John Thomson

Good posts ghuys!



Is his Scotland top still at the start of the CP tour?

 

His life may have been short, but his legend will live forever.

It's amazing that the fact (I'd imagine) none of us on here ever saw the guy play, but he holds a special place in our hearts as Celtic supporters.

Also, you do have to have a bit of sympathy for Sam English anaw. By all accounts he was a wreck after the incident with JT.

 

From the Celtic Wiki.

I’m not usually one to start a thread about Rangers but given the number of attempts by the darkside to slander and smear the good name of our heroes and legends in some kind of bizarre point scoring exercise I thought I’d redress the balance and show that we do not need to stoop to their level and can rise above their deep rooted hatred of all things Celtic and set straight a story and a lie that is over 70 years old.

All of us should know and recognise the name Sam English, a name that will forever be entwined with the history of Celtic and of course John Thomson. Recently I finally got round to reading one of my Christmas presents, Tom Greig’s excellent book ‘My Search for Celtic’s John’ (a book I can highly recommend) and I was surprised to discover as he described that fateful day and the aftermath that some people were under the impression that John Thomson’s injury was caused by a ‘deliberate’ kick to the head. I don’t know if it was just me but from the first time I had heard about the tragedy I’d always been told that it was just a tragic accident and no one was to blame. This was the first time I’d heard a conflicting story and after some further research into the subject found out this alternative story was completely untrue but that some regarded this version of events as the truth.

There is a reason that this untruth may have slipped into the realm of fact though. When Thomson was admitted to the Victoria Infirmary the patient’s notes included the phrase ‘the patient was admitted having received, it was stated, a kick on the head’. There was no name attached to this statement and may have been a result of no one knowing the exact truth at the time of the notes being written. However it appears that this was enough for a lie to take root and to this day some still regard it as fact. In addition Willie Maley made a rather ambiguous statement at the fatal accident enquiry when asked ‘In your opinion, was it an accident?’ and his reply was ‘I hope it was an accident. I cannot form an opinion as to what happened as I did not actually see the accident’. Some saw this as a serious aspersion on the character of Sam English but many regard this statement as coming from a grief stricken man whose words were not intended to be interpreted as they were. Many felt this added credence to the ‘deliberate kick’ assumption.

The evidence to back up the fact that the whole incident was nothing but a tragic accident though is overwhelming not least that the fact that the fatal accident enquiry returned a verdict of accidental death. Not one of the players on the park that day or any member of Thomson’s family held English responsible for the accident. Indeed English met Thomson’s parents twice and the Thomson family also published a letter in the Lochgelly Times on the day of Thomson’s funeral publicly exonerated English of any responsibility for the accident. It was a sign of the Thomson’s strength of character that despite losing their son at such a young age they still found time to give comfort to English and realised the burden he was to carry for the rest of his life.

Sadly this wasn’t enough to stop English being taunted by supporters and players throughout the rest of his career. English was only 23 when the accident happened and only a few months older than Thomson. He only signed for Rangers in the summer of 1931 after his goal scoring exploits for Yoker Athletic had alerted them to his talents. It seemed a long and successful career lay before him and the game against Celtic was his first derby in only his 7th competitive game for Rangers. There are many accounts of what happened that day but all eyewitness accounts surrounding the incident itself state that English got a shot at goal as Thomson came out to block and Thomson deflected the ball away for what should have been a corner but his momentum carried him into English where his temple comes into contact with English’s knee and thus his fate was sealed. At no point did English’s foot make any contact with Thomson’s head. This scenario is also supported by photographic evidence.

The Rangers manager of the time Bill Struth, not often held in high regard by Celtic fans, has to be commended during this time as he took the responsibility to send a car for Thomson’s parents in Fife once the seriousness of the situation became clear and he along with Rangers captain Meiklejohn and English visited Thomson’s parents a few weeks later. It was also Struth who decided to play English in the game immediately after Thomson’s funeral adopting the ‘best to get back on the horse’ approach and by the end of the season English had scored 44 goals (still a record for a Rangers player) and he had also won a couple of Northern Ireland caps but despite his exploits he could not forget that fateful moment and his play began to suffer as his heart was not in it. A move to Liverpool was hoped might give him a fresh start but limited success saw him return to play for Queen of the South before finishing his career at Hartlepool at the age of 28.

