second title in three seasons with another point, following a second consecutive 1-1 draw, Malcolm MacDonald equalising just before half-time. In a curious twist, the Ayr United striker that day was Jimmy Yardley, who had scored twice for Third Lanark in John’s previous match in the Hoops twelve months earlier.
And as a ‘Celtic trivia’ footnote to Michael’s Parkhead career, his granddaughter would become Mrs Gerry Britton several decades later, after marrying the prolific reserve striker, currently chief executive across the city at Partick Thistle.
Whilst Michael Davitt would remain on the sidelines at the ground even beyond the outbreak of war, John Fitzsimons would be on his way within a month, freed by Celtic at the end of April before joining Second Division Alloa Athletic on 20 June 1938.
He would help his new club gain promotion in his first season at Recreation Park, albeit the war would end that campaign after just five games, in September 1939, with the new Regional Leagues introduced the following month. After leaving Alloa in 1940, Fitzsimons would spend two seasons at Clyde then enjoy a four-year spell at Falkirk from July 1942. John surely created an unique record, by appearing three times in twelve months against his old Celtic colleagues whilst with three different clubs, scoring twice.
He would play for Falkirk against Celtic at Brockville on Saturday, 2 November 1946, as the Scottish League resumed after a seven-year absence, scoring the Bairns’ goal in a 4-1 defeat, then, having moved to Hamilton Academical on 21 December, he appeared in their line-up at Celtic Park seven days later, as the green-and-white Hoops won 2-1.
John then signed up for a second stint with Clyde for the 1947/48 season, scoring the second goal for the Bully Wee in a 2-0 win over Celtic at Shawfield on Saturday, 18 October 1947. A Clyde teammate of John’s that day would be Billy McPhail, whilst Billy’s brother John, lined up for Celtic. John McPhail would score a hat-trick for Celtic against Rangers at Hampden in the Glasgow Charity Cup Final on Saturday, 6 May 1950, the ‘Danny Kaye’ Final, where the Tommy Gemmell-lookalike celebrity from Hollywood was introduced to the teams and the 81,000 crowd before McPhail’s treble secured a 3-2 victory and some much-needed silverware.
And ‘Hooky’ was on target at the national stadium again the following April, with the winning goal for Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final of 1951, Jimmy McGrory’s first major honour as the Celtic manager. It must have run in the family. Billy McPhail would score five goals in two successive League Cup finals from October 1956, as Celts won the trophy for the first time then repeated the feat the following season, against Partick Thistle then Rangers. Billy’s hat-trick against the Ibrox side in the 7-1 ‘Hampden in the Sun’ League Cup Final victory of Saturday, 19 October 1957 remains the stuff of Parkhead legend to this day. The McPhail brothers remained the only siblings to both score trebles in this fixture before the liquidation of Rangers in 2012. And they both did it in Hampden cup finals before crowds in excess of 80,000. Wonderful stuff. If Carlsberg did brothers…
John Fitzsimmons would feature for the last time against Celtic on Saturday, 31 January 1948 in a 0-0 draw with Clyde at Celtic Park, as the home side continued their one and only battle against relegation. He would retire from playing at the end of that season then re-join Celtic in 1953 as the club doctor, working alongside his old teammate, Jimmy McGrory, now the manager at Parkhead. He would remain in that role for more than three decades, part of Jock Stein’s management team which looked after the all-conquering sides of the sixties and beyond, with Lisbon the highlight. A highly-respected physician, Fitzsimons was appointed as Scotland’s team doctor in 1970, attending the World Cup Finals of West Germany, Argentina and Spain in that capacity, the latter again under Stein in 1982.
Off the field, he had worked tirelessly for over 40 years supporting the annual Lourdes pilgrimages, his efforts recognised and rewarded by being made a Papal Knight by Pope Paul VI in 1976. John retired in 1987 but suffered from Alzheimer’s in later years, passing away on 3 September 1995, aged 80.
Back in April 1937, Celtic travelled to East End Park four days after the 4-2 defeat at Third Lanark, to face a Dunfermline Athletic side facing a desperate struggle to avoid relegation. Tom Doyle retained the gloves, despite the loss of four goals on his debut, whilst Danny Dawson was pushed forward to outside-right as cover for the injured Jimmy Delaney. As the half-time whistle beckoned, things were looking good for the Pars, who led 3-1 at that stage, however Johnny Crum pulled one back before the break then Dawson headed the equaliser, his first goal for Celtic. Crum then added a second as the Celts won 4-3, condemning the Fifers to the drop. John Divers had scored Celtic’s first goal earlier on.
The weekend international between Scotland and England at Hampden meant that Celtic’s next fixture would be played on the Friday, 16 April 1937. The visitors to Parkhead were Arbroath, with Doyle and Dawson again retaining their places. The Red Lichties would lose their goalkeeper, Robertson, to a shoulder injury within twenty minutes, by which time they were already a goal down, courtesy of John Divers.
The keeper would later re-appear on the right wing! Joe Carruth and Danny Dawson had Celts 3-0 up and cruising before the break and despite a Brand strike early in the second-half, Carruth and Divers both completed their doubles late on as the Bhoys ran out comfortable 5-1 winners. As an aside, although some websites credit Danny with a brace that night, two separate newspaper reports go with the scorers as described above.
The following day, Delaney would be in the Scotland side which beat the Auld Enemy 3-1 before a world-record crowd of just under 150,000, former Celt Frank O’Donnell on the scoresheet. And the next weekend would see a world club record-breaking attendance set at 147,365, as Celtic won their fifteenth Scottish Cup by beating Aberdeen 2-1, thanks to goals from Johnny Crum and Willie Buchan.
