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Fullname: Matthew Mair
aka: Matt Mair
Born: 3 October 1880
Died: […]
Birthplace: Dunlop
Signed: 25 May 1901 (from Newmilns)
Left: 12 July 1902 (to Kilmarnock)
Position: Centre-Forward
Debut: Celtic 1-2 Hearts, League, 30 Nov 1901
Internationals: n/a
Biog
Signed from Newmilns in May 1901, Matthew Mair played just a single league first team match for Celtic.
He was a junior internationalist, and given a run of friendly matches to trial his worth. He notably scored twice in a benefit match away v Hearts (20 Aug 1901), and played as a centre-forward v Rangers in another benefit match.
After impressing in trial games and second string encounters, this centre-forward made his one and only competitive first team appearance on 30th November 1901 but Celtic lost 2-1 in the league at home to Hearts, the club’s first league match loss of the season. However, there was reportedly a late “equaliser” chalked off for infringement, and Hearts were a strong side in second place in the league at at the time.
Despite not succeeding to become a regular first team player at Celtic, he did manage to score for Celtic v Rangers but this was in the post-season Inter-City league on 1 Mar 1902.
He didn’t play any further first team matches for Celtic, and it is sadly ironic for him that having impressed in a friendly & scoring with two goals v Hearts, that his one major match was to end up being a defeat to Hearts.
Celtic lost the league title that year by just 2 points to Rangers, so all so close and every point counted, and his debut match (along with others) proved to be in retrospect a costly defeat. However, Celtic did lose three league matches that season (same as Rangers) but drew two more games, so not all due to the Hearts game loss alone.
He left the club to join Kilmarnock in July 1902.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1901-02 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
