Celtic on this Day – “He’s fat, he’s round, he’s worth a million pound”
This Day in Celtic History Mark McGhee signs a hat-trick, receiving praise from the Jungle, and the Jambos go on Celtic for the first time since Albert Kidd broke their hearts. A Celtic legend signs.
1. John Clark signs for Celtic, 8 October 1958
John Clark, then 17 years old, signs with Celtic on this day in 1958. The Lisbon Lion would go on to make 316 appearances for Celtic between 1958 and 1971. An unsung hero of the Lions team, ‘The Brush’ became Mr Celtic. He had a trophy-laden spell at the Hoops, winning silverware on 15 occasions, including the first six league championships of Celtic’s first nine in a row between 1965 and 1971. Clark also won the Scottish Cup three times. The most significant of these came on May 25, 1967, when
John Clark did not miss a Celtic game in any competition from April 1965 to September 1967. Every four years, he scored a goal for the Hoops, totalling three goals for McGrory and Stein. “I was a Celtic supporter, a Celtic player, it’s been my life,” the man himself said in a 2014 interview, summarising his tenure with his boyhood club. When I reflect on my life, I can honestly say that I have liked every moment of it. Complete Legend.
2. “He’s fat, he’s round, he’s worth a million pound, Mark McGhee, Mark McGhee…” the Jungle, 8 October 1988
On October 8, 1988, Celtic destroys St. Mirren at Celtic Park, winning 7-1. “Relationship between players and fans is impossible to explain, other than that some gain an instant rapport with the troops, others never cross the invisible bridge between pitch and terracing; Mark McGhee has taken three years to find a way across but he has now established a link which might prove as firm as any he had with supporters at Pittodrie,” sportswriter Ian Paul wrote in the Glasgow Herald of the Glasgow Herald. It was pouring wet when McGhee scored an incredible hat-trick. Stark scored twice, while Miller also scored. Intriguingly, on the same day as the first team played, so too did the reserves. At Love Street in a Reserve match, Celtic defeated St Mirren 3-2.
3. Judas and Brian McClair both were on target for Celtic on 8 October 1986…
Today, 38 years ago: Celtic 2-0 Hearts. It was the first meeting between the two clubs since Celtic’s historic championship run in 1986, made possible by Albert Kidd. The Hoops’ triumph over Alex MacDonald’s team was their first against the Tynecastle team in five meetings. McClair and Judas were both right on point. In the same week, Celtic made a £250,000 bid for Steve Clarke, the player for St Mirren and now manager of Scotland.
Celtic Park, Trophy Day 2015, Celtic v Ross County. Photo Photo Vagelis Georgariou
