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Note: There has been more than one player with the same name to play for Celtic. So please check the other namesakes if need be.
Personal
Fullname: Charles Kelly
aka: Charlie Kelly
Born: 24 February 1925
Died: 20 March 1986
Birthplace: Blantyre, South Lanarkshire
Signed: 12 October 1944
Left: 13 December 1945 (free); January 1946 (Cambuslang Rangers)
Position: Outside-left
Debut: Third Lanark 1-2 Celtic, Regional League, 18 Nov 1944
Internationals: none
Biog
Outside-left Charles Kelly signed for Celtic during wartime in October 1944 from Cambuslang Rangers, and made his debut in a 2-1 Regional League victory at Third Lanark on November 18th.
“A grand little schemer and purveyor who knows how to shoot”.
Described as ‘tricky’ and a ‘schemer’, according to records he made a total of just four first team starts before being released by the club in December 1945 after failing to hold down a regular first team spot.
His matches were all played in one burst in season 1944/45 in November/Decemer 1944: 2-1 away victory to Third Lanark, 2-0 away defeat to Hearts, 5-0 home victory over Albion Rovers, and finally a 2-0 away victory over Queen’s Park. He was replaced by Johnny Paton, but the position seemed to pass between various players over the season with no set player in that role.
Celtic were poorly run and managed during the war years, and so his short stint does not necessarily reflect badly on him. One match reporter, Alan Breck of the Evening Times, caustically wrote after the Queen’s Park victory:
“I have never seen a Celtic team that depended so little on the arts of inside-forward fplay… these present-day Celts have no ball-play or combination… they beat a man by holding or pushing… I hope – with peace just around the corner – the Celtic people realise how much they have to do.”
He could hold his head up high, with three victories from four matches. Most notably, the 5-0 victory over Albion Rovers was one in which future Celt Jock Stein was in their defence!
He was called up to the navy not long after leaving Celtic, but as the war by this time had ended, it was now a relatively less hazardous life than before thankfully.
He moved into junior ranks and played for a long time across various teams including Cambuslang Rangers, Duntocher Hibernian, Arthurlie, St Anthonys, Bellshill Athletic, St Roch and Maryhill Harp, with even a possibility that he may re-enter senior football around 1951 but appears that he didn’t. In any case, he remained in the game and was a coach by February 1955.
As quoted in the book Alphabet of the Celts, he was “a big favourite with the crowd“, and he once hit two wonder goals for St Anthony’s (St Ants) v Shettleston.
He passed away in 1986.
N.B: Picture is of Charlie Kelly with St Anthony’s juniors 1952.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | REGIONAL LEAGUE |
SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1944-45 | 4 | – | – | – | 4 |
| Goal: | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none