So just who were the Class of ‘55? Part 5 – Jimmy Rowan…

The recent article in The Celtic Star featuring photos provided by Peter Goldie, the oldest known living Celtic player, provoked a lot of interest and discussion. One photo in particular generated quite a few queries. It was a photoshoot taken at the annual pre-season trial match played at Celtic Park on Tuesday, 9 August 1955.

Some of the players, of course, are instantly recognisable as Celtic legends, whilst most of the others are familiar to those who know their history but a few of the faces presented some challenges in terms of identification. Thankfully, Twitter did its job, and within minutes of The Celtic Star publishing the article, @CelticCurio had produced a list of all the surnames in the photograph. This was a huge help as we set about linking names to faces.

Top row: Higgins, Jack, McAlinden, Duffy, Evans, MacKay, Fernie, Meechan, Tully & Auld.

Middle row: Sharkey, White [Whyte], Ryan, Craig, Beattie, Docherty, Goldie, Fallon, Boden, Bonnar, Haughney, Conroy, Stein, McCreadie & Mcllroy.

Front row: McVittie, Collins, Smith, McPhail, Rowan, Walsh, Reid & Mochan.

Not all of the players in the photo featured in the match, as some were nursing or recovering from injuries. And an obvious absentee from the photoshoot was Bertie Peacock, who was in Belfast representing a Great Britain XI against The Rest of Europe in a match to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the six-county Irish Football Association. There was a report on the match in the following day’s Evening Times which listed the teams as follows:

Green and Whites (Hoops)
McCreadie; Haughney & Fallon; Evans, Stein & McPhail;
Docherty, Collins, McAlindon, Walsh & Mochan.

White and Greens (Shamrocks)
Beattie; Ryan & Meechan; McKay, Jack & Conroy;
Craig, McVittie, White, Sharkey & Auld.

The Evening Times report also mentioned that a number of changes to the initial line-ups occurred at half-time – by which time the Hoops were leading 5-0 – as follows.

• Goalkeepers McCreadie and Beattie switched sides.
• Docherty and White switched sides.
• Goldie replaced Ryan for the Shamrocks.
• Duffy replaced Conroy for the Shamrocks.
• Rowan replaced Craig for the Shamrocks.
• Smith replaced Sharkey for the Shamrocks.

Here at The Celtic Star, we like to acknowledge every Celt who lived the dream and could proudly tell their family and friends “I played for Celtic,” so we thought we’d make sure we had a full cast list to publish. That’s when the fun and the serious research started.

In the first part of this article, we looked at a couple of less familiar names who turned out for the mainly first-team ‘Green and Whites,’ goalkeeper Benny McCreadie (middle row, second from right) and Jimmy ‘Peam’ Docherty (middle row, sixth from left). In Part 2 we mentioned two of those wearing the shamrock kits, David Duffy (back row, fourth from left) and Frank Whyte (middle row, second from left) and in Part 3 it was the turn of Jimmy McIlroy (middle row, extreme right) to go under the microscope. The fourth part covered the career of Matt McVittie (front row, extreme left) and in the fifth section of the article we will cover another Celt whose name initially had escaped me.

Continued on the next page…

The player fourth from the right of the front row is Jimmy Rowan, born in Bridgeton in the shadow of Celtic Park on Saturday, 27 July 1935. Jimmy would attend St Mungo’s before his football career commenced with crack local junior outfit Shettleston.

He signed provisional forms for Celtic as a 17-year-old inside-right on Thursday, 9 October 1952, and 48 hours later he was turning out for ‘The Town’ in their 2-1 Scottish Junior Cup win at Holytown United, whilst his new Celtic teammates were beating recently promoted Clyde by the same score at Shawfield with a double from Bertie Peacock, after Celtic chairman and Scottish League President Bob Kelly had unfurled the hosts’ ‘B’ Championship flag from the previous season.

