Their ground was called Cathkin Park and was situated not far from Hampden. Indeed until 1903, Cathkin had been Hampden until the new Hampden was built. Charlie does remember however the great occasion in his childhood on May 20 1953 when Celtic won the Coronation Cup and when there was dancing in the streets of the Gorbals on a fine spring evening.
They had beaten Hibs in the final, the heroes being goalkeeper John Bonnar and centre half Jock Stein. This had been an all-British tournament to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and it remains a source of great irony that the two finalists were not the establishment teams of Rangers and Arsenal, but the two Scottish teams of Irish origins, Celtic and Hibs! Celtic scored first, then survived a momentous barrage as Hibs “Famous Five” of Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond threw everything at them but simply could not get one past “that bugger Bonnar” as he was lyrically described by Willie Ormond.
Charlie was only 12 at the time. The Celtic open-topped team bus was driven through the streets to show off the Cup to their adoring fans (it was only their second major trophy since World War II, along with the Scottish Cup of 1951) and Charlie recalls everyone rushing to see the bus passing the pub now called The Brazen Head, (it was then called incongruously The Granite City!) which was near where he lived. Little did he think that less than 12 years later he himself would be on a bus showing off a trophy to a similar bunch of delighted fans!
He also recalls being a ball boy at Celtic Park on 16 April 1956 in a game played between Celtic and Manchester United in a benefit games for Cheshire Homes. The game finished 2-2 in pouring rain. Manchester United, for whom Duncan Edwards was outstanding, had just won the English League and were given a great reception from the Parkhead crowd that Monday evening. Matt Busby was of course the Manager of Manchester United and an unashamed lover of Celtic as well. Celtic, for their part played well, but it was possibly a blessing that the Parkhead crowd, eagerly looking forward to the Scottish Cup final against Hearts on Saturday, did not know what horrors lay in store for them in that particular game.
The fact that he was given the job as ball boy made Charlie think that Celtic had their eye on him and it was at Holyrood Secondary School that people first noticed that there was something special about this lad who played at inside left. He had a certain control of the ball which was by no means usual at that age, and certainly passed with astonishing accuracy and knew exactly the amount of “weight” to put on a pass.
On one occasion he inspired Holyrood to beat Greenock High School 12-1, and he played a series of good games against teams like St Gerards and Govan High School. Such performances drew the attention of selectors and on Wednesday 4 January 1956, we find him playing for Glasgow Schools against Edinburgh Schools at Tynecastle before a huge crowd of 4,000, and it was largely due to the talented Gallagher that Glasgow beat Edinburgh 6-2.
The Daily Record goes into overdrive about his performance talking about a “young man with a famous football name” (a reference to Patsy of Celtic and Hughie of Airdrie and Newcastle United) who “walked jauntily out of Tynecastle with a big beam on his face…Charlie Gallagher a dark-haired handsome youngster with golden feet.
In the school-boys inter-city match, Charlie showed like a twinkle-toed beacon” Praise indeed! The Daily Record, one has to admit has been known to practice more than a little rhetorical exaggeration from time to time and to “lay things on thick”, but other papers agreed with their assessment, albeit a little less lavishly. He scored one goal and played a part in all of the other five, and heads were turned. But he was still only 15.
On another occasion when he was still eligible for the Under 15 team, he was moved up to play for Holyrood’s Under 18 team against Govan High School. Against him was another chap in a similar situation, also playing for the bigger boys. This fellow was called Alex Ferguson! Sir Alex recalled this game at a Dinner once when he was the guest speaker and Charlie was in the audience. His recollection was correct but perhaps for understandable reasons, he failed to add that the game was won 4-1 by Holyrood, the game was played at Dixon Park and that Charlie Gallagher scored all four goals for Holyrood.
Details are sparse, but the first goal was from a penalty kick and the second is singled out as being a “magnificent second goal” and Gallagher is the “personality of the match”.T
he teams were:Holyrood: Duffy, Connolly and McCoy: Connelly, Hoey and Burke: O’Donnell, Cuddihy, Murphy, Gallagher and MallanGovan High: Barron, McLean and Wood: Jardine, Crichton and Reid: Bowie, Cullen, Murray, Ferguson and Burt.
David Potter
An extract from David Potter’s fine book Charlie Gallagher? What a Player! More to follow on The Celtic Star as we remember Charlie, a friend and of course a Celtic legend, on this saddest of days. Requiescat in pace, Charlie.
