Charlie Tully

Title: Passed to You - Charlie Tully
Author: Charlie Tully
Hardback published: 1958
ISBN: No longer in print








From the jacket cover:

"Charles Patrick Tully arrived in unsuspecting Glasgow just over ten years ago, an unknown if confident young man with a twinkle in his eye and an Irish tongue that seldom stopped wagging. Inside three months his name had become a household word.

"It wasn't just those educated feet, or his brogue, or the fact that Glasgow Celtic needed someone to lift them from the doldrums. It was....... just that things happened to Tully.

"And Tully, being as smart a lad as ever came from the back streets of Belfast, didn't make any attempt to stop things happening. The fans took to him and his opponents took after him."

This book, produced in the 50's, was Charlie Tully's own account of his life and times at Celtic.

Never one to be slow in coming forward, Tully's accounts must have been seen as quite controversial yet typically Cheeky Charlie in such a relatively sedate era. His anecdotes throughout the book provide an insight of what it was like to be playing for Celtic in the 50's.

One story recounts the time Celtic were travelling on a boat to Ostend. This was one of the legs of their journey to meet Pope Pious XII in Rome (oh and play a match against Lazio). Aboard the boat was Bing Crosby who proceeded to chat to the players before bursting into 'I belong to Glasgow' with the Tully and the bhoys adding the harmonies along with some nuns and orphan girls.

Other chapters include the successful American tours of the 50's and interestingly some thoughts on whether footballers were paid enough. He says he was paid £16 a week at the time when a labourer would be on £15 after overtime.

It's a shame the book is no longer in print but you can sometimes see an old copy up for auction on Ebay.

Jimmy McGrory

Title: HEROES ARE FOREVER - The Life and Times of Jimmy McGrory
Author: John Cairney
Hardbback published: November 2005
ISBN: 1840189339



James Edward McGrory (1904-82) is a Celtic legend, remembered today as the greatest goal-scorer in the history of Scottish football. His record of five hundred and fifty goals in his fifteen-year career at Parkhead from 1922 to 1937 is unlikely to be surpassed and will stand forever as a memorial to a player who was a typical product of the period between the two world wars. At a depressing time when wages were low and work was scarce, his feats on the field provided a welcome and much-needed escape for the thousands of ordinary, cloth-capped Scottish working men who packed the dirt terracing to cheer on every move he made. Jimmy McGrory was more than a professional footballer; he was a beacon who lit up so many winter Saturdays for so many people in an age when football was the simple pastime of the masses and not the boardroom hobby of foreign billionaires. When McGrory started his career more than 80 years ago, the world was a different place and football had a different meaning. It was not yet the tool of corporate interests, and local clubs still attracted local players and local supporters. Loyalties were unquestioned and fathers passed on to sons their love of the game and their love of the club. Every Glasgow boy grew up playing in the street knowing that eventually he might graduate to grass and join that pantheon of the gods he considered the team he supported to be. Few attained their dream, but Jimmy McGrory did - giving much of his life to the one club he supported as a boy and served as an adult till his death. "Heroes are Forever" tells the full story of McGrory's life and career, and is set against the vividly drawn background of the inter-war period. It is a portrait of a loyal, modest and inspirational man who lifted the hearts of his countrymen and raised the spirits of a nation. It was he, after all, who by scoring twice for Scotland in 1933 provoked the original 'Hampden Roar'.

Jimmy Quinn

Title: The Mighty Quinn: Celtic's First Goalscoring Hero
Author: David Potter
Paperback published: March 2005
ISBN: 0752434608




Rising to prominence with his hat-trick in the Scottish Cup final of 1904 against Rangers - a feat that remained unique until 1972 - Jimmy Quinn became the spearhead of Willie Maley's great Edwardian side who won six League titles in a row. Making over 300 appearances and scoring 216 goals for his beloved Celtic, Quinn also became the hero of Scotland when in 1910 he almost single handedly beat England 2-0 to become the undisputed best player in Great Britain. No stranger to controversy, being twice sent off in acrimonious and controversial circumstances against Rangers, he played his part in the events that led up to the famous Hampden Riot of 1909. Born in Croy in 1878 of illiterate Irish immigrants Quinn was in fact a reluctant hero and remained a shy and unpretentious man until his death in 1945. Some of the very essence of Scottish football lies here in the story of Jimmy Quinn - a gratifying read for anyone with a love for the Scottish game.