Jimmy continued to divide his time between playing for Shettleston and working as a fitter in the shipyards until being ‘called up’ by Double winners Celtic for season 1954/55, a visit to the World Cup finals in Switzerland to watch new colleagues Bobby Evans, Neil Mochan and Willie Fernie in action for Scotland not the worst way to begin his senior career with his boyhood club.

Back home, Rowan turned out for the reserves in the iconic shamrock kit in Celtic’s annual pre-season public trial on Tuesday, 10 August 1954, exactly one year before the original photo which triggered this article was taken. Jimmy lined up in the following team.

Eamon McMahon; Vincent Ryan & Joe Baillie; Mike Conroy, Alec Boden & Ian Reid;

Bobby Collins, Jimmy Rowan, Jimmy McIlroy, Willie Gillies & Jimmy Duncan.

Bobby Collins was the star of the show as the reserves beat the first team 3-2, Willie Gillies and Jimmy on target before Sean Fallon pulled one back. Jimmy McIlroy re-established the two-goal lead with Charlie Tully completing the scoring. That would be McIlroy’s last game before undergoing an appendectomy the following week. I believe that same side with the exception of John Jack in for Mike Conroy would then beat East Stirlingshire 6-1 at Firs Park four days later, albeit The Evening Times lists ‘Ryan’ at both right-back and inside-right.

Following his Evening Times photocall for the trial match, Jimmy Rowan found himself in front of the camera again on Thursday, 28 August 1954. The occasion was the formal opening of junior outfit Petershill’s impressive new covered enclosure at their Springburn base, Celtic meeting Rangers just as they had done when the stadium itself had been opened back in 1935. The Celtic team lined up as follows for the photocall, although it’s not certain what the formation was for the game itself, which Celts won 2-1.

Andy Bell; Willie Gillies & Ian Reid; Jimmy Walsh, John Jack & Jimmy Rowan;

Peter Goldie, Alec Boden, Vincent Ryan, Eddie Mulvey & Eric Smith.

Jimmy would bide his time in the reserves through the autumn until being brought into the first team on Saturday, 18 December 1954 in place of the injured John Higgins for the visit of Dundee. Celtic lined up that afternoon as follows in front of 14,000 spectators.

Andy Bell; Mike Haughney & Frank Meechan; Bobby Evans, Jock Stein & Bertie Peacock;

Jimmy Rowan, Charlie Tully, Jimmy Walsh, Willie Fernie & Bobby Collins.

The Hoops had lost both League Cup sectional games to the Dark Blues earlier in the season but would gain the two points required to keep them in the race to defend their title with a 4-1 win. Mike Haughney gave the Hoops the lead from the spot on the half-hour after Bertie Peacock had been fouled, the teams turning round at 1-0 mainly thanks to Bill Brown’s heroics in the visitors’ goal.

Continued on the next page…

Willie Fernie doubled Celtic’s lead six minutes after the restart before Christmas came early for Jimmy Rowan with 20 minutes remaining, the young winger in the right place as Brown’s attempted clearance was played off him into the net after Charlie Tully’s effort had come back off the crossbar. Dundee continued in the festive spirit by donating an own goal for 4-0 within three minutes, albeit they did manage a consolation strike through George Merchant in the closing stages. That kept Celtic in third spot behind Aberdeen and Rangers, both of whom they had beaten in the League already that season. However, five disappointing draws and a 4-2 defeat at Firhill had cancelled out that advantage.

Celtic’s bizarre selection policy through much of the 1950s was highlighted again seven days later. Alex Boden had made his name and the vast majority of his Celtic appearances as a centre-half and had failed to score a single goal since his Hoops debut in August 1947, so it would be something of a surprise to see him listed at outside-right in place of Jimmy Rowan. Still, what do I know, Boden scoring Celtic’s first equaliser with “a terrific left-foot shot” five minutes before the break in the 2-2 Christmas Day draw with Clyde at Celtic Park. The two old east end rivals would meet again in the Scottish Cup final later that season.

