Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – John Thomson | OneFootball

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter today features the legendary John Thomson…

The late David Potter

John Thomson, Photo IMAGO

There has been no Celtic player so commemorated in song, verse and honest prose than John Thomson

There has been no Celtic player so commemorated in song, verse and honest prose than John Thomson. There is no more romantic or tragic figure in Celtic history. Had the circumstances of his life and death not been so well known, one imagines that someone, with a taste for writing such things, might have made the story up. But it is all sadly true.

John was born at 74 Balfour Street, Kirkcaldy to a mining family, the son of John and Jean Thomson. The family moved to Cardenden in John’s childhood. John thus grew up going to Denend Primary School and then Auchterderran High School. He was bright enough, but not particularly academic and the main thing in his life was football. John was slightly built but lithe and agile, and it was soon clear that he was goalkeeper material.

There was a story that went around of an incident at a boy’s birthday party when someone nudged an old fashioned oil lamp off the sideboard and had it hit the ground, there would have been a conflagration. But John’s reflexes saved the day. This story, although current even in John’s lifetime and widely believed, sadly cannot be substantiated.

02.08.1931 imago/Colorsport – John Thomson – Celtic.

John started working in the coal mines in 1923 and began his football career with Bowhill West End, Bowhill Rovers and finally Wellesley Juniors. It may have been that the other Thomson, the kindly and wise Alec, who was now with Celtic but had his ear to the ground about Fife junior football, had a word with some people, but whatever the circumstances, Celtic scout Steve Callaghan signed him at the end of October 1926.

The mines of Fife were no great attraction

Joining Celtic and going to Glasgow was a big step for the 17 year old, but the mines of Fife were no great attraction either. (The miners had been on strike since before the General Strike and were systematically being starved back) He was loaned out to Ayr United for a brief spell in December, but his job was to understudy Peter Shevlin, a man who was good enough but not outstanding in the sense that Charlie Shaw was.

It was Glebe Park, Brechin that was the catalyst for John Thomson. Celtic duly beat Brechin City, but Brechin had scored first – a great moment for Wattie Gentles – but captain McStay was heard to cry “Get to that ball a little bit faster, Peter”, and Maley decided that for next week’s game against Dundee at Dens Park, it might be an idea to give young Thomson a game.

John Thomson, Image by Celtic Curio

Beneath his shy demeanour there lurked a quiet confidence in his own ability

He made one mistake, but Celtic won 2-1 and then the following week, also at Dens Park, this time in a Scottish Cup tie, John had a fine game and retained his place for the rest of the season. He was diffident, but the key men in the club – Tommy McInally, the McStay brothers and Maley himself all saw his value – and beneath his shy demeanour there lurked a quiet confidence in his own ability.

The Scottish League campaign was a disappointment in 1927, but the Scottish Cup brought Celtic’s 12th success. It could not have been more ironic that the opponents were East Fife! East Fife had done remarkably well to reach the final from the Second Division, (and in the aftermath of the Miners’ Strike of 1926 when the whole area was reduced to penury) and it is possible that quite a lot of the players were known personally to John from his junior and juvenile days.

Photograph taken in Detroit while on their visit to play Michigan all Stars who they beat 5-0 at the University of Detroit Stadium. While in the city they were given a tour of the famous Ford Motor Works.L – R: Willie Cook, Bobby Whitelaw, Hugh Smith, Joe McGhee, Willie Maley, Bertie Thomson, Johnny Thomson, Jimmy McGrory (with cup) Peter Scarff, Charlie Napier, Peter Wilson, Tom Maley, Denis Currie, Willie McGonagle. Photo The Celtic Wiki

The first Scottish Cup final to be broadcast live on the “wireless”

It was the first Scottish Cup final to be broadcast live on the “wireless”, that new invention still well out of the pocket of most working families, and it attracted a crowd of about 80,000 to Hampden. East Fife actually scored first with a good header which gave John no chance, but then they immediately conceded a crazy and nervous own goal, and Celtic, even without the injured McGrory, took over. John hardly touched the ball for the rest of the game, and Celtic quite obviously eased off at 3-1, having no desire to humiliate the miners for whom they had a respect and empathy.

None of this in any way diminished the thrill that John Thomson experienced at winning his first Scottish medal. He had come far in a few months, from the strike-bound and impoverished Fife coalfields to the (comparative) wealth of Celtic with whom he was well paid.

John Thomson, Photo IMAGO

Not a boy who allowed success to go to his head

But he was not a boy who allowed success to go to his head. He realised that to be a goal goalkeeper, he had to work at it, and he also realised that he was fortunate to be at Celtic where he was welcomed. A few of his friends had wondered whether his religion might be a barrier. Not in the least. If sectarianism was mentioned at all, it was only to be scorned and ridiculed. Everyone knew that the ugly aspect of this was practised elsewhere in Glasgow, but John was immediately much loved by everyone.

The next season 1927/28 saw Thomson an ever-present, and rarely criticised even on days when the team did not play so well. He had great day when Celtic won the Glasgow Cup in October by beating Rangers 2-1. It was a day on which Rangers were unable to turn their undeniable tactical superiority into a victory, and this was due to the remarkable performance of young John Thomson in the Celtic goal as much as anything else. It was probably the day that made everyone sit up and take notice.

The rest of the season was not so good. Serious player problems centring on Tommy McInally was the cause, and it was a shame, for the team was good enough. Further decline followed in season 1928/29. Once again it was claimed that John Thomson won the Glasgow Cup for Celtic, as he defied Queen’s Park this time, but that was as good as it got for Celtic.

1931 – John Thomson Goalkeeper for Celtic and Scotland. Photo Imago Color Sports.

