| Match Pictures | Matches: 1935 – 1936 | 1936 Pictures |
Trivia
- St. Johnstone took the lead through centre-forward Beattie (soon to transfer to Portsmouth) in 40 minutes, then Willie Buchan equalised in 68 minutes only for Beattie to restore the Saints’ lead with ten minutes remaining. Bob Wylie in goal and Beattie were Saints stars and for Celtic who had Crum injured for much of the game Buchan was best.
- Celtic took part in the 2nd round of cup games after being given a bye in the first round as their opponents Berwick Rangers scratched from the competition.
- Biggest story of the day is Celtic’s exit from the Scottish Cup, and Hearts, after their success over Celtic last week disappoint their supporters by falling to Partick Thistle to a winning goal four minutes from the end.
- In England the title of League champions is virtually within Sunderland’ s grasp. Winning at Liverpool, the Roker Park men increased their lead at the head of the table to seven points over Huddersfield Town and Derby County.
- Seven Italian aeroplanes dropped hundreds of bombs on the town of Dessie on Saturday in an attempt to kill the Emperor of Ethiopia.
Review
Teams
CELTIC:
Kennaway, Hogg, Morrison, Geatons, Lyon, Paterson, Delaney, Buchan, McGrory, Crum, Murphy.
Scorers:
Buchan.
SAINT JOHNSTONE:
Wylie, Taylor, Clark, H Ferguson, Littlejohn, Dickie, Tennant, Adam, Beattie, McCall, Nicholson.
Scorers:
Beattie, (2).
Referee: J. Horsburgh (Bonnyrigg).
Attendance: 26,647.
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
The Scotsman – Monday, 10th February 1936, page 6
CELTIC DEFEATED AT PARKHEAD
ST JOHNSTONE GET THE ODD GOAL
St Johnstone accomplished a meritorious performance when they defeated Celtic by the odd goal in three at Parkhead, Glasgow.
While all the St Johnstone team played well. Wyllie and Beattie must be singled out for special praise. The goalkeeper gave a brilliant display between the posts, while Beattie got his side’s two goals and gave a splendid exhibition of centre-forward play.
The pitch was flint-like, and it was early evident that the light ball and bumpy ground were going to trouble the players. St Johnstone were first to settle, and Celtic were kept busy defending. McGrory had one or two commendable tries but the ball did not run too kindly for him. After forty minutes, Nicolson broke through and sent over an accurate cross to Tennant who drew the defence and slipped to Beattie who, taking deliberate aim, shot hard into the net to put St Johnstone on the lead.
Crum was injured just on the interval, but resumed with the others after half-time, Celtic threw everything into attack and it was hereabouts that Wyllie did his best work. The goalkeeper’s saving was brilliant, and all the craft of Buchan and McGrory could not bring about a goal.
Beattie was the man of the moment in the visiting attack and Lyon was never comfortable against the elusive centre. Injuries, while fairly numerous owing to the hard ground, were, fortunately, not serious.
After a hot spell of Celtic pressure, Buchan, on the left, took a pass from Patterson and gave Wyllie no chance with a strong drive from 25 yards. With the scores level, Celtic hemmed the visitors in their own half for a short period. A goal looked imminent, but St Johnstone worked their way to the other end, and Beattie scored. The centre gained possession just over midfield, and, eluding Lyon and both backs, steadied himself and shot the ball past the onrushing Kennaway.
[See Match Pictures]
‘The St Johnstone Stumble of 1936,’ Celtic Historian David Potter
By David Potter 12 November, 2021 No Comments
THE ST JOHNSTONE STUMBLE OF 1936…
https://thecelticstar.com/the-st-johnstone-stumble-of-1936-celtic-historian-david-potter
1936 was a “crowded” year in world history. Great Britain had three kings, the Olympics took place in Berlin and to the horror of the Fuhrer a black athlete took many of the gold medals, a horrendous piece of genocide was taking place in Abyssinia and an even bloodier Civil War was about to start in Spain while all the while, it was becoming more obvious what was about to happen in a few years’ time. The economic recession was easing, however, and more people were back in work.
Season 1935/36 turned out to be one of Celtic’s best seasons. It was the season of McGrory’s great goal scoring feats. It was also a season in which Celtic NEEDED to win the Scottish League. They had not done so since 1926, and since then, only Motherwell in 1932 had broken Rangers’ run of League championships. Celtic, of course, had won the Scottish Cup in 1927, 1931 and 1933 but had not even been close in the Scottish League apart from 1928 and perhaps 1931.
