Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Willie Maley

The Celtic Star

·6 gennaio 2025

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Willie Maley

We conclude our series on The Celtic Star where we post unpublished works of David Potter dealing with Celtic players from the 1930s and this evening it’s a case of last but not least as we feature the one and only Willie Maley…

Celtic manager Willie Maley. Photo The Celtic Wiki.

Willie Maley was a difficult man in the 1930s

Willie Maley was a difficult man in the 1930s. Born in 1868, he was of an age when a polite and dignified retirement would not have been entirely out of the question, but he was so much part of the scene at Celtic Park that no-one had the courage to suggest that to him. Besides, he himself had no desire to go. He had said so often that Celtic had been so much part of his life, that life without Celtic would be a very empty existence indeed, and that he could not conceive of a life without Celtic.

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Willie Maley The man who made Celtic” . Image via The Celtic Wiki

His relationship with the Board was complex. Technically he was a hired hand, an employee, a worker for the club, no matter how often and how vehemently that he said things like how few of those who launched the good ship “Celtic” were left. He was deservedly described as “The man who made Celtic” and “Mr Celtic” but he still worked for the Board of Directors, and although he generally had a good relationship with them, there were areas of friction.

Willie Struth, a man whom Maley did not care for

It was also true that he was now beginning to lose out to the Rangers of Willie Struth, a man whom Maley did not care for, and although the relationship had always been polite and proper, it had never been close and cordial in the way that his relationship with Struth’s predecessor William Wilton had been.

Pertinently to the state of Maley’s mental condition, Celtic since the war, had won the Scottish League in 1919, 1922 and 1926. They would do so again in 1936 and 1938, and Motherwell would win it in 1932. Every other year between the two wars would see the Scottish League won by Rangers. This was not good enough, and Maley knew it.

Willie Maley, Celtic FC Bould Bhoy. Image by Celtic Curio

A great deal to be proud of

He did of course still have a great deal to be proud of. Appointed Manager in 1897 in the wake of a particularly disastrous Scottish Cup exit, within 10 years he had made Celtic the best team in the world winning Leagues and Cups galore and discovering great players like Alec McNair, Jimmy Quinn, Jimmy McMenemy and the immortal half-back line of Jimmy Young, Willie Loney and Jimmy Hay. Almost without breaking stride another great team had developed organically out of the first on, this time with Andy McAtee, Charlie Shaw, Joe Dodds and of course, the peerless Patsy Gallacher. Those who saw Patsy will never acknowledge another contender for the best player of all time. The trouble was that it was all so long ago now.

Tragedy had been a strong theme in Celtic’s recent history

Tragedy had been a strong theme in Celtic’s recent history. There had been the egregious recent examples of John Thomson and Peter Scarff, victims of a freak accident on a football field and tuberculosis. Both of them had hit Maley hard, but there had also been Sunny Jim, Peter Somers, Dan Doyle, Sandy McMahon, great players all and now in an early grave – for various reasons, and there were Peter Johnstone and Donnie “Slasher” McLeod, victims of that terrible war. His own life had not been without its heartbreaks – a young daughter had died in 1901 at the age of 6 months, his marriage had broken up, relationships with other members of his family were not always cordial. In truth, there was not much going for him, other than Celtic.

Not coping well with the modern player

It was also true that he was not coping well with the modern player. His relationship with his great side of the 1900s and the war years have been famously excellent – McMenemy, Quinn, Loney, Shaw had all loved Maley and he them, but there had been other players in the 1920s who had departed on less happy terms – Johnny Gilchrist, Willie Cringan and in particular Tommy McInally whom Maley had indulged endlessly but who had let Maley down badly in the sad year of 1928. And then he had badly misjudged Jimmy McGrory whom he had tried to sell to Arsenal (to play for the new stand, it was said) but McGrory had refused to go.

Jimmy Quinn, Willie Maley, Jimmy McGrory and Patsy Gallacher. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Times were difficult, but it was hard to make a case that economic circumstances were the only cause of Celtic’s decline. Rangers and Motherwell seemed to be coping well enough. Celtic’s problems did seem to stem from Maley, but it was only after the death of Peter Scarff in December 1933, that things began to go publicly downhill. Time and time again, Maley would issue statements to the effect that the present day Celts were not as good as “the Celts of old” and how it used the be a matter of pride to play for Celtic, but not now.

Morose, melancholy and maudlin statements

These sort of morose, melancholy and maudlin statements were rightly resented in the dressing room by men like the O’Donnell brothers and Charlie Napier. These men could have stayed on and done the job that they did for other clubs – Hugh O’Donnell for example won the English Cup with Preston in 1938 (to add to his Scottish one with Celtic in 1933), and Frank won 5 caps for Scotland. They could have done a great job for Celtic, but it didn’t help to be told repeatedly that they weren’t as good as men like Somers and Quinn. They probably weren’t, but the way to make them better was to encourage them, not to make odious and unfair comparisons.

Things changed when McMenemy returned

Jimmy McMenemy and Jimmy McGrory with the Celtic team of 1935/36. Image by Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, out now on Celtic Star Books.

