“I am the last survivor of the little band that set out heroically to launch the Celtic ship” Willie Maley | OneFootball

• He won a Scottish Cup winners medal in 1892 and four Glasgow Cup winners medals in 1891, 1892, 1895 and 1896 plus three Glasgow Charity Cup winners medals in his playing career.
• As Celtic manager he won the Scottish League Championship on an incredible 16 occasions in seasons 1897-98, 1904-05, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1907-08, 1908-09, 1909-10, 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17, 1918-19, 1921-22, 1925-26 and 1935-36, 1937-38.
• He also won the Scottish Cup as Celtic manager on 14 occasions in 1899, 1900, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1933 and 1937.
• The Glasgow Cup was also secured on 14 occasions with Willie Maley in charge. These wins were in 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931 and 1939.
• As Celtic manger he also won the Glasgow International Exhibition Cup in season 1901-02, the Navy and Army War Fund Shield in 1918, The Empire Exhibition Cup in 1938 and also 19 wins in the Glasgow Charity Cup.

“The club has been my life and I feel without it my existence would be empty indeed,” Willie Maley. “It’s not the creed nor his nationality that counts. It’s the man himself,” Willie Maley. “A man must be a Celt on and off the field, otherwise he is of no value to this club,” Willie Maley. “My love for Celtic has been a craze,” Willie Maley

“Much has been made in certain quarters about our religion, but for forty-eight years we have played a mixed team, and some of the greatest Celts we have had did not agree with us in our religious beliefs, although we have never at any time hidden what these are. “Men of the type of McNair, Hay, Lyon, Buchan, Cringan, the Thomspons, or Paterson soon found out that broadmindedness which is the real stamp of the good Christian existed to its fullest at Celtic Park, where a man was judged by his football alone.” Willie Maley from “The Story of The Celtic” (1939) – incidentally a reprint of this book is now available from Soccer Books.

“Willie Maley was a great man but a person I used to regard with awe. Most of the time he was ensconced in his office and was not directly involved with our training. Now and again he would walk out the tunnel and when the players saw the familiar figure with the black crombie coat and stetson type hat you never saw such activity on the track. It was a situation similar to the headmaster and pupil type of relationship, yet it was a style of management that brought results. Jimmy McStay was different in character. A quiet man he was there in difficult circumstances, similarly Jimmy McGrory was also very much a gentleman and although it’s often been repeated both seemed too nice to be really successful managers.” Matt Lynch (Celtic) “He was in his tower, but when he came down from it you didn’t wait long, you got yourself out of the road. I’ve never known him to come in and wax eloquent about a performance. He could always pick the Achilles heel and lambast you for doing this or that or the next thing. Some weeks the secretary [James Maloney] would come in with the wages and say to me the boss still had mine. I knew them so I would then have to go to into the office.” Malcolm MacDonald (Celtic) “To me, Willie Maley was Celtic,’and ‘You always expected to see him well-dressed, with the soft hat, you know.” Willie Buchan (Celtic)

“I am the last survivor of the little band that set out heroically to launch the Celtic ship.” Willie Maley during his speech in 1938 at the Celtic 50 year Jubilee dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel in Glasgow. He was also presented with 2,500 guineas – 50 for every year he had served Celtic.

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