Patsy Gallacher

Patsy Gallacher (16 March 1891 – 17 June 1953) was an Irish footballer, playing in the inside-right position, and most noted for his career at Celtic.

Early life

Patsy was born in a workhouse in the small Donegal town of Milford. Gallacher was just three years old when his family moved to Scotland and he played for his first schoolboy team, at Holy Redeemer Primary School in Glasgow.[1] Patsy had to organise the team, acting as captain and secretary because every teacher in the school was female and showed little interest in the sport. Patsy remembered his first trophy in the Yoker Athletic Schools' Tournament playing for Holy Redeemer who were the dark horses of the competition. He recalled that the organisers were unwilling to award the cup to a team without an adult manager.[2]

Patsy then joined Benvue, a team in the Clean Speech League. He then moved up to the juvenile side, Renfrew St. James. He then moved up again to Clydebank Juniors and began to attract the attention of scouts from senior clubs. They could see his talent which was impressive, but had doubts due to his puny, frail appearance. Despite this he received offers of a trial with Clyde F.C and Celtic. During his trial period he scored twice in a 6–1 defeat of Dumfries and three times in a 5–0 win against a British Army XI.[3]

Celtic career

He was quickly promoted to the Celtic first team and made his debut against St Mirren at Parkhead in November 1911. He was to overcome his supposed physical problems in the same way that Garrincha would in years to come. Within six months he secured his first winner's medal scoring once in the 2–0 victory over Clyde in the 1912 Scottish Cup final.[4] He went on to play for Celtic for 15 years from 1911 to 1926, featuring in 569 games in all competitions. In 464 games in major competitions Patsy scored 192 goals. Today he ranks as Celtic's sixth highest goal scorer behind Jimmy McGrory, Bobby Lennox, Henrik Larsson, Stevie Chalmers and Jimmy Quinn. One of his most famous moments came in the 1925 'Patsy Gallacher' Scottish Cup final against Dundee, when he barged from behind in a packed penalty area, and somersaulted over the goal line with the ball between his feet into the net for a goal.[5]

He revitalised Celtic's team which had slipped to fifth place in the league for season 1910–11 as the great team, that had included Jimmy Quinn and Jimmy McMenemy which had won six successive league titles in a row began to tire. With Gallacher in the team Celtic won seven League Championships, four Scottish Cups, four Glasgow Cups and eleven Glasgow Charity Cups.[6]

Departure from Celtic

In 1926, Celtic 'retired' Patsy without warning. Speculation among his fans was that they wanted to save on his wages, which were considerably higher than those of any other Celtic player of the time (despite the fact that the team included greats such as Jimmy McGrory and Jimmy McStay). Gallacher went on to play for six more years with Falkirk,[7] fuelling speculation among Celtic supporters as to how many more goals he would have scored and trophies lifted had he stayed at Celtic Park.

International career

Patsy gathered 12 caps for Ireland in an age when fewer internationals were played.[8] On his debut for Ireland at Windsor Park in Belfast against England he became the highest paid international ever. Interest in the Ireland team grew tremendously: 50,000 packed into Windsor Park for his debut.

Like many Irish players of his era, he played for both the Belfast-based Irish Football Association side (11 times), and the Dublin-based Football Association of Ireland team (once).[8]

Gallacher also represented the Scottish League XI twice.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. p. 364. ISBN 9780586200056.
  2. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. p. 365. ISBN 9780586200056.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. pp. 365–366. ISBN 9780586200056.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. p. 366. ISBN 9780586200056.
  5. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. p. 119. ISBN 9780586200056.
  6. ↑ "Gallaghers and the Glasgow Celtic F.C. Connection". The Gallagher Clan. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Campbell, Tom; Woods, Pat (1987). The Glory & The Dream. Grafton. p. 368. ISBN 9780586200056.
  8. 1 2 "Patsy Gallagher". Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Patsy Gallacher". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 5 December 2011.

External links

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