Bobby Collins

Title: Bobby Collins: The Wee Barra
Author: David Saffer
Paperback published: September 2004
ISBN: 0752431765




During the 1950s and ‘60s, few British footballers made a bigger impact than Bobby Collins. Making his Celtic bow in 1949, Collins claimed every domestic honour. A regular for Scotland, he scored in the 1958 World Cup before joining Everton. Following a four-year spell, where he skippered the team, Collins joined Leeds United, leading the club into the First Division and a first FA Cup final. Acknowledged as Don Revie’s greatest signing, following his departure in 1967, Collins offered experience to Bury and Morton. Affectionately dubbed the Wee Barra by Celtic followers, Collins endeared himself to players and supporters with his all-action game. A brilliant tactician and motivator, Collins was a supreme passer of the ball, possessed a thunderous strike and never shirked a tackle. Playing with stars from a golden era, Collins held his own against the elite. This profusely illustrated book is the first to chronicle the career of an exceptional talent.

James 'Dun' Hay

Title: James 'Dun' Hay 1881-1940: The Story of a Footballer
Author: Roy Hay
Paperback published: April 2004
ISBN: 0975197002




The footballing life story of James 'Dun' Hay, 1881-1940, captain of Celtic, Scotland and Newcastle United, who was suspended for life for refusing to apologise after accusing a director of Ayr United and the Treasurer of the Scottish Football Association of trying to bribe a referee in 1926. This is the footballing life story of James 'Dun' Hay, 1881-1940, captain of Celtic, Scotland and Newcastle United, who was suspended for life for refusing to apologise after accusing a director of Ayr United and the Treasurer of the Scottish Football Association of trying to bribe a referee in 1926. Hay had a stellar career with Celtic when it was arguably the best team in the world between 1904 and 1911, winning the Scottish League championship six time in a row, a feat not surpassed until the days of Jock Stein. Hay then moved to Newcastle United, which had dominated English football at the same time, where he captained the team until football was suspended in 1915 for the duration of the First World War. He was captain of Scotland three times in the Edwardian years and toured Europe with Celtic and Newcastle when the Scottish influence on the world game was much greater than it is today. Later he returned to Scotland to play with Ayr United and saw service as a gunner in France. After the war, he played for and managed Clydebank. In 1924 he became manager of Ayr United. The following year he claimed to have caught a director of Ayr United, who had also been the Treasurer of the Scottish Football Association for twenty years, trying to bribe a referee. When it came to the hearing by the tribunal it was Hay's word against that of the other person and when Hay refused to apologise for raising the accusation he was suspended sine die. Later he was reinstated but subsequently played no major role in the game with which he had been involved for thirty years. This book, written by his grandson Roy Hay who currently resides in Australia, is a great addition to anyone's library.

John Thomson

Title: My Search for Celtic's John
Author: Tom Greig
Paperback published: October 2003
ISBN: 0954913507




This fascinating biography into the life and times of a Celtic legend traces his roots from birth and upbringing in Fife, Scotland to the national stage as Glasgow Celtic's legendary goalkeeper. In over 220 pages, and with 38 photographs, many unseen before from private and family collections, the author has uniquely traced the story of John Thomson.

An interview with the author can be found at:
http://www.celtic-connection.com/sports/sports2004_04_1.html

Title: A Tribute to John Thomson
Author: John Thomson Memorial Committee
Paperback published: 2001

Willie Maley

Title: The Man Who Made Celtic
Author: David W Potter
Paperback published: April 2003
ISBN: 0752426915




Celtic owe a lot to Willie Maley. He played in their first game in 1888 and won Scottish caps as a Celtic player in 1893. He became the club's manager in 1897 and then set about building them into the best team in Scotland; Maley had a vision of Celtic as a world power in football and took them to play in England, Europe and United States. This book chronicles his playing career, the beginning of the great Edwardian Celtic team, the devastating effect of the Great War and the Wealth of talent he uncovered up until he departed the club in 1940. This is the story of a remarkable club servant and the football institution he helped to build.