1.THE GREEN BRIGADE
A phenomenon of recent years, the Green Brigade often proved some welcome atmosphere in dull days. At Celtic Park they sit (or stand) in the north-east corner of the ground singing songs which are not always approved of, but their support is real and total and are surely to be encouraged. Sit back and watch their Best Bits…
2.THE SHAMROCK
This was the first-ever Celtic fanzine. It was produced in the bad old days of 1963 and 1964 from an Edinburgh base, edited by a man called Dougan from Gilmerton Dykes and sold on match-days by a man with a shabby coat and down-at-the-heel shoes ( “long down-trodden man”, he was called).
The paper was poor and the typing amateurish, but it was very much the voice of the people at a time when their voice needed to be heard.
It did not hold back from criticism of the players and management when necessary. Among other things, it said that Bobby Murdoch, at that time an inferior inside forward would be a better right-half, and this was long before Stein came and implemented that.
It seemed to disappear just about the time in 1965 when the corner was turned, and it is to be hoped that the “long down-trodden man” lived long enough to enjoy Lisbon.
3. HEARTS FANS INVADE THE JUNGLE
It is Glasgow in January and it is raining heavily. There is no shelter on the “away” terracing or “Rangers end”, so what can a poor Hearts fan do? All he can do is come in to the “Jungle” where there is some sort of cover, inadequate though it is with the holes in the roof.
4. DANNY OF THE MANY INJURIES
Danny McGrain, Celtic’s best ever right back, came through three horrendous crises in his professional life, any one of which would have floored a lesser man. On 25 March 1972 just as he was making his way into the Celtic team, he sustained a fractured skull in an awful clash of heads at Falkirk.
He overcame that, but then during the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, perpetual raging thirst made his suspect that something was wrong and he was duly diagnosed as a diabetic. Once again, Danny coped with this, but at the start of the 1977/78 season a mysterious foot injury appeared – and it was this injury, as well as the transfer of Dalglish to Liverpool which consigned Celtic to a barren and trophyless season and led to the departure of Jock Stein from the managerial chair.
It was also a severe loss to Scotland, for had Danny gone to Argentina, things would surely never have been so bad. His playing ability would have made a difference, but so too would his “level-headedness”, a quality that surely would have taken the sting out of the trouble that the malcontents caused to the beleaguered Ally McLeod. Danny was no softie, nor was he a moaner. His perpetual popularity is deserved.
5. A HAT-TRICK OF PENALTIES
Bobby Collins achieved this remarkable (although by no means unique) feat on 26 September 1953 when in a 3-0 defeat of Aberdeen at Celtic Park in front of 26,000 fans, Bobby sank three penalties.
6. AND THEY GAVE US JIMMY McGRORY…
Even now, some thirty seven years after he died and some eighty two years after he gave up playing, there will not be many alive who have not heard of James McGrory and who do not associate the name irreconcilably with Celtic.
If they were ignorant of this mighty man, then all they have to do is listen to the first words of the Willie Maley song “And they gave us James McGrory and…”
It was somehow fitting that McGrory was born some ten days after his predecessor and forerunner Jimmy Quinn scored his iconic hat-trick in the 1904 Scottish Cup Final. He died on 20 October 1982 after a lifetime of service to the club, and is buried like so many old Celts in Dalbeth Cemetery, not far from Celtic Park.
It was a frosty, foggy midwinter’s day 1935 that he overtook the record of Hughie Ferguson in a game against Aberdeen at Celtic Park. The goal which actually broke the record as a remarkable one. A hard low cross from Johnny Crum and McGrory, disdaining personal safety on the hard ground, dived full length to bullet the ball into the roof of the net.
Young Celtic fans said to their dads
As midwinter fog hung hoary
You can keep your Santa Claus
Cos I’ve got James McGrory.
He ended up with 440 League goals and 550 in all games.
7. AMAZING BUT TRUE
Surely no-one in world football has made his debut in more bizarre circumstances than Willie Goldie. Willie was one of the reserve team goalkeepers but, on 1 October 1960 wasn’t playing for anyone, so he decided to go along to see the first team playing at Airdrie.
So there he was standing waiting at a bus stop, green and white scarf tied round his neck, for the normal service bus to take him to Airdrie. Suddenly a bus stopped for him, but it wasn’t the service bus, it was the Celtic team bus!
Chairman Bob Kelly had seen him standing there and ordered the driver to stop and give him a lift. Slightly embarrassed Willie got on, greeted with cries of “Who’s this hooligan?” and “No bottle throwing to-day, Willie!”.
It got worse, for suddenly Bob Kelly decided that Willie was playing and poor John Fallon, the regular goalkeeper, was informed that he would be watching the game from the stand. Had this ploy succeeded, Bob Kelly would have been looked upon as a genius. As it was, Airdrie won 2-0, poor Willie had a bad game and never played for Celtic again!
David Potter
We’ll have another Seven Magnificently Random Celtic Stories from Celtic eminent historian David Potter tomorrow morning only on The Celtic Star.
CELTIC v RANGERS – THE BHOYS GREATEST VICTORIES
*David Potter’s latest book which I was delighted to receive a copy of earlier this week, is titled Celtic v Rangers – The Bhoys’ Greatest Victories. Having had a quick flick through it does exactly what it says on the cover. The Celtic historian has selected 50 notable and most enjoyable victories over the various clubs playing out of Ibrox and calling themselves Rangers.
There’s Jimmy Quinn’s hat-trick in 1904, the astonishing Scottish Cup semi-final skelping in 1925, the 7-1 League Cup final from 1957, the 4-0 Scottish Cup Final doing from 1969, the 6-2 ‘Demolition Derby’Game in 2000 and there are even victories over the new club established by ‘founding father’ Charles Green in 2012.
David I suppose accurately uses the O** F*** term, referring to the wins against the Ibrox club that died in 2012, so please don’t let that put you off. Book review to follow in a few days…
Click on cover to order from Amazon
David’s new ‘feel good’ Celtic book is out now on Pitch Publishing and you can order via Amazon.