Jimmy headed back to the reserves for the remainder of that season and was retained for the 1955/56 campaign. He would feature in the annual public trial at Celtic Park on Tuesday, 9 August 1955, replacing Sean Fallon’s future brother-in-law Billy Craig in the second half but would have to wait 10 long months for his next opportunity in the first team.

That arrived in the toughest of circumstances, as Celtic faced the trip to Tynecastle on Saturday, 8 October 1955 minus Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock and Bobby Collins – all involved in the Ireland v Scotland international in Belfast – and injured captain Jock Stein. The following team ran out in front of 30,000 spectators that day to face a Hearts side boasting their Terrible Trio of Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh. Alex Boden was at right-back that afternoon!

Dick Beattie; Alex Boden & Sean Fallon; Frank Whyte, John Jack & Neil Mochan;

John Higgins, Willie Fernie, Jim Sharkey, Jimmy Rowan & Charlie Tully.

The makeshift Celts looked down and out by the interval, by which time they were 2-0 down to strikes from Urquhart and Conn with Sean Fallon struggling with an injury. To their credit, they did not give up the fight, Jimmy and Charlie Tully switching positions before Willie Fernie reduced the leeway with 15 minutes remaining. That triggered an onslaught on Duff’s goal which on another day would have brought some reward.

That would prove to be Jimmy Rowan’s second and final first-team appearance for Celtic. On Tuesday, 20 December 1955, he was one of a number of young Celts sent out on loan, in his case to a Stirling Albion side struggling at the foot of the First Division. He made his debut four days later in a goalless draw with Dundee at Annfield, up against many of the Dens Park men who had featured in his maiden Celtic appearance 12 months earlier and alongside defender Duncan Stanners, who had played for Rangers in that match at Petershill Park in August 1954.

Celts had already faced Albion twice in the League that season, but Jimmy did return to Paradise for a friendly on Saturday, 7 April 1956, the Hoops taking the opportunity to give some injured players a run-out ahead of the Scottish Cup final with Hearts later that month. Celts recovered from the loss of an early goal to win 3-1 thanks to second-half strikes from legendary trio Charlie Tully, Neil Mochan and Willie Fernie. Jimmy would manage two goals in 18 League appearances for Stirling Albion as the Annfield club took the drop to the Second Division with Clyde, who had won the Scottish Cup just 12 months earlier.

April would end in further disappointment as Jimmy found himself on Celtic’s list of released players. Former captain John McPhail was the biggest name on that list, fringe players Jimmy Docherty, Frank Whyte, Hugh Fletcher and David Duffy also freed by the club.

Continued on the next page…

Jimmy signed for Clyde two weeks later and was part of the side which won the Second Division and thus instant promotion, whilst reaching the semi-final of the League Cup and the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup. On Saturday, 6 October 1956 he lined up against his old colleagues again at Hampden in the last-four of the League Cup, but it was a former Clyde star who did the damage against his old pals, Billy McPhail scoring either side of the break to send Celts into their first-ever League Cup final. They would now await the winners of the Dundee v Partick Thistle replay.

Rowan made just nine League appearances and scored once in three seasons at Shawfield, on the sidelines as the Bully Wee won the Scottish Cup by beating Hibernian in April 1958. As Billy McNeill was making his Hoops debut against Clyde in a League Cup sectional tie at Celtic Park on Saturday, 23 August 1958, Jimmy was lining up in the reserve fixture at Shawfield, albeit that would be an enjoyable afternoon as the hosts beat the young Celts 4-0.

Jimmy would again have a watching brief as Clyde beat Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday, 22 October 1958 to win the Glasgow Cup, featuring just three times in the League that campaign as the Bully Wee only just avoided relegation, albeit one of those was a battling 2-2 draw with champions Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, 14 November 1958. Rowan was freed at the end of April 1959, signing for fellow-strugglers Dunfermline Athletic on Saturday, 9 May 1959, as his Clyde teammates were going down 5-0 to Celtic at Hampden in the Charity Cup final.

