A heartbreaking start to Bobby Hogg’s career at Celtic

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The Celtic Star

·12 July 2024

A heartbreaking start to Bobby Hogg’s career at Celtic

The incredible story of Celtic legend Bobby Hogg

Part 8 – A heartbreaking start to Bobby’s career at Celtic

Bobby Hogg’s Celtic career would commence against the backdrop of the saddest event in the club’s long history, the tragic death of our beloved young goalkeeper John Thomson, following an accidental clash at Ibrox on Saturday, 5 September 1931.

Amongst Bobby’s keepsakes is a torn page, perhaps from Celtic’s annual handbook, with a touching verse dedicated to John.

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TO OUR DEPARTED HERO

Gone from us without word or sigh,Left lonely without warning;A place in fame to occupyAnd history’s page adorning.

The bloom of manhood’s promise brightIn you was always gleaming,Your death o’er us has cast a blight –Methinks ‘tis still a dreaming.

When duty called – your answer came,All risk and danger scorning,E’en though Death’s angel called your nameThus early in Life’s morning.

For club or country at your post,Full many a danger braving;How oft were we – when all seemed lost –Thrilled by your daring saving?

They’d heroes in the past, ‘tis true,Whose names will live for ever,But braver or more true than youHas graced the ages never.

Sad! Sad! But true that you are gone,That we with you must part;Though in the grave, you still live onIn every Celtic heart.

Could we but see your cheery face,Our hearts would be much lighter;Among the stars be your high place,And heaven will be brighter.

Ye winds! Blow softly o’er his grave!Trees! O’er him gently waver;He gave his life his charge to save,Than him who could be braver?

Patrick J Butterly (“RB”)

Funeral of John Thomson

A familiar face was missing – Jimmy McStay leads Celtic out seven days after the death of John Thomson

As the club tried to regain some degree of normality in the aftermath of John’s funeral, there was also a practical problem to be solved, that being who could possibly replace The Prince between the posts at Celtic Park. Joe Coen had featured in that five-a-side tournament at Firhill back in May when Bobby had made his initial appearance in the famous Hoops, and it was the former Clydebank man who replaced broken finger victim Johnny Falconer to make his senior Celtic debut in the 1-1 home League draw with Clyde on Saturday, 10 October 1931.

Coen retained his place for Celtic’s trip to face Dundee seven days later at Dens Park, ironically the very place where a teenage John Thomson had made his own Hoops debut back in February 1927. Maley’s men would go down 2-0 to suffer a first defeat of the campaign.

Joe Coen in action for Celtic at Dens Park in October 1931

Some 90 miles south of Tayside, Celtic were trying out another as yet unnamed goalkeeper plucked from the Junior ranks in the corresponding Alliance match against Dundee’s second string at Parkhead. This game marks the first occasion where I found Bobby named in a Celtic starting eleven, which was as follows.

Junior; Bobby Hogg & Robert Millar;Bobby Whitelaw, Jimmy McGuire & Denis Currie;Joe McGhee, Hugh Smith, Frank O’Donnell, Jerome Solis & Peter Kavanagh.

The Celtic ‘A’ team won 5-2 to remain at the top of the table, and seven days later faced the long journey north to meet Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Once again that match is significant, as the Hoops full-back pairing in the Granite City on Saturday, 24 October 1931 would develop into one of the best ever. Left-back John Morrison was one of three players introduced, whilst Bobby’s old Scotland Juniors teammate Tommy McGunnigle was given the nod on the right wing. Whitney for Kavanagh at outside-left was the final change, Celts lining up as follows.

Junior; Bobby Hogg & Jock Morrison;Bobby Whitelaw, Jimmy McGuire & Denis Currie;Tommy McGunnigle, Hugh Smith, Frank O’Donnell, Jerome Solis & Tom Whitney.

Three wonderful Celts: Jimmy McMenemy and Jock Morrison standing with Bobby Hogg seated.

Six thousand spectators watched the Dons dominate to record a 4-2 victory over the League leaders, an early Solis equaliser and a late O’Donnell penalty being Celtic’s only response.

There was another clash of note at Broomfield on Saturday, 12 December 1931, Celtic ‘A’ edging home by the odd goal in seven after two Airdrieonians defenders and Hoops centre-forward Willie Hughes were ordered off for fighting, with one or two others perhaps fortunate not to join them. With Canadian Joe Kennaway now entrusted with the first-team gloves, Joe Coen was back between the sticks for this one, and despite losing three goals showed ‘brilliant custodianship’ in the following Celtic team.

Joe Coen; Bobby Hogg & Robert Millar;Joe Buchanan, Denis Currie & Bobby Whitelaw;Denis McCallum, Hugh Smith, Willie Hughes, Frank O’Donnell & Joe McGhee.