Things changed when McMenemy returned to be trainer, because Maley now became a far more aloof figure. Gone were the days when he joked with his players, knew all their wives and children by name, organised soirees on away days, was the first to comfort them when things went wrong, and talked proudly about “my men”. Now, distant, curmudgeonly, hypochondriac, self-pitying and obsessed with money, he was seldom seen at the ground, and when he was there, he was not helpful.

There used to be every Thursday a game between the first team and the reserves. Before the Great War, Maley would referee such games, joke with the players and even give a few deliberately wrong decisions in favour of the reserves to make a game of it. Now he sat alone in the stand, his homburg hat the only indication that it was he, watched the game, said nothing and sometimes got fed up of the game in the second half and went home.

He did stupid things like trying to stop his players owning a motor car

He did stupid things like trying to stop his players owning a motor car, and when he came into the ground on a tram, quite a few of his players seeing him on the bottom deck, chose to go upstairs and even stay on for the stop beyond Celtic Park and then walk back. They claimed this was to “loosen the muscles” (or some specious nonsense like that) but in fact it was to avoid social interaction with this rather unpleasant, frightening but still all-powerful man of whom everyone remained in awe.

Willie Maley’s book The Story of Celtic. Photo The Celtic Wiki

All this time Maley was busy writing his book “The Story Of The Celtic” which was published in 1939. It is clearly not written by a “ghost” and is very much his own work with much valuable detail of the early days. Clearly, his memory is faulty sometimes and there are things that he eschews and other things that he gives undue emphasis to, but like his series of articles that appeared in The Weekly News, no-one could hope to get any idea of what Celtic was like in the first dramatic 20 years of its life without having read it. Yet he certainly upset a few people with the things that he said.

Golden Jubilee Dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel in June 1938

He had one major moment of glory which he milked to the utmost. This was the Golden Jubilee Dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel in June 1938, just a matter of days after the winning of the Empire Exhibition Trophy. It was quite a stunning occasion with all his old players there, and he enjoyed himself. For that night, he was indeed Mr Celtic and he met once again with “the Celts of old”. It would have been appropriate if he had done what everyone expected and announced his retirement. There was of course little else left for him to achieve. He had been involved in the winning of 15 Scottish Cups, 19 Scottish Leagues and the team was now the Champions of Great Britain. What better time could there be to say he was going? But he didn’t!

Jimmy McGrory collects the trophy. Willie Maley is to his far left, holding his hat

He did of course duly fall out with the Board of Directors in 1940 over a matter of paying income tax on his honorarium, and he left the club in high dudgeon, never being seen near Celtic Park for over 10 years but appearing frequently at Cathkin, Hampden and even Ibrox to fulminate in his loud voice about how bad the Celtic Directors were and how, yes, today’s Celtic players could not hold a candle (fine Roman Catholic imagery, that!) for “the Celts of old”.

In the 1950s, once he became reconciled to Celtic again, he turned to being a gracious old man, talking happily to journalists like Cyril Horne of The Glasgow Herald and even writing a column in The Evening Times about past and present days. He died in April 1958 only a few weeks short of his 90th birthday.

David Potter

Celtic in the Thirties

The late David Potter wrote a series of articles to supplement Matt Corr’s book Celtic in the Thirties which was three years in the making and is out now in two wonderful volumes. David was writing a book on the 1980s while Matt worked on the 1930s and both historians agreed to supply their take these Celtic decades half a century apart.

David Potter named as recipient of Celtic’s 2024 Special Recognition Award, Celtic POTY Awards, Hydro Glasgow, May 2024. Photo Celtic FC

Sadly David passed away in late July 2023, the last time I saw him was ahead of the Scottish Cup Final against Inverness and we had a chat outside of the Police station next to the Celtic End at Hampden. He never got to read Matt’s outstanding Celtic in the Thirties but knowing David so well, he would have loved it.

David did finish his own book – Celtic in the Eighties – and Matt Corr has asked to edit this as a special tribute to David. It will be published by Celtic Star Books in 2025. Much is said about Celtic fan media and indeed the state of the wider football reporting in the mainstream media. There’s probably more money in clickbait articles, sometimes written entirely around one word someone connected to Celtic has said on Instagram.

The view from just behind David Potter at Easter Road – Watching Glasgow Celtic, Putting on a Show!” Photo Celtic Star editor

It’s harder doing it properly. Long after his death David Potter’s books will be remembered and read by those with Celtic in their hearts. So will his articles on The Celtic Star, some have been linked to above.

Though the website and also on Celtic Star Books we are passing the stories down the generations, bringing incredible Celtic stories like that Alec McNair, Willie Fernie and Harry Hood to the fore. Jump in and rush out a book on someone after less than a year at the club is not really our style. Commercially it might have merit but that’s never been a factor. We tell Celtic stories that deserve to be told.

So books like Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr and Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter are important in the overall Celtic story. Indeed every decade should be done and we’d invite Celtic’s media department, with all the club’s resources, to help fill in the gaps of our remarkable Celtic story ad crate some decade volumes of their own.

What can you do? Well make sure that you check out our bookstore at Celticstarbooks.com and maybe start by buying Celtic in the Thirties. You will be amazed at the quality. Click on the image below to visit the bookstore.

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, Volumes One & Two, Published by Celtic Star Books, November 2024. Image The Celtic Star