Three moments in time – Celtic in the Thirties. Part 1 – Dens Park

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·13. Juli 2025

Three moments in time – Celtic in the Thirties. Part 1 – Dens Park

Three moments in time – Celtic in the Thirties (Part 1 – Dens Park)…

Over the past three months I have been sharing some of the memorabilia collection of former Celtic, Scotland and Ireland trainer Will Quinn, courtesy of his great-grandson Steven. If you missed any of these articles on The Celtic Star you can catch up HERE.

Today’s offering is a page from one of his scrapbooks, featuring three very different Celtic images from matches which feature in the first volume of my Celtic in the Thirties books, published by Celtic Star Books and available now on our bookstore.

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Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, available in two volumes at Celticstarbooks.com

Two of the images were straightforward in terms of identification, thanks to the captions, but the top photo required a bit of investigative work. My first thought was Dens Park, with Tynecastle also a possibility, but I have managed to pin it down and once again, it is a game of some significance. It took place at Dens Park on Saturday, 17 October 1931, in the aftermath of the tragic death of John Thomson the previous month. Indeed, the inquiry into John’s death had only concluded in Glasgow the previous day.

The ‘giveaway’ is the unique ‘Umbro diamond’ socks, which Celts wore for the first time in the historic tour of the USA and Canada a few months earlier.

The photo shows Jimmy McGrory ‘with plenty company,’ the Celtic striker surrounded by Dundee defenders as he tries to score. The goalkeeper is fairly unmistakeable, Englishman Wilson “Bill’ Marsh who played over 400 games for the Dark Blues between 1925 and 1937, having made his debut against St Mirren just four days after Celtic beat Dundee in the 1925 Scottish Cup final thanks to goals from Patsy Gallacher and that same Jimmy McGrory.

I may need support from @TheDeeArchive to identify the other home defenders but the man who marked Jimmy McGrory that afternoon was future Rangers manager Scot Symon. The two men would be dugout rivals for many years from 1947, when Symon won trophies at East Fife before his move to Ibrox, perhaps the most famous occasion being the ‘Hampden in the Sun’ League Cup final of October 1957, as Jimmy won his last major honour as Celtic manager.

Also in the Dundee line-up that day was Forfar-born winger Alex Troup, a hero of my dear and much-missed friend David Potter.

The full Celtic team was as follows;

Joe Coen; Willie Cook & Peter McGonagle;

Jock Morrison, Jimmy McStay & Willie Hughes;

Bertie Thomson, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Charlie Napier & Peter Scarff.

Despite the horrific events of early September, Celtic had remained unbeaten in the season to date and had not lost a League match at Dens Park in eight years. However, both of those proud records would fall on a disappointing afternoon on Tayside.

Here is how I describe that day and the aftermath in Volume One of Celtic in the Thirties…

As fate would have it, Celtic would finally suffer a League defeat two days later, going down 2-0 at Dens Park, the venue of John’s debut back in February 1927, to a Dundee side whose centre-half James ‘Scot’ Symon nullified the threat of Jimmy McGrory. The pair would later be in opposition many times through the 1950s and 1960s as the respective managers of Rangers and Celtic. Dens striker Alec Craigie headed both goals in the first half.

Elsewhere, Queen’s Park recovered from their defeat by Rangers the previous week to shock Bill Struth’s men at Ibrox, the amateurs winning 1-0, Rangers missing both of their penalties. With both main title rivals beaten, Motherwell stretched their advantage at the summit to three points with a 2-0 home win over Hearts, Willie MacFadyen on target from the spot.

Willie Maley’s men would get back on track the following Saturday, 24 October 1931. The Celtic manager welcomed back Peter Wilson for the home match with Ayr United and handed a competitive debut to Joe McGhee, who had appeared during the close-season tour of the USA and Canada, Jock Morrison and Willie Hughes the two men missing out. McGhee repaid Maley’s faith by scoring twice within the first 20 minutes in a 4-2 win, albeit these would turn out to be his only goals for the club in domestic football. Jimmy McGrory and Charlie Napier were Celtic’s other goalscorers, whilst former Aberdeen striker Alex Merrie briefly restored hope for the visitors at 2-1 and inside-forward Wilf Armory netted a late second. Through in Fife, Willie MacFadyen helped himself to a second-half hat-trick in League leaders Motherwell’s 5-1 win over Cowdenbeath.

That day marked the final Celtic appearance for teenage goalkeeper Joe Coen, whose Hoops career had lasted a mere three games before he fell out of the first-team picture and was freed at the end of that season. Joe did enjoy success with Luton Town, where he spent seven years but like John Thomson there was a sad footnote to his life. In December 1941, whilst training as a fighter pilot, Joe was killed in a mid-air collision, two months short of his 30th birthday.

There had been one blight on an otherwise successful day for Celtic, Peter Scarff leaving the field early again suffering from a shortage of breath. It is safe to assume that none of the 7,000 spectators present would realise the dire consequences to follow for another of Celtic’s brightest young stars.

Celtic goalkeeper Joe Coen beaten by Alec Craigie’s header at Dens Park. Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, available in two volumes at Celticstarbooks.com

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, available in two volumes at Celticstarbooks.com

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