Seven days later, there was another match which would later prove significant for the saddest of reasons, this time involving Celtic’s first eleven. Saturday, 19 December 1931 saw Celtic destroy opposition at home for the third successive week. This time struggling Leith Athletic were the whipping boys, Jimmy McGrory leading the charge with four goals in a 6-0 win, a result which saw the Portobello men sink to the bottom of the table.

Player-manager Jimmy ‘Sniper’ McColl did not feature for the visitors, but they did include another former Celt in their ranks, Camelon-born left-winger Bob McWilliam, who made six appearances in the Hoops in the 1928/29 campaign before joining Watford. Bertie Thomson opened the scoring and Charlie Napier saw his penalty saved before McGrory’s spree, ‘Happy Feet’ Napier rounding things off with Celtic’s sixth. Rangers 4-2 defeat by Dundee at Dens Park saw Celts pull two points closer to their rivals whilst Motherwell’s 4-1 win over Queen’s Park enabled the Steelmen to pull five points clear at the top ahead of their trip to Ibrox the following week. The Celtic team which lined up that afternoon was as follows.

Joe Kennaway; Jock Morrison & Peter McGonagle;Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & Peter Scarff;Bertie Thomson, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Charlie Napier & Jerry Solis.

This line-up is truly poignant as it would be the last to feature Peter Scarff. The 22-year-old inside-forward from Linwood had been a revelation since making his debut against Arthurlie in the Scottish Cup back in January 1929, amassing 60 goals from 119 starts for the club and making his international debut for Scotland in the interim.

He had struggled in several games in recent months with shortage of breath but following the victory over Leith Athletic, Peter coughed up blood. Now his life would sadly take a different course, diagnosed as suffering from consumption, now known as pulmonary tuberculosis, a highly infectious and potentially fatal lung condition. The Celtic star was admitted to the ominously named Bridge of Weir Consumption Sanitorium on Tuesday, 12 January 1932, in an attempt to treat his illness.

Peter Scarf

Following the usual hectic schedule of holiday matches played over the opening days of 1932, there had been a brief break from competitive action as Celtic Park hosted a benefit match for the incomparable Patsy Gallacher on Monday, 4 January. A combined team drawn from Celtic and Falkirk – Patsy’s former and current clubs – lined up against a Scottish League select which included Celtic’s Tom Whitney on the left wing.

The holiday programme had caused a number of listed players to withdraw, Willie Hughes one of those to come in for the injured Jimmy McGrory, whilst Bobby featured at right-back behind Hoops legends Peter Wilson and Patsy Gallacher in the following Celtic/Falkirk Select.

Joe Coen; Bobby Hogg & Hugh Hamill (Falkirk);Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & Johnny Hutchison (Falkirk);Bertie Thomson, Patsy Gallacher (Falkirk), Willie Hughes, Hugh Smith & Willie Gall (Falkirk).

The Scottish League select lined up as follows.

John Jackson (Partick Thistle); Phil Watson (Hamilton Accies) & Willie Ross (Airdrieonians);Bob McDonald (Rangers), Fulton Wilson (St Mirren) & Eddie McLeod (Partick Thistle);Bobby Main (Rangers), Danny Tolland (Ayr United), Archie Gardiner (Hearts), Charlie Archibald (Falkirk) & Tom Whitney (Celtic).

Teams line up ahead of Patsy Gallacher’s Benefit Match in January 1932.

This is possibly the earliest photograph taken of Bobby Hogg as a Celtic player. He is seated on the extreme right of the front row.

Hughes proved a more than capable deputy for McGrory by scoring eight goals and seeing another ruled out for offside as Patsy’s team won 10-7 in front of 7,000 spectators. Archie Gardiner of Hearts was another replacement centre-forward, stepping in for clubmate Barney Battles junior, and he helped himself to four of the League Select’s seven goals. Another famous Celtic name from the past, Tommy McInally – still just 32 years old – acted as linesman for his old friend Patsy’s big day.

Bobby would spend that first season in the reserves, however a combination of injuries and international commitments on Saturday, 9 April 1932 saw Willie Maley hand a Celtic debut to Tommy McGunnigle on the right wing in place of Bertie Thomson against Airdrieonians at Broomfield. Tommy lined up beside his cousin Peter McGonagle for what would prove to be his only competitive appearance for the first team.

The match was played in torrential rain, each side managing a goal in a five-minute spell just before half-time, Frank O’Donnell’s opener cancelled out by Airdrieonians inside-forward Willie McDonald, his final contribution to the Diamonds’ cause before a move to Manchester United the following week.