Football being football, Jimmy Rowan would make his Dunfermline Athletic debut against Clyde at Shawfield, in the opening League Cup tie played on Saturday, 8 August 1959, which ended goalless. He scored his first goal for the Pars in the opening League match of the season, in a shock 6-0 rout of Motherwell at East End Park on Wednesday, 19 August 1959. Jimmy featured prominently in the team until early November, scoring four goals in eight League games, but he was replaced by Jimmy Wardhaugh in the team which travelled to face Celtic on Saturday, 14 November 1959, the former Hearts legend scoring in an otherwise unhappy debut as the Hoops won 4-2, thanks largely to a John Divers hat-trick.

Within the next month, Jimmy would have switched clubs again, returning to Stirling Albion on Friday, 11 December 1959 – this time on a permanent deal – and making his debut at Annfield in the 1-0 defeat by Dundee 24 hours later. He would just miss out on the Jock Stein revolution at East End Park, the Pars appointing their man three months later, in March 1960, avoiding relegation before achieving success throughout that decade previously unheard of. By contrast, Stirling Albion would take the drop to the Second Division at the end of 1959/60.

Jimmy was captain of Albion as they pipped local rivals Falkirk by a single point to win the title the following season, earning instant promotion back to the top-flight whilst his old club Clyde continued their yo-yo pattern of trophy success, followed by relegation then promotion. Like Clyde five years earlier, the newly promoted Albion would then go all the way to the semi-final of the League Cup that autumn, 20 minutes from a final place against Hearts at Easter Road on Wednesday, 11 October 1961 before Willie Bauld equalised for Hearts. Future Lisbon Lion Willie Wallace then won the match for Hearts in extra-time.

Jimmy had not featured that night and he would be missing again three days later as Albion were beaten 5-0 at Celtic Park, John ‘Yogi’ Hughes with a hat-trick on the afternoon when Glen Daly’s ‘Celtic Song’ was played over the stadium PA system for the first time, a lovely feature of Celtic matchdays to this day.

Jimmy Rowan would be in the Stirling Albion team which beat Celtic 1-0 in the return fixture, played at Annfield on Saturday, 10 February 1962. By this time, he had been converted to a wing-half, but that would prove to be the last win of the campaign. Albion collected just two points from their remaining 10 games to finish bottom of the table, duly relegated with St Johnstone as Clyde returned to the top-flight. Jimmy scored four goals in 65 League appearances for Albion over three seasons before joining Airdrieonians on 24 May 1962.

Continued on the next page…

Jimmy must have impressed Broomfield manager Willie Steel in his early exchanges as he was immediately named captain of Airdrieonians, one of four new skippers in the top-flight that season with Billy McNeill of Celtic amongst the others. Cesar would enjoy his introduction a tad more than Jimmy on the opening day of the season as the League Cup got underway, Celts beating Hearts 3-1 with debutant Bobby Murdoch, Charlie Gallagher and John Hughes all on target, whilst the Diamonds suffered a hefty 4-0 defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Jimmy did not fare much better as Airdrieonians welcomed Celtic to Broomfield on Saturday, 27 October 1962. The Hoops had drawn with Valencia in midweek to exit the Fairs Cup in their first-ever European tie, but there was no sign of a hangover as a five-goal second-half blitz saw them leave Airdrie with a 6-1 win.

Jimmy Rowan featured at inside-right that afternoon, and he was again wearing the number eight for the Diamonds for the return fixture, played at Celtic Park on Saturday, 2 March 1963. Horrendous winter weather meant this was the first home game played by Celtic that calendar year, and they would claim both points following a 3-1 win, but Jimmy – “Airdrie’s best forward” according to The Evening Times and noted by The Herald’s Cyril Horne as “the most intelligent player in the outfield” – at least had the satisfaction of scoring against his old team, heading the equaliser just before half-time.