Thomson added to his growing reputation with a brilliant performance

But Thomson added to his growing reputation with a brilliant performance for the Scottish League against the English League at Villa Park. The Scottish League were defeated but “time and time again, the Villa Park grandstand resound with wave after wave of applause” for the young Scottish goalkeeper as he defied Dixie Dean in particular, seeming almost to turn in mid-air on one occasion. On another occasion an England player was blown up for offside, and in a fit of pique blasted the ball into the goal anyway as he turned to remonstrate with the referee. John was walking out of his goal anyway, simply put up his hands to catch the ball, and kept walking.

He was clearly good enough for a full Scotland cap, but the sitting tenant was the very reliable Jack Harkness of Hearts. The two them were hardly bitter rivals. They became friends, Harkness very keen to blood a successor, and Thomson knowing that he could learn a great deal from the gentlemanly Harkness. On one famous occasion were seen to talk to each other while having their half-time tea, while Maley thundered at the other Celtic players, Willie McCartney did likewise with Hearts, and the referee talked to his two linesmen!

John Thomson in action. Photo The Celtic Wiki

International Recognition

Thomson sustained a severe injury in a game against Airdrie in February 1930. He broke his collar bone and was out for several weeks. He might have reflected on the dangers of goalkeeping during his prolonged absence, but he was back by late March, and even earned his first cap for Scotland in May of that year. It was actually in Paris and the game was played on a Sunday – something that would certainly not have happened in Scotland in 1930, and possibly raised an eyebrow or two in John’s evangelical family.

But John seized his chance, had a shut-out as Scotland won, and retained his place for Scotland all the next season and in March 1931 played his part as Scotland beat England 2-0, having been introduced to Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald before the start. It was a great moment for the 22 year old youngster from Cardenden.

And then came the great Scottish Cup final against Motherwell. By general consent, Thomson did not have the best of games in either the first match or its replay, having a lot of bad luck with deflections, but he did share in the general triumph, and of course the trip to America which took place afterwards. It seemed in summer 1931 that there was little wrong with the world as far as John Thomson was concerned.

Millennium Memories. Rangers versus Celtic September 1931. The tackle that resulted in the death of Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson. As he dived at the feet of Sam English the strikers steel toe-capped boot smashed into his head causing a fatal injury.

The events of September 5 are well enough known

The events of September 5 are well enough known. There really was no call for Maley’s asinine comment of “I hope it was an accident” no matter how much he tried to dress it up like by saying he did not clearly what actually happened. Footage proves quite clearly that Sam English could not avoid John Thomson’s head, and it was quite simply a very rare and unfortunate accident.

Press cutting

Ironically, some morning papers list English as doubtful for the game! The game itself was appallingly dull, the weather was hot – too hot really for September – and Meiklejohn’s famous appeal to the crowd was only partially successful. McGrory’s story about how a Rangers player said something along the lines of “there’s nothing much wrong with him” does not contain the significant detail about who the Rangers player was.

Remarkable how seldom this sort of thing has happened

It is remarkable how seldom this sort of thing has happened. One or two instances in all of football history, but no oftener than that. Thomson’s skull was apparently thinner than most, and he died at about 9.30 pm a few minutes after his parents arrived from Fife. The story spread like wildfire. It wasn’t believed at first, but The Sunday Post carried the story and by the time that Scotland went to Church that Sunday morning, very few people didn’t know that John Thomson had died.

Scotland went around in a catatonic trance for a few days

Scotland went around in a catatonic trance for a few days. Margaret Findlay, the girl he had been dating was shattered and his team mates were stunned. The funeral service on the Wednesday saw hundreds walk from Glasgow to Bowhill Cemetery, and all Celtic and Rangers players who had played in the game were there. The service was taken by Mr Howie of the evangelical Church that John belonged to, and Maley was seen to talk to his disconsolate parents.

There was also a service in the Trinity Church in Hope Street Glasgow. The lesson was read by Davie Meiklejohn the captain of Rangers, a serving Elder of the Church of Scotland and another would have been read by Peter Wilson of Celtic, but the crowds thronging the entrance prevented Peter from getting in.

John Thomson’s grave – Bowhill Cemetery, Cardenden, Lochgelly, Fife, KY5 0BH (Memorial ID 17949537)

The enquiry duly exonerated Sam English

The enquiry duly exonerated English – there was no other conclusion they could reasonably have arrived at – but that was far from the end of the matter as far as poor Sam was concerned. The affair haunted him until his death in 1967.

Celtic did not recover very well either. They eventually found another good goalkeeper in Joe Kennaway, but Maley lapsed in and out of depression until the end of his life over this incident. To be fair, there had been other early deaths as well – and another two in the 1930s in Peter Scarff and Bertie Thomson, but Maley would often be quoted as saying “Goalkeepers come and goalkeepers go, but whenever I think of goalkeepers, I cannot but think of our genius Thomson”.

Scott Brown at John Thomson’s grave in September 2019. Photo The Celtic Wiki

And yet John lives longer and larger than any other Celt. The amount of poetry written about him guarantees that with all the lines about “In your goal a spirit stands, Johnny Thomson is his name” “If death would take a ransom, we’d gladly gaither ane and a’ – tae bring back Johnnie Tamson”. Seldom even now, nearly 100 years down the line, is there ever a soiree of supporters without someone standing up and singing about John Thomson. In 2021, in spite of Covid making things difficult and restricting events somewhat, the 90th anniversary of the famous “walk” to commemorate Celtic’s greatest ever goalkeeper took place.

John will never die.

David Potter

CELTIC IN THE THIRTIES, VOLUMES ONE & TWO BY MATT CORR – OUT NOW! Order your signed copies below…

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books. OUT NOW!

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