At Wembley, where future FIFA President Stanley Rous was one of the linesmen, a Scotland team featuring five Rangers players went down 3-0 to England. One of that Ibrox contingent, Alan Morton, became the first Scot to reach the 30-cap mark, doing so just two weeks short of his 39th birthday. The previous record of 29 had been held by Bobby Walker of Hearts, another who will feature in the Bobby Hogg story.

By April, the race for the 1931/32 Scottish Alliance title had narrowed down to four runners, Rangers leading a pack comprising Hearts, Celtic and Aberdeen. The Hoops last chance to close the gap came at Ibrox on Friday, 22 April 1932, with the following team selected.

John Falconer; Bobby Hogg & Jock Morrison;Bobby Whitelaw, James Gallacher & Denis Currie;Joe McGhee, Hugh Smith, Willie Hughes, Malcolm McDonald & Peter Kavanagh.

At inside-left was 18-year-old Malcolm MacDonald, recently signed from St Anthony’s Juniors. Almost four years ago to the day, on 21 April 1928, he and Bobby had lined up together in the Scotland Schoolboys team which faced England at Filbert Street, Leicester. Three of that Alliance team would be part of one of Celtic’s greatest ever sides in the years to come, winning the Empire Exhibition Trophy at Ibrox in June 1938, but sadly on that evening, at the same venue, it would be the hosts who would cement their position at the top of the table, early goals from George Conlin and former Celt Tom ‘Tully’ Craig giving Rangers a 2-0 victory.

That defeat would render Celtic’s final Alliance League match against St Mirren on Friday, 29 April 1932 as somewhat irrelevant, nevertheless the Hoops recorded a 5-0 win to end the campaign level on points with second-placed Hearts, six behind Rangers, with Aberdeen one point further back.

The following day saw the finale to the Scottish League season, Celtic’s first team making the short trip across Glasgow to face fifth-placed Partick Thistle at Firhill. Willie Maley gave a first senior start to Malcolm MacDonald and it would prove to be the proverbial dream debut, the 18-year-old Glaswegian scoring twice in four second-half minutes from his left-wing role and only denied a hat-trick by the crossbar as Celts won 2-0 to finish in third position and serve up some hope at least of improvement for next season.

But the big news was the crowning of Motherwell as champions for the first and to date only time, the club’s initial major honour. The scale of that achievement can be illustrated by the fact that the Steelmen became the first team other than Celtic or Rangers to win the Scottish title since 1904 – when Third Lanark had claimed the flag for the only time – and only the second side that century from outwith Glasgow to do so, Hibernian having won their own maiden championship the previous year.

Motherwell had also ended Celtic’s hopes of retaining the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 victory at Fir Park back in February, thus taking a degree of revenge for their defeat by Willie Maley’s men in the final played the previous April. That Fir Park match had seen the final contribution of the season for the injured Jimmy McGrory.

Motherwell unfurl League flag in 1932

That last day of April was also one of personal celebration for Motherwell centre-forward Willie MacFadyen, whose two goals against Clyde in a 3-0 win at Fir Park extended his new Scottish League scoring record to 52. This would prove significant for the great McGrory, the previous record-holder, as he chased that tally down a few years later.

Just 12 months earlier, excitement at Celtic Park had been palpable as John Thomson and his Scottish Cup-winning teammates prepared for their tour of North America, the world quite literally at their feet after a season where they had come desperately close to securing a first League and Cup double for the club since 1914.

That world had altered completely for those with Hoops in their heart as two of their brightest stars had dimmed, John losing his life in September whilst Peter Scarff continued to battle for his in a Bridge of Weir sanitorium, having kicked his last ball for Celtic, as John had done, at the ridiculously young age of 22.

The club’s iconic first captain and former chairman, James Kelly – a current director and another who had travelled across the Atlantic that summer – had also recently lost his battle with illness, passing away on Saturday, 20 February 1932 at his Blantyre home. He was 67 and had been suffering from cerebral thrombosis and paralysis of his left arm and face for five weeks.

James Kelly

One can barely imagine how the friends and colleagues of the stricken Celts found the resolve to play on after such crushing blows, to deal with the emotional and psychological trauma of such loss, not to mention the practical challenge of finding replacements for John and Peter – two wonderful young footballing talents – on the pitch.

That would manifest itself in a series of inconsistent performances and results, Celtic losing seven of the 10 League matches played following Peter’s final appearance for the club against Leith Athletic in December, such a stark contrast to the upbeat and unbeaten young team which rolled up to Ibrox for their date with destiny just three months earlier.

As the Celtic family prayed for the recovery of young Peter from such a debilitating condition, it would be intriguing to see if the grand old club could find a way through the tears and the sadness to rebuild and reclaim its place at the summit of Scottish football in the new season.

To be continued.

Hail, hail!

Matt Corr