On this day in 1958, Billy McNeill ran on to the field at Celtic Park for his debut game, a League Cup encounter against Clyde.
The team was doing well in the competition that year, having won two and drawn one of the first three sectional matches, the eleven a combination of the old and the new.
Charlie Tully was still showing his tricks on the right wing; Bobby Collins, small but combative, hustled and bustled alongside him; Neilly Mochan showed all his experience at left back and Willie Fernie could still make some good runs from the right half position.
New Bhoy Billy McNeill made an excellent impression, winning everything in the air and looking comfortable on the deck, bottling up the Clyde attack. Goals from Sammy Wilson – in only 4 minutes – and Bertie Auld in 35 minutes gave Celtic a 2-0 on the day.
But it was the performance by Billy McNeill that had the fans talking and by the start of the following season, he was a regular at centre-half.
On this day in 1880 in Rutherglen, Jimmy McMenemy was born.
After spells with juvenile teams and a trial for Everton, Jimmy joined Celtic on 6 June 1902. Over the following 18 years, he played 515 times for Celtic, scoring 168 goals.
Then, just when everyone thought that his career was coming to an end, he moved to Partick Thistle and led the team to their one and only Scottish Cup triumph in 1921.
He then returned to Celtic in the mid-1930s as a coach.
Jimmy McMenemy was known to one and all as ‘Napoleon’. It was a well-merited epithet.
Jim Craig
