Celtic facts and figures for newbies.

Anorac and a half. You must be murder in the pub. Quality but

 

Don't know if this counts.
An Ex Celtic player scored the 8000th SPFL goal this weekend.
Greig Spence scored in the 4th minute in a 2-0 away win against Queens park.

 

Martin O'Neills first match in charge was a friendly in Ireland at the Carlisle Grounds, Bray. Against Bray Wanderers.
Celtic didn't wear their hoops as Bray wore their green & white home kit.
The attendance was estimated at 6.5k (of which I was one!)
Tommy Johnson scored a hat trick in a 3-2 win.

 

Currently Celtic are on the longest unbeaten domestic run from all leagues in Europe.

1) Celtic - 40 games
2) Rijeka - 38 games
3) FC Copenhagen - 32 games
4) F91 Dudelange - 26 games
5) Shaktar Donetsk - 24 games

 

100 years ago this season Celtic won the league by 10pts from Morton with Deadco in 3rd.
38 matches were played with Celtic losing just 1.
Using today's pts coversion Celtic would have won on 91pts.
They had a GD of +62.

 

Read an interesting article about one of our earliest players. I always thought Jimmy McGrory could possibly be one of if not the greatest ever Celtic player because of his prodigious goal scoring ability and an apparently legendary power of header. 522 goals is no mean feat.

From what I've read about McGrory I did not expect ever to read of a Celtic player regarded as a better header of the ball.

However this new guy I only just found out about recently is:

Sandy McMahon, The Prince of Dribblers, The Duke.

He played at centre forward or inside left, and his goal scoring rate was phenomenal, an incredible 171 goals in 217 league and Scottish Cup games. What would that be worth now?

A very interesting comment from Willie Maley who knew both players.

This is a link to the full article

http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/McMahon,+Sandy

 

Wow we've already had an unbeaten season? That is an incredible run of form. Seriously feel so lacking in knowledge of us sometimes.

Brilliant thread Packy

Astonishing statistics.

Also responsible for the Hampden Roar when scoring against England in font of about 130,000.

7 games he played for Scotland

Messi is rubbish at pens too.

Tommy Gemmell R.I.P scored a remarkable 31 of 34 penalties he took for us. What bottle.

 

Fantastic

Honourable mention for Charlie Tully who scored direct from a corner against Falkirk but of course the ref disallowed it so what did Tully do, scored direct from the retake.

 

Sorry Marky, didn't see your post. Making a few as I'm reading through this fascinating thread.

I could be wrong but wasn't that piece of Donegal turf laden with 4 leaf clovers and that is how it came to be our crest?

Only lasted a day that though, some nutter stole it during the night.

However many a Saxon have come a cropper at Paradise since then.

 

When Fergus McCann showed up at Celtic Park with a surveyor before the takeover, he was refused access to the stadium to take measurements by the old board.

He subsequently walked the perimeter with his surveyor and they took some measurements and using a postcard of the ground his architect came up with the original plans for the redevelopment. It didn't quite turn out the same but it wasn't far off!

 

Jeez oh our old board were so bad, at least we can say we got rid of them in time and didn't wander dreamy eyed to our doom. A proper fan took over as well. Promising to put good money in and delivering on that promise.

Tommy Burns famous team was another who only lost one league game in a season. A financially doped season. The previous season the huns won with 69 points, Burns team came second with 83 a year later. At least we can say we played the best football.

That's brilliant, imagine measuring Parkhead by walking around it and putting the answer on a postcard. That's what you call determination and an innovative approach.

The largest measurements the old board knew was the size of a biscuit tin.

Guess can't give them too much of a hard time, they were there during some historic moments. And they grew up in the era when world class players could be got for pennies. The modern era must've been quite a shock to them.

 

I disagree. The Old Board, and their predecessors were not that responsible for the successes of the football club. Nevermind the latter stages of Maley's tensure, and just looking at the post-Maley era through to their removal in 1994.

For a start during WWII, understandably they put the wider world issues first, while over Govan way the policy was more to ensure that their players were placed in protected professions for the duration of the war, which lead to their continued dominance through these years. Obviously the structure of the game was different in these years with it divided into regions but the contrast in policies were stark. The Board probably could have done much more to keep Celtic far more prominant, but, let's be honest, football is a pleasure, a distraction, and well down the list of priorities, especially at times when the world was at war.

Following the war, the Board did little to course correct though, and we were only spared relegation by an 88th minute goal in 1947/8. The new Chairman, Robert Kelly began running the club as a dictator after being appointed in 1947, and basically for the next 20yrs ran the club as his personal play thing. Yes, there were successes such as leading the battle over the 'Fly the Flag' controversy in the early 50's, undoubtedly Kelly's finest hour, but mostly for his interference with Jimmy McGrory's team management. Kelly would change team selections on a whim, which no doubt contributed to the team being less successful than they should have been.

The most exacerbating example of this was in a match against Airdrie in 1960. William Goldie had been signed earlier in the year as a back up goalkeeper, but had never played a first team match. On the fateful day, Goldie was spotted by Kelly on the team coach, as he walking to the game with a Celtic scarf on. Kelly had the bus stop, pick him up and decided to play him on the spot. The Hoops went on to lose 2-0 with Goldie somewhat held responsible for both goals. He never played again and was released about 3 weeks later.

