Pavilions, clocks and clippers. Is this a piece of Celtic history?

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The Celtic Star

·29 de mayo de 2025

Pavilions, clocks and clippers. Is this a piece of Celtic history?

Pavilions, clocks and clippers. Is this a piece of Celtic history?…

Without a doubt the most unusual item amongst the collection of memorabilia shared by former Celtic trainer Will Quinn’s great-grandson last month was this set of clippers. Steven’s understanding was that these had been salvaged from the old Celtic Park pavilion, which stood at the north-west corner of Janefield Street until being destroyed by the fire of March 1929.

I’ve been very fortunate over recent weeks to be able to establish the context of so many of Will’s incredible items of memorabilia, from the 120-year-old wooden clock won by him as a runner at an Ibrox sports day, a letter of reference from Kilmarnock FC in 1907, to photographs showing him as a trainer of Scotland, Ireland and even Wales in the early 20th century. And there are some superb items yet to come from the 1930s.

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This one will prove more difficult to validate though, as short of seeing a photo of Will carrying out a pedicure on a Celtic player inside the pavilion pre-1929 I’m not sure how I would do that. But it did give me an excuse to have another look at the final days of what remains an iconic yet slightly tragic part of our club’s history and to answer a few, as yet unasked questions.

As part of my Stadium Tour spiel, I ask guests seated in the oldest remaining part of Celtic Park, in the main stand just above the tunnel, to look across at that corner and imagine the teams running onto the field back in the day.

That would have started in the summer of 1892, as the New Celtic Park was opened and the journey ‘from the graveyard to Paradise’ became a reality for a club basking in the glory of its maiden Scottish Cup success a few months earlier. That view of the old Pavilion, with the first main stand at Celtic Park to the right and the original Celtic End terracing on the left would have looked pretty much like the photo below.

Celtic being Celtic, they would mark that debut season at their new home by claiming the club’s first-ever Scottish League title, a story told brilliantly by Matthew Marr in his excellent book The Bould Boys; Glory To Their Name, published by Celtic Star Books in 2023.

The original Janefield pavilion had a distinctive criss-cross façade on the first-floor balcony.

That picture would change following the first major Celtic Park fire in May 1904, which destroyed the main stand and badly damaged the adjacent pavilion. The before and after look can be compared by checking out these two team photos, as the Stripes become the Hoops.

The last such team group photo with the pavilion in the background would logically have been taken in the summer of 1928, so I go hunting through the wonderful Celtic Wiki and bingo, it’s an absolute classic. The vast majority of these players are now familiar to me, following the research involved in producing my two volumes covering Celtic in the Thirties. For several of these young men, this is perhaps the only image of them in Celtic’s Hoops. For others, this is the beginning of a glittering career which will witness both triumph and tragedy in the decade to follow.

In the back row, Jimmy McGrory is captured between that wonderful Celt Alec Thomson and John McMenemy, Jimmy’s great friend and the son of the legendary ‘Napoleon.’ John would become a League Champion at Motherwell in 1932 and played against Celtic in the Scottish Cup finals of both 1931 and 1933. He had moved to Fir Park in October 1928, so this is perhaps his last photo as a Celt.

And over to the right of that trio is Dan McColgan, father of Maura, who led the Celtic Park Tours team a few years before I joined. Both Dan and Maura were in Lisbon in May 1967 to witness our defining moment as European Champions.

In the middle row, Chic Geatons is enjoying his first photoshoot as a Celt next to Denis McCallum, whose great-uncle Neil scored the club’s first-ever goal on the original Celtic Park 40 years earlier.

Also in that row are a trio of wonderful Celts, John Thomson, Jimmy McStay and John ’Jean’ McFarlane.

That’s also the case in the front row, where Peter McGonagle, Peter Wilson and captain Willie McStay are sandwiched between some young players living the dream in the Hoops.

On Tuesday, 19 March 1929, Celtic hosted Motherwell in a rearranged League match, a few days ahead of a Scottish Cup semi-final with Kilmarnock. This would be the first day as a Celt for Willie Hughes, a winger signed from Bathgate who had only recently resigned from the Scottish League due to financial problems. Willie would go on to make over 100 appearances for the Hoops and also married the sister of director Bob Kelly, but he would actually make his debut that same evening against Motherwell.

Perhaps with the Hampden clash in mind, Willie Maley did not risk his captain McStay, wing-half McFarlane – both recovering from injury – or star forward McGrory against the Steelmen, as he named the following side.

John Thomson, Chic Geatons & Peter McGonagle; Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & John Donoghue; Paddy Connolly, Alec Thomson, Willie Gray, Peter Scarff & Willie Hughes.

This would be the last Celtic side to run out of the Janefield Street pavilion, most likely led by Willie’s younger brother Jimmy, with only 3,000 spectators present to witness what would become a piece of history. John McMenemy lined up for Motherwell against his old team.

Maley’s men had beaten Motherwell 2-1 at Fir Park in a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay just six days earlier, thanks to goals from Paddy Connolly and Jimmy McGrory, and they would again emerge triumphant against Sailor Hunter’s side with a 2-0 win. Connolly was again on the scoresheet, netting Celtic’s second late on, as was young Peter Scarff, giving Celtic an early lead with a low shot after beating two ‘Well defenders, 10 days before his 20th birthday.

Nine days later, on the eve of Peter’s birthday, a second fire raged across the Janefield Street side of Celtic Park, this time the old pavilion the victim, with precious early club photographs destroyed. This fire occurred as the old Grant Stand was being demolished on the south side of the ground, painting a sad picture for Celtic supporters.

Celtic would play their remaining home games for that campaign at a number of venues, including Clyde’s Shawfield and the homes of their respective opponents, but by the summer the east end skyline would look noticeably different as a new and exciting era commenced for the Grand Old Team.