All through the remainder of his football career English found he could not escape the tragedy. Almost every team he played against used the death of Thomson to their advantage and he was constantly taunted about it and it didn’t stop after he left the pitch both he and his wife were victims of shameful accusations and later this was turned against his children and his grandchildren. Of course there were also many hundreds and thousands of people who absolved him of any responsibility and supported him through difficult times. These of course included many decent Celtic fans.

Having played football myself for over 20 years the worst injury I can ever remember inflicting on an opponent was a broken nose and I felt really bad about that even though it was accidental. I can’t even begin to understand what English must have felt throughout his life and the ignorance of those who sought to gain an advantage or to inflict more misery on him and his family by continually taunting and reminding him of the tragedy. There are many, including Celtic fans, who should feel ashamed at the treatment English received after Thomson’s death.

Sam English died in Vale of Leven Hospital of motor neurone disease on April 12th 1967 aged 58.

I decided I’d wait until the 40th anniversary of his death to post this story and if what I’ve written above changes the opinions of just one person then it will have been a worthwhile exercise.

On that fateful day on September 5th 1931 not one but two men were victims of a terrible tragedy.

Sam English RIP

 

Visited his grave a few weeks ago. Was actually there to find my da's grandparent's grave and they were up in the same part of the cemetery as JT's. Was glad to see that even though Cardenden's a bit of a hun hole, Thomson's grave is well maintained and looked after.

 

JOHN Thomson has had a funeral worthy of such a Prince of Sportsmen. Amid banks of wonderful wreaths and through dense lanes of 30,000 people, the Celtic players carried him from his home in Balgreggie Road to Bowhill Cemetery, almost half-a-mile away.

The only sound which disturbed the slow tramping of thousands was the mournful tunes of the pipe band heading the procession. On his oak coffin there was a wreath shaped in the fashion of goalposts and a crossbar, the gift of the Bowhill Football Club, and immediately behind another wreath of lilles and heather on top of which proudly lay his international caps.

From the early morning, people had poured into this village from all over Scotland. Most of them were the humble folk of football. The miners of Fife, among whom Thomson worked as a boy of fourteen, were there in their hindreds squatting as miners do, by the roadside talking in subdued tones and now and then proudly picking out famous footballers as they walked past to the Thomson home, and there from the road they looked like senitels of sorrow silhouetted against the skyline. The funeral service was due to start at three o'clock, but an hour before that the narrow streets of Cardenden, were a seething mass of sympathisers.

Many of the younger men climbed the roofs of houses or on to the high walls and hedge rows which lined the road. People converged on Cardenden from every point of the compass. When I came up from Dunfermline, seven mles away, the road was black with silent mourners walking to the scene. Then when three special trains came in from Glasgow and motor-cars by the score unloaded their passengers there was hardly room to move. The surrounding pits were idle for the day. Neighbouring villages were deserted. Every man, woman, and child for miles around came to Cardenden to pay their simple tribute. The scene at the Thomson home was magnificent in its simple grandeur.

They had bought the oak casket out to the little garden in front of the house. There it rested, with a background of rambling roses waving in the sunshine, as if bidding sad farewell to their young master. There were generous wreaths everywhere. They lined the top of the privet hedges, lay along the garden paths, peeped out of every little corner, while dozens of mourners continued to arrive carrying more floral tributes. They filled two huge motor lorries with them and even then there were more. Celtic players preceded the coffin carrying masses of floral beauty, and half a mile behind the cortege were mourners bearing their tributes, patiently waiting to lay them on the grave.