There would be no satisfaction whatsoever in the Diamonds next visit to Celtic Park, on Saturday, 26 October 1963. This was the famous game when Hoops goalkeeper Frank Haffey saw his penalty kick saved by opposite number Roddy McKenzie, thus preventing a Celtic win by double figures. Both John Hughes and John Divers scored hat-tricks in the 9-0 rout which left Airdrieonians rooted to the bottom of the table.

Celts would also end the Broomfield club’s interest in the Scottish Cup that season, following a 4-1 win at Celtic Park on Saturday, 15 February 1964. Once again Jimmy was on the scoresheet, bringing the visitors back into the match at 2-1 early in the second half before goals from Jimmy Johnstone and John Hughes eased the Hoops through to the fourth round.

The clubs met for the final season that season seven days later at a snow-covered Broomfield, Sam Henderson making his second and final appearance in the Hoops at right-half in a lottery of a match. A Frank Brogan double gave Celtic the victory – the winger denied a hat-trick when Diamonds keeper Jim Samson saved his late penalty – whilst John Fallon prevented Jimmy from scoring a hat-trick of goals against Celtic in Airdrie colours with a stunning save from his free-kick.

The 2-0 win kept Celts in third place behind title contenders Rangers and Kilmarnock, whilst Airdrieonians had recovered from their dreadful start to the season to climb clear of the relegation slots. Queen of the South and East Stirlingshire would take the dreaded drop and to this day have not returned to the top-flight, whilst Clyde featuring a young Harry Hood secured promotion behind runaway Second Division champions Morton.

Jimmy was linked with a move to Pittodrie in 1964 but chose to remain in the west of Scotland for family reasons. His final campaign as an Airdrieonians player was 1964/65, another disappointing season which did end in relegation, together with Third Lanark after their final campaign in the top Division. He did not feature in the side which lost 2-1 to Celtic at Parkhead on Hallowe’en 1964 in a dreadful match only brightened up by a late Stevie Chalmers double.

Continued on the next page…

However, Rowan was back in the team which welcomed Celtic to Broomfield on Wednesday, 10 March 1965. This was an historic evening for their guests, as the wonderful Jock Stein era commenced with a 6-0 rout of Airdrieonians, recent signing Bertie Auld scoring five goals that night, two from the penalty spot, after John Hughes had opened the scoring, with the new management team in the dugout for the first time.

Three months later, Jimmy was back in the news and the top-flight as he signed for Falkirk on 16 June 1965, having scored 27 goals in 87 League games in three seasons at Broomfield. The record-breaking deal was reported in The Evening Times as follows.

“Jimmy Rowan, Airdrie’s captain of last season and man of many clubs, was transferred to Falkirk today. No fee was divulged. Falkirk and Airdrie reached agreement this week for the 29-year-old forward or half-back after a first Falkirk offer had been rejected. With new manager Sammy Kean on holiday, Falkirk sent a representative to Broomfield this morning, and after a three-cornered conference with manager Archie Wright, Rowan and the Falkirk negotiator, Rowan signed the transfer form.Falkirk will be Rowan’s SIXTH First Division club – a record which no player in Scotland can equal. His first senior club was Celtic and when he was given a free transfer he signed for Clyde and then moved to Dunfermline Athletic, Stirling Albion and then Airdrie.”

Jimmy made his debut in Falkirk’s opening League Cup-tie against Hibernian at Brockville on Saturday, 14 August 1965, the Bairns coming from behind to win 3-1. The Easter Road men recovered to win the section before going all the way to the last four, where Celtic beat them 4-0 in a replay having required a last-gasp Bobby Lennox equaliser in the first match at Ibrox. Two first-half Yogi penalty kicks then won the cup for Celtic against Rangers at Hampden.

Rowan was in the Falkirk team which faced Celtic at Brockville in a League match on Saturday, 16 October 1965. Three times the Bairns led but Celts refused to be beaten, edging a seven-goal thriller when Bobby Lennox scored the winner with six minutes remaining.

