IF YOU KNOW YOUR HISTORY
100-YEAR RECORD BECKONS Historian Potter reckons Brendan’s unbeaten achievement will eclipse Bhoys of 1917 but team of 1968 and 1969 are still best Celtic sides ever
HISTORY beckons for Celtic, the chance to equal their own British record of 62 domestic games unbeaten when they host Kilmarnock today.
Whether they can match the 100-year milestone set by Willie Maley’s Hoops remains to be seen but historian David Potter believes Brendan Rodgers and his players will better that century-old achievement if they avoid defeat this weekend.
As an author of 23 books about his beloved side, the Kirkcaldy-based writer is adamant the circumstances of wartime, enlistment and the chaos of it all back in 1915-1917 when the record was set has always cast a cloud over their success.
Internationals and the Scottish Cup were put on hold but league football continued as a boost to morale, although player wages were reduced to £1 and they had wartime-related occupations
Potter offers Rodgers and the current squad the highest praise and insists being compared to their 1917 counterparts is the ultimate accolade as they look to surpass their feat.
He said: “It looks as though Celtic are going to match the record against Kilmarnock and I would have to say Brendan Rodgers’ achievement if he does it would actually be better than Willie Maley’s side.
“It’s a pity you qualify Celtic’s record with the fact it was achieved in the unreal circumstances of wartime.
“But Celtic’s record was achieved between 1915 to 1917 and it was in the middle of the Great War. Quite a lot of the other teams were not as successful as Celtic in keeping their men away from the front.
“Maley was able to use his contacts successfully to make sure his players were doing war-related jobs.
“Nobody could have accused them of being war dodgers or anything like that as they all had jobs aiding the war effort. The likes of Patsy Gallacher worked in the shipyards.
“Celtic were often sneered at during the First World War for being war dodgers, particularly by Hearts, not so much Rangers. Hearts had almost their entire team enlisted by 1915.
“It was a struggle in 1917-18 and 1918-19. Dundee, Aberdeen and Raith Rovers found travel difficult and were stood down.
“Other teams couldn’t field 11 men and there were even loudspeaker appeals before games for referees who might be available.
“Celtic managed to keep their team more or less intact apart from centre-half Peter Johnstone who enlisted and was killed at Passchendaele, aged just 28, in May 1917. So Celtic didn’t manage to keep all their players from the front.
“We are talking about a great Celtic team, it contained some tremendous players. Patsy Gallacher and Jimmy McMenemy, nicknamed Napoleon, who was probably as good as Patsy.
“The side was captained by the inspirational James ‘Sunny Jim’ Young who won 10 titles and five Scottish Cups in 15 years at Celtic.
“During the 1916 calendar year they won almost every game but also drew a few of them.
“They had Johnny Browning who was a very talented left winger and
Andy McAtee who was a brilliant right winger. Andy was eventually enlisted and he fought in the Italian campaign against the Austrians.
“McMenemy was also enlisted but took a very bad case of the flu in 1918 and almost died.
“The goalkeeper was the famous Charlie Shaw who managed to avoid the war as he had his own newsagents and tobacco business in Bridgeton.
“He was a brilliant keeper and there were jokes about him that he used to get so bored during games Celtic were dominating that he’d nip home for a cup of tea.
“It was also said he’d offer his rival keeper a hand to keep the ball out the net at the other end of the pitch.”
An astonishing 530 days have passed since Celtic kicked off their run with a 7-0 hammering of Motherwell in May 2016 and they host Kilmarnock this weekend with the prize of equalling Maley’s side’s streak within their grasp.
It was against the Rugby Park side that the previous record came to an abrupt halt on April 21, 1917 after winning 49 matches, drawing 13, scoring 126 goals and conceding just 16.
Maley’s men are part of Celtic folklore and Potter offered a word of caution for the current team about the danger of taking anything for granted as they continue their quest to write themselves into the club’s book of legendary achievements.
He claimed the biggest threat came from within and added: “I couldn’t have imagined the record would ever be beaten but it looks more than likely it will.
“It’s an incredible level of consistency. That’s why Rodgers and his players deserve so much credit.
“It has been sandwiched between some poor performances in Europe but on the domestic front they have been quite brilliant week after week.
“In Scotland they really have been invincible. I enjoy watching this Celtic side and you always felt against Aberdeen on Wednesday night they could have still gone through a few more gears and scored more goals if they needed to.
“Winning week after week does create an issue, in some ways the one team who can beat Celtic are Celtic themselves.
“If they allow themselves to become too complacent it will come to an end and that is the real test for Rodgers.
“Can he keep his side focused on winning and claiming trophies throughout this season?
“They mustn’t just presume Kilmarnock are there for the taking this weekend, they need to treat them like Real Madrid.”
Potter still travels to games on his local supporters’ bus but doesn’t think this Celtic side are a patch on the team built by Jock Stein back
in the late 60s. He said: “This isn’t the best Celtic side I’ve seen, the team of 1968 and ’69 was better. “That side was a bit better than the 1967 team. “The ’68 side didn’t win everything and had some bad games but my favourite ever match was the League Cup Final of 1969 when Celtic beat Hibs 6-2. It was the best football I have ever seen Celtic play, with guys like Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Murdoch, Bobby Lennox and Jim Craig.”
It’s a pity you qualify Maley’s Celtic record with fact it was achieved in wartime DAVID POTTER