When Brian McClair ran out for his Celtic debut on this day in 1983 – for a league cup tie at Glebe Park, the ground of Brechin City – only 3,000 people were in the stadium to see Celtic win 1-0.
Brian had had a successful spell with Motherwell for two seasons and was brought into Celtic Park in January 1983 by Billy McNeill ostensibly to replace Charlie Nicholas.
Unfortunately, Billy soon departed for Manchester City and Charlie to Arsenal but his successor Davie Hay was initially more than satisfied with Brian’s goal scoring capabilities and the player thrived, playing his part in the Scottish Cup win of 1985 and the League Championship victory the following season, opening the scoring in the 6th minute at Love Street in the match which clinched the title for Celtic.
Brain was Scotland’s Player of the Year in 1987 but did not always feel wanted at Celtic Park and eventually moved to Manchester United for a fee of £850,000 in July 1987.
For a player with a record of 120 goals in 199 appearances, it was almost daylight robbery and Alex Ferguson was well pleased with this particular piece of business.
On this day in 1925, in Sydney Australia, Dan Lavery was born.
Dan joined Celtic on 30 January 1948 and only made four appearances in the centre-forward berth during that season but was in the number 9 shirt for one of the most crucial matches in the history of Celtic.
In season 1947-48, Celtic’s position in the league table before the final of the season was critical, to say the least –
Played Points
Celtic 29 23
Morton 27 23
QOS 29 23
Airdrie 27 20
Queen’s Park 28 17
The Celtic team at Dundee charged with the onerous task of keeping Celtic up was Miller, Hogg, Mallan, Evans, Corbett, McAuley, Weir, McPhail, Lavery, Gallagher and Paton.
With only minutes to go, Dundee were 2-1 ahead but an equaliser and then a winner just before the whistle, making hat-trick for Jock Weir, saved the day for Celtic with Airdrie eventually accompanying Queen’s Park to the Second Division.
Celtic finished 12th, their lowest ever league placing.
Jim Craig
