Remembering John Thomson On The Prince Of Goalkeepers’ Birth Date

On this day, in 1909, Johnny Thomson – the Prince of Goalkeepers – was born.

Johnny Thomson, “The Prince of Goalkeepers”, is most famous for a tragic incident on 5 September 1931,  when he received a serious head injury while playing against Rangers at Ibrox. He died later in hospital, having never regained consciousness.

However, Thomson was a formidable young goalkeeper who earned his ‘prince’ nickname even before he lost his life. He was spotted playing local football for Wellesley Juniors by Celtic’s Chief Scout, Steve Callaghan. Such was his belief in Thomson, Callaghan persuaded Willie Maley to sign the goalkeeper that same evening. Maley obliged and Thomson rose to prominence for Celtic in 1927. However, his debut as an 18-year-old did not go according the script. He made a howler, but told his teammates: “Don’t worry, I have been taught not to make the same mistake twice, I’ll be fine for next week.” How right he was, as Thomson would go on to represent Celtic on a further 187 occasions, earning a shutout rate of 34% and collecting five honours, which is somewhat impressive when one considers that Celtic were a team in transition during that era.

Renowned for his bravery and unfaltering fearlessness, Thomson’s dive at the feet of the Rangers forward, Sam English, was his devastating downfall. As English shot, John Thomson’s head took the full impact of the Rangers player’s knee, leaving the goalkeeper unconscious with his skull bleeding.

As the youngster was being stretchered off, a section of the home support was unaware of the seriousness of the injury and cheered until they were silenced by one of the Rangers players. Owing to the severity of the injury, the match petered out to a 0-0 draw amid a rare eerie silence, not often associated with a Glasgow derby.

Thomson was taken to the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow. He had a lacerated wound over the right parietal bones of the skull, which meant that there was a depression in his head of two inches in diameter. At 5pm he suffered a major convulsion. Dr Norman Davidson carried out an emergency operation to try and lower the amount of pressure caused by the swelling to the brain, but the surgery was unsuccessful, and the 22-year-old was pronounced dead by 9.25pm.

Johnny was laid to rest on 9 September 1931. Roughly 40,000 people attended his funeral in Cardenden, a considerable number of which had walked some 55 miles from Glasgow. A further crowd about half the size turned out at Glasgow Queen Street Station to watch two trains set off, carrying 2,000 mourners. The turnout to remember one of its most loved sons was nothing short of remarkable.

A week after Johnny’s death, a poignant tribute was held before the match at Celtic Park. Though there had been huge press coverage of John’s tragic accident, The Glasgow Herald only gave a brief synopsis of the pre-match tribute at Parkhead the following week. The report was as follows:

“An impressive tribute was paid to John Thomson at Celtic Park on Saturday. The flags were at half mast and all round the ground there was a subdued air. Celtic came out first, filing slowly from the pavilion, followed by Queen’s Park. The twenty-two players formed an unbroken line as they took to the field in their positions. All wore black armlets. The crowd did not know how to welcome the players, there was a moment’s hesitation and then a half-hearted cheer rippled round the field. Players and spectators stood while a lament, ‘The Last Post’ and ‘Lead Kindly Light’ was played. There was silence for a moment, then a cheer for the teams and another for Falconer as he ran towards the west goal. Then play began…”    

As much as Johnny had earned his status with fantastic performances for club and country, he was an incredible character too. One such exemplification of this was when Celtic hosted Queen’s Park in the late 1920s. A fierce shot was struck by the Spiders’ forward, prompting Thomson to dive to his right. The ball deflected and Thomson twisted his body in mid-air to change direction and pull off an extraordinary save. As the front man moved to congratulate Thomson from the resulting corner, he let out a scream of pain as the goalkeeper stood on his toe!

Another well-known tale, which is testament to Johnny’s sense of humour, comes from a time when he was called a Fen’n barsteward by an opposing player. Johnny reported the matter to James McGrory. McGrory replied: “Don’t worry, I get called that all the time.” Thomson’s retort: “Yes but that’s ok for you, you are one!” The joke being that Johnny was of course a church going Protestant.

John Thomson’s legacy both as a player and a man, lives on through the John Thomson Memorial Committee. The Committee was established by Alec Burns in 1983 to promote the memory of John Thomson in his hometown of Cardenden. The organisation was instrumental in having Johnny recognised by being inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in September 2008. They also run an annual tournament in John’s memory, which has courted the participation of close to 6,000 local children since its inception.

Countless plays, books and quotes have been written to chart the life of The Prince of Goalkeepers. Most famously, The John Thomson Song was penned many years ago and was covered on a record disc by Glen Daly. However, most Celtic fans don’t realise that another song tribute, titled The Laddie Frae Cardenden, was written by Alexander McGregor and recorded by Douglas Robb – at 62 Glengall Road, Peckham, London, in September 1931. The record disc can be found on display at the Scottish Football Museum.

It is safe to say that John Thomson will never be forgotten. His epitaph is fitting of the legend that remains: ‘They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind.’

*Much of this story appears in The Holy Grounds Of Glasgow Celtic: A guide to Celtic landmarks & sites of interest – the landmark being the memorial in Cardenden. All profits from the book go to Celtic FC Foundation and over 60 landmarks are included.