Another Celtic ‘Hall of Fame’, another list of ’50 All-Time Celtic Best’?
I suppose it is, but there are differences in this case. In the first place the panel chosen for the task of compiling the list consists of four celebrated (and veteran) Celtic historians, men who have seen a lot of Celtic matches, and whose recollection goes back a number of years.
The panel (listed in alphabetical order): Tom Campbell, David Potter, George Sheridan and Pat Woods, and none was aware until afterwards of the others’ choices.
The method: each panellist was invited to list his list of greatest Celts starting from 1887 up to and including the present; Tom Campbell was first to submit his list, followed by David Potter and at that stage 33 men featured on both lists and 34 others had been mentioned once as candidates; George Sheridan and Pat Woods submitted their lists and the total of those mentioned by all four shrank from 33 to 25 and finally to 23.
And, of course, the number of those mentioned once (or twice or thrice) rose dramatically. One of our panel inclined towards the administrators (John Glass and Peter Lawwell); another towards those players who had made an ‘impact (John McPhail and Jock Weir) … The fact that so many men have been mentioned at least once is the best indication of the number of truly great players and/or personalities who have made contributions to the history of our club.
Who would be chosen finally? Each player nominated would be given a numerical value, and that value would determine his final placing. For example, if Kenny Dalglish featured on all four lists, he would be rated as a ‘4’ and would be certainly on the final list; if Brother Walfrid was on three lists, he would have a good shout, but somebody like Jimmy McStay with two mentions might be doubtful while Tom Boyd with one listing would be ‘an honourable mention’.
Let me state that I am writing the first part of the article, having received only the first two returns.
What happens after all four ‘pundits’ have submitted their lists? There should be about 200 nominations, and it can be assumed that the ‘4s’ will be on the final list, and probably the ‘3s’.
If there are still spots to be filled, every other name will be re-submitted to all four panellists, and the top ones after this play-off round will take their place in this unofficial Hall of Fame.
The votes are in, and here are the results (in alphabetical order):
THE CELTIC HISTORIANS’ HALL OF FAME
Roy Aitken
Bertie Auld
Scott Brown
Tommy Burns
Steve Chalmers
Bobby Collins
Kenny Dalglish
Dan Doyle
Bobby Evans
Sean Fallon
Willie Fernie
Patsy Gallacher
Tommy Gemmell
John Glass
James Hay
Jimmy Johnstone
Peter Johnstone
James Kelly
Bob Kelly
Henrik Larsson
Peter Lawwell
Bobby Lennox
Neil Lennon
Joe McBride
Fergus McCann
Danny McGrain
Jimmy McGrory
J.H. McLaughlin
Sandy McMahon
Jimmy McMenemy
Alec McNair
Billy McNeill
John McPhail
Paul McStay
Willie Maley
Lubomir Moravcik
Bobby Murdoch
Shunsuke Nakamura
Martin O’Neill
Bertie Peacock
Stillian Petrov
Jimmy Quinn
Charlie Shaw
Ronnie Simpson
Jock Stein
Charlie Tully
Brother Walfrid
‘Sunny Jim’ Young
Feature by Tom Campbell
What do you think? Who is missing from that list? If you think that there is a glaring omission please email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and put forward the case for the great Celt who has so far been overlooked. This has the makings of a good Celtic book…
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