Celtic’s greatest team: Pre-World War 2 – Outside-right…
In today’s article, we will be looking at the options for our right-winger, the Celtic Number Seven who will beat defenders to provide the supply of pinpoint crosses for our twin strikers. Once again, we have some absolutely outstanding candidates, so here is our shortlist, as always displayed in chronological order.
Note that the number of appearances does exclude Charity Cup matches and friendlies and can occasionally differ by a small margin in different record sources, however, it will give you a sense of length and consistency of service etc.
Alec Bennett
Debut for Celtic: v Partick Thistle, August 1903
Final game: v St Mirren, April 1908
Total appearances: 165
A teammate of Jimmy McMenemy at Rutherglen Glencairn, Alec was part of the forward-line which secured four of the six successive League titles from 1904/05 before surprisingly switching his allegiance to Rangers in May 1908.
Andy McAtee
Debut for Celtic: v Partick Thistle, September 1910
Final game: v St Mirren, April 1924
Total appearances: 461
The powerful long-serving winger from Cumbernauld was a fantastic player who possessed a tremendous shot.
Paddy Connolly
Debut for Celtic: v Queen’s Park, September 1919
Final game: v Clyde, April 1930
Total appearances: 320
Jimmy McGrory rated pacey winger Paddy as his all-time favourite Celtic outside-right. That probably says it all.
Bertie Thomson
Debut for Celtic: v Cowdenbeath, November 1929
Final game: v Falkirk, August 1933
Total appearances: 136
The third of Celtic’s wonderful Scottish Cup-winning team of 1931 to die long before his time. Bertie was a fans’ favourite but fell foul of Willie Maley and was sold to Blackpool. He passed away in 1937 aged just 30.
Jimmy Delaney
Debut for Celtic: v Heart of Midlothian, August 1934
Final game: v Falkirk, January 1946
Total appearances: 327
A true all-time great, the fabulous right-winger from Cleland enjoyed a wonderful career at Celtic before joining Manchester United in 1946 and eventually won national cup-winners’ medals in Scotland, England and Ireland.
So, what an incredible list of candidates for this vital role. Who will be the chosen number Seven for our unique Willie Maley Celtic XI?
If you’re just catching up with this intriguing selection, here’s a very brief reminder of the story so far, a recap of the shortlists already published exclusively in The Celtic Star.
What an incredible list of candidates for these roles. Which one will be chosen?
If you’re just catching up with this intriguing selection, here’s a very brief reminder of the story so far, a recap of the shortlists already published exclusively in The Celtic Star, which you can check-out HERE.
Goalkeeper
Dan McArthur, Davie Adams, Charlie Shaw, John Thomson or Joe Kennaway
Right-sided defender
Barney Battles, ‘Sunny Jim’ Young, Alec McNair, Willie McStay or Bobby Hogg
Central defender
James Kelly, Willie Loney, Peter Johnstone, Jimmy McStay or Willie Lyon
Left-sided defender
Dan Doyle, Willie Orr, Jimmy ‘Dun’ Hay, Joe Dodds, Willie ‘Peter’ McGonagle or Jock Morrison
Defensive midfielder
John ‘Jean’ McFarlane, Peter Wilson, Chic Geatons, Malcolm MacDonald or George Paterson
Attacking midfielders (x2)
Peter Somers, Jimmy McMenemy, Patsy Gallacher, Tommy McInally, Alec Thomson, Peter Scarff or Willie Buchan
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Hail Hail,
Matt Corr
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