Mr Duncan Adamson, an elder of the Church of Christ, conducted the service in the garden. The players and officials of the Celtic clublined up on one side, on the other were the leading legislators of the Scottish Football Association and the Scotiish football League, while at the head of the coffin stood Mr Thomson, the father of the dead intenational, and hsi brother and sisters. The service was as simple as the homage of the village folk. Mr Adamson conducted the ceremony after the fashion of his church. He read a chapte from the Bible, then delievered a brief address.

Women sobbed and eyes of many men glistened in tears as he finished by saying: 'Good night, dear brother, good night!' Then when they had driven a lane through the obident crowd the Celtic players hoiseted the coffin on their shoulders and the pathetic procession moved off. High up on the crags the senitels stood like statues loking don on an unprecedented scene.

I joined the procession along with John McMenemy and George Stevenson, of Motherwell, and Mr William McCartney, the manager of Hearts. All the famous players of Scotland were there. I noticed Alec McNair and Joe Dodds, the famous Celtic full backs of a decade ago, marching side by side. As the procession crawled along, a man in front of me, overcome by the heat, fell to the ground in a faint. He was carried to a near-by shop for attention.

Then, when the coffin passed into the main road, an old man overcome with emotion fell on his knees crying 'Oh, John Thomson, we will never see your likes again.' I had fallen in some twenty yards behind the bier, but as the procession had reached the cemetery I was far behind. Meanwhile the police had thought it wise to close the cemetery gates. Thousands of mourners stood outside while the service at the graveside proceeded. The Rangers players and some of the officals were among those caught in the dense crowd which jammed the roadway.

Finally, however, a way was made through the crowd and, led by Mr W. Roger Simpson, the secretary, the Ibrox players pushed and squeezed their way through to the cemetery gates. Here again Rangers were held up. One of the officers on duty doubted the identity of Alan Morton, and it was not until Morton had been vouched for by a colleague inside the gate that he and his collegues were allowed to pass.

Inside a service was conducted at the grave by Mr John Howie, another elder of the Church of Christ. The grave was just inside the boundary wall, which was lined by hundreds of villagers. Now and thena crackling of twigs at the roadside wall indicated that another impatient mourner had climbed the railings from the outside and burst through the subbery. On the far side of the cemetery, bank upon bank of wreaths streched for yards and yards along the foot of the wall. John Thomson is buried in flowers. When the service had concluded people filed past the open grave and threw their floral tributes on top of the coffin.


After Mr Howie had paid a long tribute to the dead international, Mr Tom White, the Celtic chairman, associated himself and the club with all that had been said by Mr Howie. Not til the service was over were hunders of mourners able to enter the cemetery and look into the grave. Theya re still filing past as I write - people of all stations in life paying their silent tribute to the greatest boy Scottish football has ever known.

 

IT was 86 years ago today, on Saturday, September 5, 1931, the Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson received a serious head injury while playing against Rangers at Ibrox. He died later in hospital, having never regained consciousness after the incident.

The death of a footballer in his prime is thankfully rare, and even rarer on the field of play. Even after this length of time, John Thomson's untimely death at the age of just 22 remains one of football's great tragedies.

A young goalkeeper, already the first choice for his club and country, with a long and distinguished career seemingly ahead of him, dead as a result of an accident during a game.

Thomson was renowned for his bravery and fearlessness, and his dive at the feet of the Rangers forward Sam English as the player went to shoot was visible evidence of those virtues. As English shot, John Thomson's head took the full impact of the Rangers player's knee, leaving the goalkeeper unconscious and his head bleeding.

As the keeper was being stretchered off, a section of the home support were unaware of the seriousness of the injury and cheered until they were silenced by one of the Rangers players.

Thomson's death stunned football, and was particularly hard felt by everyone connected with Celtic.

Some 40,000 people attended the funeral in Cardenden, including thousands who had travelled through from Glasgow, many walking the 55 miles to the Fife village, and Thomson's coffin was carried by his devastated team-mates.

James Hanley, in his book The Celtic Story (1960) wrote: "It is hard for those who did not know him to appreciate the power of the spell he cast on all who watched him regularly in action. 'A man who has not read Homer,' wrote Bagehot, 'is like a man who has not seen the ocean. There is a great object of which he has no idea.'

