By that time, only Hugh O’Donnell would remain at Deepdale, brother Frank having already moved on to Burnley and Willie Fagan to Liverpool. Co-incidentally, Alex would make his Preston debut at Anfield on Hogmanay 1938, Liverpool skippered by Matt Busby and featuring Millar’s old teammate, Fagan, who netted from the spot in their 4-1 win. Poignantly, future Liverpool boss Bill Shankly was in the North End line-up on the ground where he would rewrite their history, as was Preston’s 1938 FA Cup Final hero, George Mutch, who scored for the visitors.
As far as I can tell Alex Millar played only one more game in the white and navy. He would remain involved in football north of the border, after the war, as secretary of the Scottish Player’s Union, a role he held until 1950. Alex was 66 years-old when he passed away in January 1978.
Danny Dawson would have one final fling in his Hoops career, following the February 1937 victory over Hearts, playing four times in the lead-up to the famous Scottish Cup Final win over Aberdeen. The first of those was a home game with Falkirk, on Monday, 29 March 1936, Chic Geatons, for once playing alongside Dawson in a much-changed Celtic side, scoring the only goal from the spot in the first half.
The visitors featured Bill Shankly’s brother, Bob, who would become a famous manager in his own right, most notably at Dundee, where he won their only Scottish League title in 1962, before leading them to the semi-final of the European Cup the following season, the Dark Blues losing to eventual champions AC Milan. He would later succeed Jock Stein as manager of Hibernian, when the Big Man left for Celtic in March 1965, and the two were firm friends, together and injured in the horrific car crash ten years later which was so nearly fatal.
Bob would pass away in 1982, suffering a heart attack at an SFA meeting no less, and the ‘away end’ stand at Dens Park has since been named in his honour. His great friend, Jock, would follow three years later, in the Scotland dugout at Cardiff’s Ninian Park.
On the left wing for Celtic against Falkirk was John Fitzsimons (often written as Fitzsimmons). He had made his debut at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock on Saturday, 5 October 1935, as did Alex Millar, the young centre-half bizarrely playing at outside-right for the Hoops in the absence of Jimmy Delaney, who was winning his first Scotland cap at that same Ninian Park, that very afternoon.
Another youngster, inside-forward John McInally, scored Celtic’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock. Fitzsimons would next appear on the right-wing, for the home game with Partick Thistle, on Saturday, 30 November 1935, replacing the injured Delaney for another 1-1 draw. Jimmy McGrory failed to score for the first time in the League campaign that season, as Frank Murphy’s header from John’s cross rescued a late point.
That would be it in terms of first-team starts for John Fitzsimons until the Falkirk game in March 1937. He would then miss the midweek Scottish Cup semi-final victory over Clyde at Ibrox, the match where a field-invading Celtic fan gave former Hoops player, Willie Hughes, a piece of his mind, for the job he was doing on his favourite, Jimmy Delaney, before being reinstated for the short trip to Cathkin Park on Tuesday, 6 April 1937. Willie must have indeed ‘done a job’ on Delaney, as he was one of four top stars missing for the visit to Third Lanark, Joe Kennaway, Chic Geatons and Frank Murphy, the others.
