McAloon, Gerald

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Fullname: Gerald Padua McAloon
aka: Gerry McAloon, Gerald McAloon
Born: 13 September 1916
Died: 13 April 1987
Birthplace: Gorbals (Glasgow)
Signed: Sep 1943-44 (loan); 4 Oct 1946 (from Brentford)
Left: 17 Aug 1948 (to Belfast Celtic)
Position: Inside-Forward
Debut: Celtic 1-0 Hamilton Accies, Regional League, 18 Sep 1943
Internationals: n/a

Biog

Pre-Celtic
Respected journalist Bob Crampsey in his Evening Times page of 7th November 1987 in response to a query as to whether or not Jean McFarlane and Gerry McAloon had played for Dunfermline in the war-time North-Eastern League answered by stating that Jean McFarlane signed for Dunfermline from Middlesbrough in 1934. However, he could find no record of Gerry McAloon playing with the Pars, but states that he did play with Airdrie in 1939/40 and had a spell with Dumbarton later on.

The Calgary Herald of March 17 1939, states that Wolves, crippled by injuries, signed Brentford inside forward Gerry McAloon for a fee of about £4,500 ($21,150). Gerry McAloon had been a regular with Brentford FC in seasons 1937/38 and 1938/39 and had played in a tie against Hearts in the Empire Exhibition Trophy. He would later rejoin Brentford.

Celtic career
Initially signed by Celtic in a wartime loan deal from Wolverhampton Wanderers Gerry McAloon made his debut for the Bhoys on September 18th 1943.

The inside forward scored the only goal of the match on that debut outing at Parkhead as Celtic defeated Hamilton in a Regional League tie. Gerry McAloon remained at Celtic Park for the remainder of that campaign where he scored 19 goals. He rejoined Celtic on a permanent basis in 1946 in a swap deal with Brentford which saw George Patterson go in the opposite direction.

Said to have “blistering footwork” and “He may prove the elusive link Celtic have long been looking for“. It wasn’t to be so, however the side benefited from his addition, with the form of the great John Gallacher in particular benefiting from Gerry McAloon’s presence in the side. The pair formed a very effective partnership.

As a measure of Gerry McAloon’s worth, in that period when Gerry McAloon was away from Celtic, John Gallacher was not the same player and when dropped led him to ask for a transfer: “I am too unsettled at Parkhead“.

Although a clever player Gerry McAloon had trouble combining his football career in Glasgow with working in London and then later in Ireland. He used to travel up on Fridays to get a good sleep the night before. It was never going to work out. Consequently he could not hold down a regular starting spot with the first team. It was a poor time to be involved with Celtic, the club were at their worst and Rangers’ sycophants had their hands on the levers of all parts of the management of the game.

Celtic were poorly managed, and the change in managers from McStay to McGrory little worked. It was the mishandling by the board and their over-eager meddling with the First Team above the head of the respective team manager that was most responsible for the shambolic state of the First Team’s results and poor showing.

The highlight of his time in the loan spell was winning all six games in the qualifying of the Regional League Cup, but Celtic little achieved thereafter. If only Celtic had him permanently and based in Glasgow full-time then you never know, the Celtic management may have had a star on their hands and the barren years may have been anything but that.

He joined Belfast Celtic in August 1948 after 54 appearances and 30 goals for (Glasgow) Celtic. A remarkable record in a torrid time and one of the few great players for Celtic during the War Years (and he was just a loan signing) and then also for a few years thereafter.

Sadly he was to leave Celtic without any major silverware, another indicator to the poor state of the club at that time.

As in Glasgow, he still continued to do long-distance travel to play football in Belfast, and this was problematic. Belfast Celtic were though to cease playing at the end of the season in 1949 following an on-field riot by Linfield in a match in December 1948, and Gerry McAloon appears to have hung up his boots at the same time.

Post-Celtic
Later, after football he became a janitor at Sacred Heart (Bridgeton) a school involved in the formation of Celtic.

Sadly, he died from hypothermia after collapsing in the street in mid-winter. in 1987.

A man who will be remembered for having achieved a proud record in what was a very difficult time for Celtic.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

No major honours

Pictures

• Player Pics

Links

• Belfast Celtic
• Celtic & World War Two