The return fixture at Celtic Park on Saturday, 12 February 1966 was a different matter entirely, Joe McBride with a hat-trick, Bertie Auld with a double and John Hughes on target as Celts destroyed the Bairns with a 6-0 win, five of the goals arriving in a second-half blitz.

Continued on the next page…

Jimmy did not feature in either of the League clashes between Falkirk and Celtic the following season, the Hoops winning 3-0 at Brockville in November 1966 and 5-0 in Glasgow in March 1967 on their way to winning the quintuple of trophies and becoming the champions of Europe. And he would miss out on both games in 1967/68 as Celts recorded 3-0 wins on both occasions.

By this time, he was playing with the reserves and moving towards a coaching career, taking over as caretaker manager of Falkirk between the resignation of John Prentice and the appointment of Willie Cunningham in the autumn of 1968. The new manager promptly stripped him of his coaching responsibilities, and when Jimmy spoke of this with a journalist, he was suspended for two weeks for breach of contract, a decision subsequently refuted by the SFA.

Jimmy played with the second-string Bairns at Celtic Park as they lost 2-1 to a strong Hoops line-up in the semi-final of the Reserve League Cup on Saturday, 14 December 1968 but his days at Brockville were now numbered. Rowan was freed on 4 May 1969 and was appointed as chairman of the Scottish Professional Footballers Association the following day. His SPFA colleagues would include Harry Hood and Alex Ferguson.

Jim then returned to Clyde, signing up at Shawfield as a player-coach on Friday, 8 August 1969, albeit that would be the shortest stay of his career, as headed across the city to sign for Partick Thistle for one final stint as a player on Sunday, 14 September 1969. In another strange quirk of fate, he made his debut against the Bully Wee at Shawfield six days later in a 2-1 defeat, whilst Harry Hood was scoring to give Celtic a first League win at Ibrox since September 1957. Rowan played in nine successive games for the Jags before succumbing to injury in a 1-0 defeat to St Mirren at Love Street on Saturday, 15 November 1969. That would prove to be Jimmy’s final senior match as Thistle endured a torrid time to finish bottom of the table.

Rowan was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire on Thursday, 26 March 1970, the Firs Park outfit finishing third from bottom of the Second Division in his only full season there. He was relieved of his duties on Monday, 30 August 1971, 48 hours after a 6-2 home defeat by Hamilton Academicals in the League Cup. Jimmy would then carry out scouting duties for his old pal Jock Stein at Celtic whilst coaching with Clyde but there would be one last match in the big time for him, taking over as interim manager at Shawfield following the resignation of Archie Robertson before the League Cup tie with Montrose on Wednesday, 29 August 1973. Stan Anderson would duly be appointed to the Clyde manager’s job two days later and Jimmy would remain on the coaching staff at Shawfield until his retiral from the game in 1975. He then commenced a successful second career in the licensed trade.

Jimmy’s former Celtic teammate John Hughes paid him a lovely tribute following his death on 21 June 2015, just a month short of his 80th birthday.

“Jim was a lovely man, very caring and very helpful. Despite the brevity of his Celtic career, he remained a very big Celtic fan and used to say to me that if he was in the house when an Old Firm game was on TV, he had to go out for a walk as he couldn’t bear the tension! Also, Jim was quite a religious man, involved with his church St John’s in Uddingston where he lived and the St Vincent de Paul Society charity.”

Peter Goldie on Jimmy Rowan

“Jimmy Rowan was one of my best friends when he was there. He signed from Shettleston Juniors and after a few games in the first team he was let go. He was an inside forward and played for quite a few years afterwards with Stirling Albion.”

Hail Hail,

Matt Corr

David Potter’s new book, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style is featured in the new edition of the Celtic View which is out now and available from the Celtic Stores. You can also pick up the Willie Fernie book there too or order direct from Celtic Star Books, link below…