Charlie Shaw – The last line of Celtic’s Holy Trinity

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The Celtic Star

·22 agosto 2024

Charlie Shaw – The last line of Celtic’s Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity was a term used to describe the excellent Celtic back line of the early twentieth century…

Alec McNair and Joe Dodds were the two men at the back and the pillars who kept the foundation steady while the last line of defence was the man who completed the structure and made it unbreakable, and that man was goalkeeper Charlie Shaw.

Standing at only 5ft 6in Charlie was small for a goalkeeper but he stood tall in stature. He was a brave and athletic shot stopper. Charlie signed for the club in 1913 from QPR and was a stand out from his first ever game which was against Third Lanark in a 2-1 Charity Cup win.

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He soon built up a solid understanding with both McNair and Dodds who forwards found great difficultly in beaching, but on the odd occasion that they did, they found it even more difficult to beat Charlie Shaw who would produce breathtaking saves to keep his goal intact.

That was evident in his debut season when he lost only 14 goals in 38 games recording an impressive 26 shut outs which is a Celtic record to this very day.

It was estimated that Charlie and his defence didn’t concede a goal for a grand total of 1287 minutes, a run that stretched from 13 December 1913 until the 28 February 1914. A UK record which lasted a long time.

‘Get it back to Charlie’ was a common call amongst the Celtic supporters such was his ability and understanding with McNair and Dodds. Indeed the great Willie Maley once remarked that the trio understood each other so well that they developed the pass back into a scientific move of which there have been many imitators but none to equal the originators.

Charlie went on to skipper the club from 1916 onwards and made 436 appearances in total for the club winning six league titles and two Scottish Cups whilst achieving an impressive 240 shut outs.

Charlie Shaw is quite rightly regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of Celtic football club just like his trusted team mates Alec McNair and Joe Dodds. Something he couldn’t have achieved without the help of his two fellow ‘Holy Trinity’ members and vice versa.

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