The Pat Woods Files – Charles Patrick Tully

Part 2: Tully – ‘A breath of fresh air’

In May 1954, just after Celtic under the management of Jimmy McGrory and the captaincy of Jock Stein had won a first League and Scottish Cup Double in four decades, chairman Bob Kelly gave an interview to Harry Andrew of the Scottish Sunday Express.

As always, the conversation got around to Charlie Tully, with Kelly commenting that Celtic ‘have never made a happier decision’ than to bring the Irishman to Glasgow six years earlier.

Legendary Celtic author and historian Pat Woods recently shared that old newspaper article with me, and with the centenary of Charlie’s birth falling this month what better time than that to publish it again. In addition to the remarks about Tully, though, the interview provides a fascinating insight to the mindset of the Celtic supremo Bob Kelly through the period beyond the Empire Exhibition Trophy success of 1938 to the Double success of 1954.

In my opinion, Kelly does make a couple of inaccurate statements in his interview, the first of those relating to Charlie Tully joining Celtic after Belfast Celtic decided to withdraw from the Irish League. The Irishman moved to Glasgow in the summer of 1948, some six months before the horrific events at Windsor Park which led to their resignation from senior football in the six counties at the end of the 1948/49 season.

My second challenge is around his stated position of Celtic with regards to relegation ahead of that vital League match at Dens Park, Dundee in April 1948. I’ll leave Kelly’s comments to stand within the text reproduced below but for the benefit of accuracy, the actual position at kick-off on Saturday, 17 April 1948 can be better summarised as follows:

• Having lost three successive League games from late March, Celtic were sitting in 13th position in the 16-team Division A with 23 points and only that final fixture at Dens Park against fourth-placed Dundee to fulfil. So a draw would take us to 24 points and a win to 25 (only two points for a win). Defeat would leave us exposed on 23 points.

• How exposed? Well, there was one relegation spot to be decided, with Queen’s Park already doomed on 17 points with two games to play, so a maximum of 21 for them which would leave them in the bottom two no matter what happened in those. Both Queen of the South and Airdrieonians, the two sides immediately below Celtic, could also achieve 25 points by winning their final games. If they did so, then that would drag Celtic, Hearts and Morton all into the pot of clubs fighting for survival. Hearts were on 23 points but had three games to play so were relatively best-placed, whilst Scottish Cup-finalists Morton were on 24 with just one to play.

• So whilst an unlikely win at Dundee would make Celtic all but mathematically safe – because of their superior goal average to Airdrieonians in particular – defeat would not automatically relegate them. This is an urban myth. As it transpired, Airdrieonians failed to take a single point from their final two games and took the drop with 21 points, so Celts would have been safe whatever result was obtained at Dundee.

• As if any additional spice were needed, a quirk of the schedule meant that only Celtic and Hearts of the five clubs involved would play on Saturday, 17 April 1948. That was because it was Scottish Cup final day, Rangers’ meeting with Morton at Hampden forcing the postponement of Queen’s Park’s home game with Airdrieonians and the clash between Queen of the South and the Greenock outfit.

• And just for completeness, Hibernian won the title that season ahead of Rangers, with Partick Thistle and Dundee making up the top four.

So now that’s all cleared up – hopefully – let’s get back to Bob Kelly’s article in the Scottish Sunday Express of 16 May 1954, just before Celtic headed across to Ireland for a short tour…

TULLY – ‘A BREATH OF FRESH AIR’

His tricks revived the lost art of ball control

Bob Kelly, Chairman of Celtic F.C., tells it straight to HARRY ANDREW

“Can you imagine Celtic playing their last league game of the season – knowing that they have to win to escape relegation?

It sounds incredible. But it happened to us in April 1948, at Dens Park.

The position that day before the match was that we had 23 points, with one game left, as did Queen of the South. Then Morton had 23 points, with three games to go, and Airdrie 20 points, with three matches left.

Dundee was a very good team but we realised we just had to win. You can imagine my personal feelings as I had just become chairman (March 1947). Fancy a first year as chairman with Celtic in B Division! It is now history that we did win. But what a fright we had first.

With only 25 minutes left to play, we were losing 2-1. Then Weir, who had scored our first goal, got two more – the last one just a minute or two before the final whistle. So we escaped.

Obviously we had now to consider our future very seriously. We were anxious to restore our lost prestige as quickly as possible, but we did not want to be rushed into panic measures.

We had to make up our minds either to spend tens of thousands of pounds on a whole new team of first-class players or else to recruit on a long-term policy and again run the risk of relegation.

We decided to take the risk and build for the future, while perhaps buying one or two players to help during the period of recovery. And so the first steps were taken towards our present team.

BITTER CRITICISM

It meant, of course, that we could not look for immediate success – and, indeed, it did not come our way. We had to stick to our policy in face of frequent, and often bitter criticism. Our own supporters were, naturally, impatient.

But behind the scenes we were working hard. Full-time training was stepped up. Close attention was paid to every player – as an individual.

My father, all through his association with the club, had spent as much time as possible at the ground. I have followed him in that, as in so much else. I go to Parkhead every morning, so that if any player wants to see me, he knows he can.

The whole staff ate together every day in a Glasgow restaurant. We still do.

And so, gradually, the team improved.

You may be wondering how a great club such as Celtic ever allowed themselves to get into such a position. The answer is that the war had practically wiped out our playing resources.

In 1938 we won the Empire Exhibition tournament in Glasgow against the picked sides of England and Scotland. Our team then was:

Kennaway; Hogg, Morrison; Geatons, Lyon, Paterson;
Delaney, McDonald, Crum, Divers, Murphy.

It was a grand side, but it had one big weakness – no real reserve strength. Indeed, we had only one recognised first-team standby, Lynch, and he played almost anywhere there was a vacancy. We came to be known as the team with one reserve.

THE FOUNDATION

Still, it did look as if we had the foundation of a good side for years to come. And then the war came, to change the whole picture.

We, as a club, took the view that football was no longer important, except as a distraction for the public. We made no attempt to find jobs for our players or to keep them available.

Kennaway had already become ill and he went home to Canada. Morrison returned to the mines and gave up football altogether. Lyon and Paterson were soon in the Forces and Delaney had a broken arm that refused to heal. He had broken it in a Scottish Cup tie against Arbroath. It was thought for a long time that he would not be able to play again.

With the remnant of that pre-war side and some new recruits, we struggled through the first two years after the war.

Now, with season 1949-50 facing us we were planning for bigger things. We felt we had the foundations of a good side – and we believed we were beginning to play again in the old traditional Celtic style.

Here I must pay tribute to Charlie Tully.

When Belfast Celtic decided to withdraw from the Irish League in 1948, all of their players became available for transfer. We chose Tully because we thought him the best ball player in the side.

We have never made a happier decision.

MASTER CRAFTSMAN

You will recall what a sensation Tully immediately became. Soon his name was a household word. He was a breath of fresh air to Scottish football, for people had forgotten that there were players like this – individualists who were master craftsmen, who loved to play with the ball.

Almost immediately he played a wonderful game against Rangers and we won. We could not have had a bigger boost for our morale.

But Tully was of even greater value to us – he gave ideas to the younger players. They began to see how vital it was for them to develop their own game, and we gave them every encouragement.

Today, Willie Fernie is a typical example. He has developed his own style to the point where he has become an international. And he will be better yet.

These days, when everybody is singing the praises of Continental sides, it is important to remember that Scots football has still one big advantage. The Hungarians, Uruguayans and the rest are undeniably good, but in a drilled, mechanical way. They have reached a point where they must always do things to a pattern.

That is the weakness of over-coaching.

If you have two very well-matched sides then victory will always go to the one which can produce the unexpected at the right moment. And that, too, is very much part of the Celtic belief.

Probably more than anything else, that attitude of mind moved us up to fifth place in the League Championship by the end of season 1949-50. The signs now looked much brighter.

We began the following season with this side

Bonnar; Haughney, Milne; Evans, McGrory, Baillie;
Collins, Fernie, McPhail, Peacock, Tully.

That was almost four years ago – but you can see how the present side was beginning to shape up.

This was to be a great season for us, but we had to wait a long time to know it. The side was upset by injuries and some lapses in form, but, by January, we had begun to to win regularly. In particular, we started winning cup ties – and kept on winning them.

And so, in April, 1951, we met Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden – and won by a goal to nil. Our team that day was:

Hunter; Fallon, Rollo; Evans, Boden, Baillie;
Weir, Collins, McPhail, Peacock, Tully.

Well, of course, everything now looked wonderful to us. We had one of the youngest teams in football. We had plenty of first-class reserves. We – the management of the club – were satisfied that our success had been achieved by the right methods.

Perhaps we were too confident. Certainly we did not give sufficient consideration to the youth of our team. The result was that we made a grave mistake.”