The problem seemed to be Willie Maley, now a changed man from the dynamic, genial, cheerful encouraging man of his younger day. Now self-obsessed, curmudgeonly, hypochondriac, abrasive and sometimes sheer rude, and perpetually talking about “the Celts of old” whom he compared favourable to his present team, he was not an easy man to deal with. Fortunately he had two of his “Celts of old” to help him in trainer Jimmy McMenemy and his assistant Joe Dodds.
These two fine and self-effacing men were building up a good team. They were content to let Maley take the credit – both of them, of course, had tremendous respect for him, as he had for them – but everyone knew that it was McMenemy who was in practice running the team. And it was a good team with the McGrory goal scoring machine in the middle, and some other great players like Jimmy Delaney, George Paterson and the grossly undervalued Frank Murphy.
The League race that year was an exciting one with the rapidly improving Aberdeen, having their best season in their history, strongly challenging along with Celtic and Rangers. Celtic’s win over Aberdeen on midwinter’s day (the day that McGrory beat Steve Bloomer’s record) had been counteracted by an unlucky 3-4 from Rangers on New Year’s Day, and then after a successful January, had lost again last week to Hearts in a very tight game in which Willie Lyon had missed a penalty.
St Johnstone were having a reasonably good season. They had been promoted in 1932 and had not really looked entirely out of place in the First Division, but a month earlier on 4 January, Celtic had beaten them comfortably in the Scottish League, and the Perth men did not really look likely to cause an upset in the Scottish Cup. Celtic had reached this stage of the Scottish Cup in a most unusual way, for Berwick Rangers had decided to forfeit the tie, fearing that they might be unable to raise a team!
The Celtic team more or less picked itself with Kennaway, Hogg and Morrison; Geatons, Lyon and Paterson; Delaney, Buchan, McGrory, Crum and Murphy. The crowd was about 20,000, with an estimated 600 from Perth, and the weather was mild enough but a little dull with no great advantage to be gained with the wind.
Celtic were on top at the start of the game with the idea obviously to find the head of McGrory, but the Saints stuck to their task, and then five minutes before the interval St Johnstone shocked the Parkhead crowd by taking the lead. A long ball from Tennant found the unmarked John Beattie who had time to steady himself before shooting past Kennaway’s outstretched right hand.
Although the Parkhead crowd vented their displeasure at referee Mr Horsburgh at half time for a few penalties that had not been granted, there was as yet no great panic. Celtic had had enough of the play and had missed a few chances, and there was no reason to believe that they could not come back in the second half. St Johnstone too did not look particularly over-confident, for they knew that a green and white barrage would appear in the second half.
And so it did, but it was not until the 69th minute that Celtic got the equaliser, but a fine goal it was scored by Willie Buchan who beat two opponents and scored from the edge of the box. Now surely more goals would come!
Well, there was one more – but it was for St Johnstone! Once again, it was John Beattie who picked up a cross ball which eluded Willie Lyon, then ran on and slipped the ball past the advancing Kennaway just a second before Hogg came across to tackle. This happened in the 75th minute, and from now on there was frantic Celtic pressure, but the Perth men had resisted it before and did so again.
The game to its end after a desperate Delaney dash down the wing and a cross – but to no avail. For once, McGrory was not there to head home. He had had a poor game, and it showed.
It was of course a triumphant night in Perth. The Perthshire Advertiser describes it as “St Johnstone’s Greatest Achievement” and goes out of its way to praise the sportsmanship of the Celtic players. The Celtic supporters were not quite so magnanimous, and the fear was now expressed that the season which had promised so much was now going to implode. After all, the early 1930s had been times of unhappiness, and success was not expected.
But no, quite the opposite. This was a wake-up call. McMenemy and Dodds rallied the players and for the rest of the season, not a single game was lost with Celtic going to win the Scottish League with a degree of comfort, and then to add sugar to the cake, took the Glasgow Charity Cup as well.
CELTIC: Kennaway, Hogg, Morrison, Geatons, Lyon, Paterson, Delaney, Buchan, McGrory, Crum, Murphy.
Scorers: Buchan.
ST JOHNSTONE: Wylie, Taylor, Clark, H Ferguson, Littlejohn, Dickie, Tennant, Adam, Beattie, McCall, Nicholson.
Scorers: Beattie, (2).
Referee: J. Horsburgh (Bonnyrigg).
Attendance: 26,647.
David Potter