Donald McLeod, also known as Donnie or even “Slasher”, won four league titles with Celtic and two Scottish Cups, playing for Celtic 155 times, 131 games in the league and 24 in the Scottish Cup. His title wins were over four consecutive seasons between 1904-08.

Donnie was a defender often playing as a full-back and made his debut for Celtic on 30 August 1902 away to Third Lanark. During his playing career he won four caps for Scotland.

The Celtic Wiki player biog on Donnie McLeod reads as follows:

Donnie McLeod played for Celtic in a glorious era, and eventually took over from the well loved Barney Battles in the Celtic side. A very good defender he lined up with Willie Orr in front of David Adams in 1904 and never looked back. A close-knit group, they had some humour:

Donnie: “How the hell did you lose that ball?”
Davy Adams: “I havenae lost it. It’s in the net.”

He was said to be a two footed player who was “fearless… of tremendous speed“, and was dubbed ´Slasher´ due to his sheer speed and his ability as a two-footed player full making him an instant hit with the Celtic support.

From the off in his debut, a 2-1 victory over Third Lanark, he was to be a regular in the first team that season and then for much of his time at Celtic. His partnership with Jimmy Weir is regarded as one of the most effective defensive partnerships the club has ever had.

Donnie McLeod was to be an integral part of the side who kick-started the club´s unprecedented feat of six Championships in a row from 1904. His partnership with Jimmy Weir was deemed to be near invincible and when he was later transferred to Middlesborough in 1910 Weir followed him South to form a duo described as ´the most dogged, dour and fearless pair of backs in England´.

In time, weight issues became a problem in the classic 1907-08 season, or as one put it more poetically:

“McLeod grows rather adipose and would do well to mind his massage”.

One event for which we should be eternally grateful to Donnie McLeod for is his bringing the great Alec McNair to Celtic. Alec McNair went on to be one of Celtic’s greatest ever players and played more games than anyone else for our club.

In 1907, Celtic won the Scottish Cup in a 3-0 win over Hearts. Donnie McLeod played in the defence that day who more than ably contained any Hearts attack, in a game regarded as one of the most memorable in the early days of the club’s history. The club sealed a league & cup double.Ex

However, despite some great service a poor game in the Glasgow Cup v Queen’s Park (4-4) in 1908 signalled the end for him and he was gone within a month to Middlesborough. It was a sad end to a good stalwart for the club, but he played his part in an era that is very fondly remembered and he will forever be respected for that time. If nothing else, his move will have added some new supporters to the Middlesborough terracing from the Celtic numbers

Interestingly he makes a challenge as one of the select group of outfield players to have played the most games for Celtic without ever scoring a goal for the first team (in a competitive game). Bobby Hogg holds the record, having amassed a far greater tally without scoring any goals for the first team.

Extract from Robert Hoskins’, Celtic Football Club and the Great War…

Don McLeod – The final casualty of 1917 was Donald McLeod who made 155 appearances as a full back for Celtic between 1902-08. Gunner McLeod was in the 466th Battery of the 65th Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and died from his wounds on Saturday 6 October 1917.

Wounded in action during the Battles of Passchendaele Gunner McLeod died of his injuries on 6 October 1917. Today his grave can be found in Dozinghem Military Cemetery near Krombeke to the northwest of Poperinghe in Belgium.

Donald McLeod has a memorial inscription on the Middlesbrough War memorial panels Dozinghem Military Cemetery. He is one of the players Middlesborough remembered by a plaque in their honour which was found in a cupboard in the club. He left a wife and three children.

Passchendaele was hell on earth – a mudbath where the Battlefield had been turned into a swamp by continuous rain and shelling. The conditions were so horrific that they prompted the Great War poet Siegfried Sassoon to write one of his most famous poems “Mud and Rain“.