Name: Jimmy Quinn
Born: Croy
Signed: 1900
Debut: Jan 19th 1901
Retired: 1915
Games: 311
Goals: 217
Intl: Scotland
Intl Caps: 11

Review
Born in the mining village of Croy Jimmy Quinn was the reluctant hero who went on to be an undisputed Celtic and football legend.

The shy and unassuming son of a hard-working Irish family Quinn was spotted by Willie Maley in 1900 playing junior football for local side Smithston Albion.

Having already turned down the chance to sign for English side Sunderland as Wearside was too far from his family home the gifted Quinn also initially refused the offer to sign for the Bhoys.

Accustomed to the quiet life Quinn was not sure about a move to Glasgow even though the city was relativley close by to his Dunbartonshire home.

Further to that he had doubts about whether he was even good enough to make the step up from Junior football. Maley knew different and the persuasive official eventually convinced Quinn to come to Parkhead by ensuring him he could travel each day from Croy on the train.

Quinn eventually signed provisonal forms with Celtic on New Year's Eve 1900 and became a full time player 13 days later.

Maley's persuasive efforts were to be greatly rewarded time and time again over the next 15 years as Quinn became the most feared forward in the Scottish game. His impact on the Bhoys was immediate - scoring on his debut at St Mirren as Celtic ran out 4-3 winners in a league clash on January 19th 1901.

Originally starting out as left-winger the strong running player was converted into a centre-forward and it was in this position the Mighty Quinn truly excelled. Uncompromisingly tough and with the strength of a buffalo Quinn was an explosive talent with both pace and a ferocious shot.

But even as a winger he knew his way to goal. In his first Scottish Cup final (1901) he may have ended up on the losing side but not before stealing the show with a wonder goal which saw his pace and strength beat six Hearts player before scoring.

As a centre-forward Quinn was a peerless power with no apparent weakness to his game. Brave, quick, great aerial prowess, excellent awarenes, nimble feet and with a power-packed precison shot.

His unrivalled ability as a centre-forward was perfectly illustrated in the Scottish Cup final of 1904 when he bagged a hat-trick at Hampden as Celtic came from 2-0 down to defeat Rangers 3-2.

The fearsome firepower of this humble man from Croy was the foundation on which a glorious era in Celtic's history was built. With the magnificent and rampaging Quinn terrorising opponents Celtic were to win six League championships in succesion as well as adding four Scottish Cups to their haul of silverware. The player was also capped 11 times for Scotland.

Knee trouble eventually brought an end to this most memorial of careers but not before this former collier boy made an eternal impression on football history and in the hearts of all Celtic fans for generations to come.

Jimmy Quinn played 331 times for Celtic and scored 217 goals. He is a Celtic icon who will never be forgoton.


Pictures

• Player Pics

Story

New years day 1907.
Rangers' joe hendry had just fouled Jimmy Mcmenamy, Quinn came charging across towards him and slipped on the wet turf knocking hendry to the ground and landing accidently on his face. Quinn was sent off and suspended for 2 months.
The Celtic fans thought this was a deliberate ploy by the authorities to prevent Celtic becoming the first club to win the scottish league and cup in the same season. A supporters campaign was started to compensate Quinn for his loss of earnings. A grand total of £277 was raised as money poured in from across Scotland, Ireland and the USA. Concerts were held and Jimmy was presented along with the money a gold watch and earings for his wife Annie.
After Quinns suspension Celtic went on to win the double for the first time in Scottish football.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another championship nailbiter thanks to mighty Quinn -
Football
Times, The (London, England)
May 19, 2005
Author: Alex Murphy

At the end of the 1904-05 season, the Old Firm finished level on 41 points each and, according to league rules, the teams had to play off for the title. In hindsight, that seems a trifle harsh on Rangers, who had scored 15 goals more than Celtic in the 26-match campaign and conceded three fewer, but, nevertheless, they faced a title decider at Hampden Park on May 6, 1905.

A crowd of over 30,000 saw Celtic win 2-1, and it was a victory that swung the balance of power in Glasgow. Before that winner-takes-all shoot-out, Rangers had won four of the previous six championships but Celtic's triumph set up a run of six titles in a row.

Although the Celtic goals that beat Rangers came from Jimmy McMenemy, the inside right, and Davie Hamilton, the outside left, the season really belonged to Jimmy Quinn, the centre forward, whose goals kept Celtic in the hunt when Rangers appeared to be marching away with the title. The campaign was a triumph for one of the most idiosyncratic characters ever to wear the green and white hoops.

Away from the park, Quinn was crippled by shyness and consumed by self-doubt. As a promising youngster he had come to the notice of Willie Maley, the Celtic manager, who made up his mind to sign the boy. But Quinn assured Maley he was not good enough for the big league and he wanted to stay with his pals in junior football.

Maley begged him to join Celtic, and in the end he got his man with methods only just the right side of chicanery. The move did not quell Quinn's diffidence his nickname in the Celtic dressing-room was "Jamie the Silent".

On the field, though, Quinn became a warrior in the Celtic cause, willing to fight his corner with the roughest defenders, and he would hobble home after matches, his legs grotesquely swollen with cuts and contusions.

All season long, Quinn maintained a running battle with referees and markers, but his never-say-die attitude lay at the heart of his team's success. In the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers at Celtic Park he was sent-off for fighting. The decision sparked a riot that brought the game to an early conclusion, and Celtic were obliged to forfeit the game.

The incident stirred up so much ill-feeling that a neutral English referee -Mr Kirkham from Preston -was drafted in for the title play-off. The Scottish Football League felt it would be impossible to find any referee in Scotland not infected by the ill-will that ran between the two clubs.

Yet, for all his problems with officialdom, the mighty Quinn managed to score 19 goals in the 21 games for which he was not suspended. The tally included hat-tricks against Port Glasgow Athletic and Motherwell, and a priceless double in the penultimate game of the season, when Celtic beat Rangers 4-1 at Ibrox to drag themselves back into the championship reckoning.

Quinn's battered limbs finally failed him in 1915, when he retired with his place in the Celtic pantheon assured. He died in 1945, and Maley penned a fitting valedictory: "He was the keystone in the greatest team Celtic ever had."