The sad passing of Tommy Docherty on Hogmanay has triggered some focus on who might now hold the record as the oldest living Celtic player. As far as I can tell – and I am more than happy to stand corrected on this – at 92 years and 8 months the Doc had been the oldest man alive who had played for Celtic in a competitively-recognised match, following his nine appearances for the Hoops in the old Scottish League Division One in season 1948/49.
Some reliable sources on social media have suggested that Alex Kiddie had held – and indeed still holds – that title. So, what do we know about him?
Alexander Anderson Kiddie was born in Dundee on 27 April 1927, almost exactly a year before Tommy Docherty made his entrance in Glasgow on 24 April 1928. Having started his career with the local Ashdale Boys Club, as a highly-rated amateur winger playing in junior football with Dundee Stobswell, the 17-year-old A. A. Kiddie would undergo a successful trial at Celtic Park before signing for the club in December 1944. Kiddie retained his amateur status at Parkhead, in order that he could continue to compete in his other passion, track and field athletics. The Scottish League had been suspended during wartime, as had the Scottish Cup, so only Regional League and Cup matches were played by the country’s senior clubs at that time. These fixtures are usually discounted in terms of official records, hence my reference to ‘competitively-recognised’ in the opening paragraph.
That wonderful source of information all things Celtic, The Celtic Wiki, states that Alex played just two matches for Celts, both against Airdrieonians, presumably in the Southern Regional League in season 1944/45, given that he signed in December 1944 and left the following summer. The problem I have with that is that the first match between the clubs that season took place at Celtic Park on Saturday, 28 October 1944, i.e. some weeks before he was signed. Perhaps he played as a guest or trialist in that game. Sadly, I have no details on the line-up.
In any case, it is a fact that he turned out for the Hoops at Broomfield on Saturday, 3 February 1945, Celtic manager Jimmy McStay choosing the following team.
Willie Miller; Pat McAuley & Pat McDonald; Matt Lynch, Jimmy Mallan & John McPhail;
Alex Kiddie, John Divers senior, Jackie Gallacher, Joe McLaughlin & Pat Rodgers.
Celts would win the match 2-1, goals from Joe McLaughlin on the hour and Jackie Gallacher –the son of legendary Scotland striker Hughie Gallacher, whose presence was a major factor in restricting the number of international caps awarded to the great McGrory – 10 minutes later enough to secure the points, despite a late fightback from the hosts. Alex was deputising for another wonderful Celt, Jimmy Delaney, and he seems to have shown up well according to a newspaper account of the match in The Wiki, despite being listed and referred to as ‘Keddie.’
As an aside, at right-back for the Diamonds that day was Frank Brennan, who played beside Ronnie Simpson in the Newcastle United team victorious in the 1952 FA Cup final against Arsenal. And on the left-wing was Pat O’Sullivan, who had scored twice for Airdrieonians in their 4-2 defeat at Celtic Park the previous October, mentioned earlier. Pat signed for Celtic in November 1945, just nine months after the Broomfield clash, however, he and Alex would never be teammates.
At the end of that season, Jimmy McStay’s five-year tenure as Celtic’s second manager had ended, the Parkhead board bringing legendary striker Jimmy McGrory back from Kilmarnock to take over on 1 August 1945. The change of leadership may be one of the reasons that Alex Kiddie’s future at the club appears to have been overlooked or badly-managed, although I have also read that Celtic chose not to take up an option on what was a provisional signing. I’ll let Kiddie himself explain what happened next, courtesy of his quotes in The Celtic Wiki.
“The rules stated that clubs had to re-sign players every year. If they didn’t then you were effectively a free agent. I left Celtic that summer and I never heard anything from them, so I assumed they would not get in touch.
“After a game for a Forfarshire select against an Aberdeenshire select, Dave Halliday, the Dons boss at the time, asked me to join them. After talking it over with my dad, I agreed, but a few days later a neighbour told me a man from Glasgow had come to see me.
“She said I wasn’t in, but he knew I would be playing football for my junior club later on so he said he would see me that evening. So, I went and played for Stobswell, in what would be my last game for them.
“At half-time, the club secretary came over to me and told me Jimmy McGrory of Celtic wanted to see me. Everyone’s mouths fell wide open! We went into the committee room and Mr McGrory told me he had read Aberdeen had signed me and wanted to know if it was true. I told him it was.
“He said Celtic were still interested in me, but I explained I couldn’t come back. But then he said if I signed a contract with them, both contracts would become null and void, meaning I would be suspended — but also become a free agent again, and he promised me that Celtic would sign me after I had served my suspension.
“I told him I couldn’t do it. I had given my word to Aberdeen and that was that. I still don’t regret doing so.”
Having signed a three-year contract as an amateur player at Pittodrie, combining football with his studies at St Andrews University, Alex would quickly become part of Aberdeen folklore. The 1945/46 season would see the Dons become the only club from the north-east of the country to join the top division of the newly-extended wartime Southern League, the final campaign before the national Scottish League set-up was re-introduced in August 1946. Aberdeen would enjoy a fine season, edging Celtic out of third spot to finish behind Hibernian and Rangers, however, it would be in the final edition of the Southern League Cup that Kiddie would create history.