"In like manner, a generation that did not see John Thomson has missed a touch of greatness in sport, for which he was a brilliant virtuoso, as Gigli was and Menuhin is. One artiste employs the voice as his instrument, another the violin or cello. For Thomson it was a handful of leather. We shall not look upon his like again."

Thomson was brought up in the Fife mining village of Cardenden, and like many of his contemporaries, had started his working life as a teenager down the pits.

He signed for Celtic in 1926 at the age of 17, having been spotted playing for Wellesley Juniors by Celtic scout Steve Callaghan, who had also alerted the club to the talents of a certain Jimmy McGrory.

Celtic paid £10 for the young man who would go on to become known as the Prince of Goalkeepers, and by the age of 18 he had already made his first-team debut against Dundee at Dens Park in a 2-1 win for Celtic.

During his short time as Celtic goalkeeper, he won two Scottish Cup medals - in 1927 when East Fife were defeated 3-1 and in 1931, when Celtic beat Motherwell 4-2 in a replay, having drawn the first game 2-2.

International recognition followed on the back of his impressive displays for Celtic, and Thomson gained four caps for Scotland and four for the Scottish League.

A quiet and unassuming character off the park, once on the field of play Thomson had a natural athleticism aligned to a brave spirit and impressed all who had the privilege to see him play.

In his book, The Story of the Celtic; 1888-1938, Willie Maley, manager of the club at the time of the tragedy, wrote: "Among the galaxy of talented goalkeepers whom Celtic have had, the late lamented John Thomson was the greatest. A Fifeshire friend recommended him to the club. We watched him play. We were impressed so much that we signed him when he was still in his teens. That was in 1926. Next year he became our regular goalkeeper, and was soon regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the country.

"But, alas, his career was to be short. In September, 1931, playing against Rangers at Ibrox Park, he met with a fatal accident. Yet he had played long enough to gain the highest honours football had to give. A most likeable lad, modest and unassuming, he was popular wherever he went.

"His merit as a goalkeeper shone superbly in his play. Never was there a keeper who caught and held the fastest shots with such grace and ease. In all he did there was the balance and beauty of movement wonderful to watch. Among the great Celts who have passed over, he has an honoured place."

Certainly the death of John Thomson hit the club - the officials, players and the supporters - hard and had an understandably adverse effect on subsequent performances over the next couple of seasons.

Indeed further tragedy was to hit the club just two years later when Peter Scarff, who had played in that fateful game, died from tuberculosis at the age of just 24.

John Thomson's memory has lived on with Celtic supporters and fans still visit his graveside in Fife to pay their own respects.

The final thought on the tragic events of September 1931 is to remember the epitaph on John Thomson's gravestone, which reads: "They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind."

 

He has even more glorious hair than Armstrong.

 

Badge I got a few months ago.

 

Aye, bet it never cost JT about £150 a haircut, and endless hours in front of a mirror with a blowdryer.

Probably just spat in his hand.........whooosh!!!!!

 

My Granda used that right up until the day he passed on. Brylcreem, one blade razor shave kit and Old Spice.

Possibly how my kids see me these days still messing about with Cool Water and a Mach 3

 

That smell of brylcreem reminds me of my grandad straight away, love it.

 

http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/sc...tm_campaign=Feed:+co/IRuC+(Celtic+Quick+News)

 

SCOTT Brown today helped to official open a new community football pitch at The Bowhill Centre, Cardenden, in memory of Celtic legend John Thomson.

The Celtic captain was joined by Hoops legend, Tom Boyd, members of the John Thomson Memorial Committee and current Provost of Fife, Jim Leishman, for the ceremony.

The new John Thomson Park facility has been built to serve the local community, and it has been established after a six-year fundraising effort by the Committee. The initiative has also been supported by Fife Council, and Fife Sport and Leisure Trust.

The John Thomson Memorial Committee was founded in 1983 by Alex Burns MBE and exists to preserve the memory of John Thomson, an important figure in Celtic’s history, as well in the local Cardenden community.