Kelly continued to interfere at every turn, and tbh McGrory was just too nice a guy to stand up to him. But even with the talents at Celtic's disposal; Tully, Peacock, Auld, McNeill et al, the Hoops continued to struggle, and there are grounds for belief that Celtic lost out on at least 2 or 3 Cup Final wins because of this interference. It would continue until Stein was given the manager's job in 1965, on the proviso that he had autonomy over team affairs. The rest, as they say, is history. Wasn't the board that made the difference, it was Stein. By and large all the pieces were at the club already, and all it took was for the Chairman and the Board to back off and let Stein put the pieces together.

As Stein's dynasty continued built on the foundation of that night in Lisbon, and re-enforced over the following years by the introduction of the Quality Street Kids, including the likes of Dalglish, McGrain, Connelly, Hay, Macari et al, but for all that success, it was the Board that pulled the pin on that, forcing Stein to resign in 1978. Was Stein offered a place on the Board? Of course not. The Board in their infinite wisdom thought giving him the Pools to run would suffice. Idiots.

The problem stemming from all this was that the Board had rested on the laurels and had been content to sit back, which really, this was when the seeds were sown for what would eventuate in the early 90's. Lack of proper investment, allowing players such as Dalglish to move on set the precedent for the likes of Nicholas and McClair in the 80's meant that Celtic were shifting from being a buying club of top quality players that wanted to come to, to one that had transitioned to being a selling club. There was not real re-investment made into the team or in redeveloping Celtic Park, both of which was needed badly.

Really, it was the mismanagement of the club as a whole, failing to capitalize on the exceptional work that Stein had done and the complacency that saw fortunes decline to the point we were at in the early 90's. The Old Board had a lot to answer for, but the Kelly dominated Old Board did themselves or the club any favours by allowing the situation to deteriorate to that point.

They rode the success of the good times, but they never made any contingency for the bad. And really, it is the Board's duty of care not to just be concerned with the present and short term, but alwys with an eye to preserving our Club and our future. This, above all, should be the Board's primary focus.

So while there will always be agitation from fans about the Board not splashing out on this player or that, it's even more important that there is a Celtic to support for generations to come. And just because we have the money in the bank doesn't mean it has to be spent recklessly on the here and now.

That was what Murray was doing at Ipox, even with money he didn't have. Look how well it turned out for them. But having that money there, when the figures are released and fans on here are agitating and blaming Lawwell for not shelling out for some over-inflated transfer or wage demand from some primadona or whatever, that having a healthy balance safeguards our future, so long as it is used prudentially.

Because it is a community, we are a community. A club built on the foundations of supporting the least able to in the community. While fortunes have changed in the 130 years since the club was founded with those noble intentions from being primarily about charity, our identity as a collective community binds us. It is more than just the football and it doesn't matter if it is in he Gallowgate in Glasgow or the streets of Dublin to the far flung ties in Boston or Sydney or even further afield. We are a community, bound and built on welcome and acceptance which means more than just a game of football. It may be a business now, but what that means is that it is all the more inportant to sustain the club, and the Board are the guardians of the future, for charting a responsible course to build upon success and always to safeguard against catastrophe.

Something the Old Board never did.

What is very significant about McCann's salvation was not that Celtic started throwing good money after bad in order to chase down our former city rivals. Rather, invested in building a stadium that we are all proud of, laid the business model infrastructure to ensure our long term sustainability and prudently invested in the team, gradually bringing in the likes of Di Canio, Lambert, Cadete, Lubo, Larsson etc over the course of 5 years, all the while dealing with a hostile SFA and at times a fanbase that were demanding even more investment into the first team. It's a balancing act. That is what a responsible board and chairman does.

The lessons of 1994 should never be forgotten.

 

Don't know if it's already in here, but the game we pumped that mob 6-2 it was 62 years since the last time we pumped them 6-2, now that's * spooky.

 

Great post Taz..

 

In the 1966-67 European Cup winning season Celtic scored 5 or more goals in a match 16 times domestically.

 

Mohammed Salim

First Indian Sub Continent player to play for a European club and that was Celtic
In pic he is having his feet bandaged by the great Jimmy McMenemy.
Salim did not like playing in boots so played barefeeted.

He scored on his debut.

 

It was supposed to be an official match but due to crowd encroachment it was decided to call the match a 'friendly'.
At least, crowd encroachment was the reason given.

 

@Taz that post above should be sticked somewhere prominent

 

Very good post @Taz

Just in relation to these two bits
1 - It would continue until Stein was given the manager's job in 1965, on the proviso that he had autonomy over team affairs.
2 - They rode the success of the good times, but they never made any contingency for the bad. And really, it is the Board's duty of care not to just be concerned with the present and short term, but alwys with an eye to preserving our Club and our future. This, above all, should be the Board's primary focus.

I wonder though, do you think Jocks success was because the board gave him total control & had they actually made plans for a manager not being successful would have created a catch 22 situation whereby contingency plans drawn up by the board by their very nature would impact the managers ability to spend, recruit, develop as he wished.
Can a manager have total autonomy unless the board step totally away & leave him to it?

Probably the wrong thread for this.

 

@Taz that is a fantastic post. You're right, after reading that I don't think they deserve much benefit of the doubt at all.

@Xatraps I'm not sure the board have to be involved with the running of the team. As long as the business plan makes sure we are a successful club long into the future, any manager would be made aware of the financial limits so if he proves to be very successful then the board don't need to get involved and if he's not then they replace him and tell the new guy the very same deal and the budget he'll have even though he's got full control of team affairs the only thing he doesn't is the ability to buy expensive players? Sorry if I missed your point btw.