The Dons had dominated the wartime North Eastern League Cup with four wins, whilst Rangers had done likewise in its Southern equivalent. Season 1945/46 would see the two competitions combined for the first time, albeit still under the banner of the Southern League Cup. Aberdeen squeezed through from a tough section which included Hibernian, Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock, with Alex on target in the ultimately decisive 4-1 victory over the Edinburgh side at Pittodrie. Kiddie then scored twice in the 5-3 extra-time win in the replayed semi-final clash with Airdrieonians at Ibrox, to set up a final between the Dons and Rangers at Hampden on Saturday, 11 May 1946. The Ibrox side were clear favourites to add another wartime trophy to their tally.
Before 130,000 spectators on a beautiful sunny afternoon, Aberdeen would build then lose a two-goal lead, Alex having set up the second goal for Stan Williams midway through the first half. In the dying seconds of the match, having earlier watched his shot crash back off the crossbar, he would do likewise for George Taylor, as the Dons won the first national trophy in their history. It would be an occasion he would still recall with some awe in his mid-eighties.
“Playing in front of the sea of faces at Hampden that day is something that has never left me. How big the crowd was never really struck home until I was setting the ball to take a corner. It gave me the chance to look around myself and I thought ‘my goodness’. It really was quite amazing.”
“Winning the Southern League Cup, as it was then, was a huge achievement for that Aberdeen team because it was the first major trophy we had ever won. We played Rangers at Hampden and I don’t think many people gave us a chance. But we scored early through Archie Baird and then went two up when I pulled the ball back for Stan Williams. Rangers came roaring back in the second half and soon pulled level, but we didn’t let that get to us. We always believed we could win and in the last minute I got the ball down the wing and crossed for George Taylor to score.”
“It remains a huge achievement for the Dons. That Rangers team included Jock ‘Tiger’ Shaw, Scot Symon, Willie Waddell, George Young and Willie Thornton. They were a fantastic side. But we put one over them. I’ll always remember on my way back from the game stopping to buy a newspaper and reading the match report at the station. I still have the paper as well.”
Southern League Cup final 1946 – celebrations
Whilst modest Alex played his part in the historic victory down, admitting only to being “pretty pleased” with his performance, other observers were more forthcoming. Media reports spoke of how “young Kiddie of Aberdeen gave Tiger Shaw a torrid time,” whilst the official club history records the performance as a personal triumph for Kiddie.
“It was the first opportunity for a whole generation of football supporters to visit the national stadium, and when the Aberdeen party arrived in Glasgow, they found the city seething with red and white. That was the day when a slightly-built lad from Dundee, who was generally referred to as A.A.Kiddie, played the game of his life, turning his own dream-like performance into a nightmare for Rangers left-back stalwart Tiger Shaw, who was not accustomed to chasing shadows.”
In another of those strange quirks that football so often throws up, in August 1948 that same Tiger Shaw would be the direct opponent of 20-year-old Celtic debutant, Tommy Docherty, whilst Scot Symon would be his manager at Preston North End when The Doc played in the FA Cup final at Wembley, six years later.
There is a lovely anecdote, which can serve as a footnote to this game. As an amateur, Alex would not be able to receive the cash bonus offered to his teammates for winning the cup. Instead, he received an engraved watch, which was still going strong in October 2010, more than 64 years later. Over to Alex again.
“The watch is a perfect memento of my football career and reminds me of many happy times I spent at Aberdeen. It was an unusual gift, but I was an amateur at the time and they didn’t know what to give me. The professional players got money, but they couldn’t do that with me. So, the chairman pulled me aside and said they would like to give me the watch and had it inscribed before they presented it to me. And from that day in 1946 to now I have worn it all the time, and it has kept perfect time ever since. I have had it cleaned a couple of times and on one occasion I had to replace the winder on it. But even now it is something I am very proud of, and I remain extremely proud of being part of that team.”
Many of those teammates would return to Hampden twice within a fortnight the following April, as Dave Halliday led the Dons to the inaugural League Cup final then the Scottish Cup finale. The first match would see Rangers take some revenge for their defeat a year earlier by winning 4-0 in front of a mere 83,000 crowd, however, two weeks later, a similar number watched Aberdeen beat Hibernian 2-1 to lift a first-ever Scottish Cup. Sadly for Alex, on both occasions Tony Harris occupied his right-wing berth.
Kiddie would manage 13 goals in 48 appearances for Aberdeen before signing for Bob Shankly at Falkirk in 1950. He would later return to his native city to sign for Dundee then enjoy spells with Angus sides, Arbroath, Brechin City, Montrose and Forfar Athletic. It is therefore entirely possible that Alex is the oldest surviving player for no fewer than eight Scottish senior clubs!
Whilst Alex may well be the oldest man to pull on the Hoops in any competition, it would be interesting to see who picks up the mantle from Tommy Docherty in terms of competitive matches. The first such match played by Celtic after the war was a home League fixture against Morton on Saturday, 10 August 1946, however, assuming The Doc did indeed hold the honour with his nine appearances in season 1948/49, then perhaps we are looking at someone who was a young Celtic player in the early 1950s. With the incredible Hoops knowledge which exists online, hopefully, someone will come up with a name.
Thanks as always to the wonderful folk behind The Celtic Wiki and also credit to Charlie Allan of the Aberdeen FC Former Players Association for an article he did on Alex’s 93rd birthday.
Hail Hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue
