Continuing our fantastic tribute to Sunny Jim Young from David Potter’s wonderful biography on the early Celtic legend…

To read the earlier instalments please check David Potter’s author page on The Celtic Star.

The relationship between Celtic and Hibs was complex. Hibs were looked upon as the “parent club” from which Celtic had sprung. They had won the Scottish Cup in the February of the year (1887) that Celtic had been born, and there seems to be little doubt that that was what put the idea into the head of Brother Walfrid and others that for the purpose of feeding poor children in Glasgow’s east end, a football team might be a good idea.

But Hibs had hit bad times in the early 1890s and Celtic had taken a few of their players, causing resentment in the Edinburgh Irish, who even saw the Glasgow side taking away some of their supporters as well. Celtic had of course done well in the 1890s, winning Scottish Cups and Scottish Leagues, but Hibs had fought back the last year or so, delighting their supporters when they beat Celtic 1-0 to lift the Scottish Cup in 1902, and now winning the Scottish League. On 2 January 1903, Hibs had hammered Celtic 4-0 at Celtic Park, a defeat that hurt Maley and the supporters particularly hard, for the struggle to be the flag bearers and the rallying point for the Irish in Scotland was a real one.

One of the points at issue between them was of course how far the “Irish” sides should sign Protestants and non-Irish. Celtic were of course far more visionary than Hibs in this respect, realising that Irish roots were significant, but the Scottish side of the club was far more so. Part of Hibs’ problems of the early 1890s had been caused by their exclusive sectarianism, whereas Celtic, Maley in particular, were always prepared to play non-Irish.

Several motions had been put forward at Celtic’s AGMs in the 1890s suggesting that there should be a limit on Protestants signed, but the motions had always been rejected. Young, of course, with no obvious Irish connections was an excellent example of non-sectarianism, but the same man was not unaware of the undercurrents present whenever Celtic played Hibs.

On Saturday May 16 Jimmy Young made his official debut before a disappointing crowd of 2,000 (something that perhaps said a little about Celtic’s poor season) in the Glasgow Charity Cup against Hibs. The team was McPherson; Watson and Battles; Moir, Young and Orr; Loney, McMenemy, Bennett, Somers and Quinn. Quite a few of the great team to come in the next few years were in place, although not in the position we would expect them to be.

The two inside men Jimmy McMenemy and Peter Somers were where they would become immortal. Young was at centre half, and Willie Loney who would become the centre half was played on the right wing where he was “a galaxy of tricks and dodges” as The Glasgow Observer put it.

The curmudgeonly “Man In The Know” however remains melancholic. He accuses both teams of “rough and shady play” and says “I was not very highly impressed with the play of Young, the Celts’ Bristol capture at centre half-back. He seems a very common player”, and by “common”, we assume he means “ordinary”.

Given the foul weather and the unsatisfactory nature of the Cathkin pitch (neutral venue was used because Celtic Park had already been booked for a cycling event, while the other semi-final between St Mirren and Rangers was played at Ibrox), Young felt that he did well.

After all, a goalless draw is a good result for a centre half and he was told by Maley that he would be in for Thursday night’s replay at the same venue.

Continued on the next page…

Loney didn’t play in that game – injured presumably and his place in the replay went to Willie Grassam – but it was a totally different game with Jimmy Quinn hitting four goals and Jimmy McMenemy scoring one. Quinn’s second goal was a brilliant individual goal, much appreciated by the 4,000 crowd, the larger attendance reflecting the fine weather.

At the back, Young was outstanding, being singled out for praise for his “splendid tackling”. Maley was jubilant, making a point of congratulating the two Jimmys (or as he kept calling them “Jamies”), Quinn and Young. Indeed Maley felt a tingle for the approaching Glasgow Charity Cup final in Saturday that he had not felt for a long time.

This game in many ways defined Celtic of this time. It was the last time that the team would play officially in the green and white vertical stripes; it was the first trophy won since the Scottish Cup of 1900; and it was the harbinger of really great things for Celtic with several players, not least Jimmy Young, making their first mark on the Scottish game.

The opponents were St Mirren, another non-Glasgow team invited to take part in view of the money required for the Ibrox Disaster Fund, and there was a certain amount of “history” between the teams that season, for Celtic had removed them from the Scottish Cup at the third attempt, and there had been a distinct “over- familiarisation” between certain players and a few vendettas being played off. It would be the first time that the Buddies would see James Young, though.

The weather was splendid with loads of sun on 23 May, and a huge crowd of 15,000 turned up, something that was far too much for the inadequate pay-boxes at Cathkin. “A few scoundrels managed to enter without parting with their sixpence” said the Press, and The Glasgow Observer talks about the huge crowds along Batson Street, Cathcart Road and Allison Street. The takings were a healthy £500, however, for the Charity Cup committee to “disburse as they thought fit”.

The teams were:

Celtic: McPherson, Battles and Watson; Moir, Young and Orr; Loney, McMenemy, Bennett, Somers and Quinn
St Mirren: Rae, Jackson and Cameron; Greenlees, Bruce and McAvoy; Lindsay, Hamilton, Reid, Wilson and Robertson.
Referee; T Robertson, Queen’s Park.

There is some dubiety about the Celtic team selection and the newspapers disagree. The Evening Times and Daily Record and Mail’s accounts of the game give Muir (Bristol Rovers), as if he had not yet signed for Celtic and was currently on loan. The Glasgow Herald and The Glasgow Observer, on the other hand say that Willie Loney is on the right wing, whereas the right half is Jimmy Moir who has indeed played there for a considerable part of the season. Loney is an unlikely right winger, but he was also said to have played there in the 0-0 draw against Hibs, and it is unlikely that Jimmy Moir would be dropped in a Cup final in favour of a man on loan. We shall never know, of course, but the confusion, presumably, arose from the similarity of the names and the traditional and notorious bad spelling and writing of Edwardian journalists. Indeed there was no such thing as a football correspondent in many cases.

An exception however was “Man In The Know”, but he was not really a correspondent, more a “fan with a pen”, and like quite a few fans, was fickle and changeable. He certainly underwent a sea change in his attitude to James Young afte this game. “After his two latest displays, I am inclined to revise my first impression of Young the Celts’ Bristol capture, who now bids to prove a good deal better than a “common player”. He uses his head in more ways than one and his judicious placing and feeding have had a good deal to so with the recent successes of the Celtic forwards…”

Young was indeed impressive. He had an outstanding game being described as a “glutton for work” and being part of a defence which was “ a safe division” of the team, according to The Glasgow Herald which also praises the forward line, although there are reservations that the forwards may be too light for a whole season. St Mirren scored first from a corner kick which goalkeeper McPherson did not deal with, but then Celtic took a grip of the game with goals from Alec Bennett, Jimmy Quinn and Alec Bennett again, before a collision between Alec Bennett and St Mirren goalkeeper Louis Rae saw Rae taken off with what looked like a broken leg. In the second half Willie Loney scored with a header, before Alec Bennett attained his hat-trick as the ten-man St Mirren side began to fade, nevertheless scoring a consolation goal at the end.

Continued on the next page…

It was a great Celtic performance. “Man In The Know”, so down in the dumps a week ago, cannot contain his enthusiasm. Celtic “simply staggered their opponents and the spectators by the spemdour of their form, which recalled that of Aston Villa or the old North End”, – the two teams who in England the previous century had won the League and Cup double. It was a “brilliantly successful close to the season”, and the support now had something to look forward to over the summer.

There was however a down side to this game, and it lay in the behaviour of some of the crowd. Whether they were day-trippers from Paisley or Glasgow youths who simply did not like Celtic, their activities involved “the necessity of deploying the constabulary” on one occasion in particular when Maley, acting as linesman (there were no neutral linesmen appointed for the Charity Cup) gave a throw-in to Celtic “contrary to the opinions of the mob” and was pelted with missiles for so doing.

But they were a minority. Young was taken aback at the sheer enthusiasm of the Celtic crowd, some of whom invaded the field at the end. He was an instant hero of the fans, and was presented with a lovely gold medal at the end to add to the Gloucestershire Cup one that he had won less than a month ago. Maley the manager congratulated his players, who, he felt (correctly) could now go on to better things, and said that he was looking forward to seeing them for the start of the season.

Young smiled and was happy with the way that his footballing career had gone. He had clearly done the right thing in coming back to Scotland, but there was something that needed attending to in Bristol.

There was the girl he had left behind him, Florence Coombs. As both of them suspected when he left Bristol to come to Scotland, she was indeed pregnant. There was a mild scandal and embarrassment about this but “mild” was the word. It was hardly unusual to be caught “firing before the twelfth” (a metaphor from the Scottish grouse season which always started on 12 August) in Edwardian Britain, but the couple were in love and Jimmy would certainly do the decent thing and marry her which he duly did in Bristol in June 1903.

Mr and Mrs Young then moved to take up residence at no 14 Barbadoes Road, Kilmarnock, and Jimmy took up a job as an Iron Turner (he had now served his apprenticeship) while keeping up his training and playing for Celtic on a part-time basis when the season started again in August. He did of course hope to get a full-time contract, and would do so in due course. The Scottish League winners in 1903 were Hibs, and the Scottish Cup winners were Rangers. Young was determined to play his part in changing that.

To be continued…

David Potter

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