Buchan, Willie

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Biog

“A player ahead of his time.” The Scotsman newspaper quote

A brilliant inside forward Willie Buchan was tipped to be the next big thing in Scottish football when he was signed by Willie Maley for the Bhoys from Grange Rovers in January 1933. Willie Maley is said to have dashed by car to Grangemouth before Rangers could themselves do so to sign him up. We won that race!

Buchan made his debut in a 3-2 league defeat at Queen of the South on August 12th 1933. Capable of playing as a forward or in a deeper role, Buchan had great vision, drive and above all wonderful all round ability which quickly established him as a massive favourite with the Celtic support. His presence in a Celtic team could add thousands to the gate – even at reserve games. Willie Buchan was a class performer and one with an ability to score vital goals.

He was a key player for Celtic in the league winning season of 1935-36, Celtic’s first league title for ten years. He had a proud scoring record, but it was his support play which saw him create goals (‘assists’ as they call them now) for fellow players such as Jimmy Delaney and Jimmy McGrory who terrorised goals with their efforts.

He ran the show in the 1937 Scottish Cup final in front of a record 146,433 crowd as the Bhoys took on Aberdeen. Willie Buchan dictated play from the off and after playing a part in Celtic’s first goal he was on hand to score the winner. Seldom has a winning goal been scored by a more deserving candidate.

He was stated to be “A player ahead of his time“. A great accolade and should have been a possible bulwark on which the team could build around to become a constant force again.

Possibly his only low mark on the pitch was that he played in the club’s record defeat of 8-0 away against Motherwell, a match in which he had to go into goals after Joe Kennaway had to leave the field injured (Celtic were already 4-0 down by then).

Sadly for the Hoops support their hero was soon to move on after the Parkhead board agreed to sell Willie Buchan to Blackpool in 1937 for what was then a record sum involving a Scottish club of £10,000. The switch to Lancashire was a lucrative deal for the club but for Willie Buchan it was a move he had neither instigated or welcomed.

He had been summoned to The Bank – the Queen Street restaurant owned by Maley – where he was met not only by the Celtic boss but also his Blackpool counterpart. Willie recalled: “The way things were put to me it seemed I had no choice in the matter. It was a great disappointment as I was enjoying playing for Celtic.”

Notably, on the onset of war he returned to Glasgow in 1939-40 in hope that he could entice Celtic to take him on, he would play once more for the Bhoys as a ‘guest’ but sadly the club wasn’t interested in a more long term arrangement, and after a spell with Stenhousemuir he would return to England to become a PT instructor for the RAF. It was a pathetic waste, and it wasn’t necessarily personal against Willie Buchan as the board said no to many others. Whatever the thinking was of the then board, the truth is that they squandered many great opportunities, few greater than re-signing Willie Buchan. This poor management cost Celtic dear for a long time to come.

Willie Buchan’s time at Parkhead was relatively brief but his impact was huge.

The same year that Willie Buchan left, McGrory also left. Malky MacDonald filled in well for Willie Buchan, but in truth the loss of Willie Buchan did still mark the end of a good long era. Granted Celtic had already begun a slow decline early in the 1930s (which was to accelerate fast in the war years) but the loss of those two key players and favourites really marked the beginning of the end of a glorious chapter, especially after the league title win of 1937-38 and Exhibition Cup victory.

During the war, Willie Buchan carried on playing football when he could by being a ‘guest’ player for clubs when possible (such as for Man Utd), as was the norm in those difficult days. Kept them fit and picked up morale of the local supporters.

After Blackpool, Willie Buchan moved on to Hull City and then Gateshead before managing Coleraine and ending his football career at East Stirling.

He passed away on 6 July 2003. He remains a much loved Celt.

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Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

• 1935-36

Scottish Cup

• 1937

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Pictures

• Player Pictures

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Articles

Buchan’s vision won hearts of Celtic fans;

The Herald (United Kingdom):

Bob Crampsey pays tribute to last link to legendary forward line
Herald and the Sunday Herald, The (Glasgow, Scotland)
July 10, 2003

The passing of Willie Buchan, who has died at the age of 88, has sadly brought to an end the last link with the great Celtic side of the 1930s.

He was in the great Scottish tradition of thoughtful inside forwards and made an early impact as a junior with Grange Rovers before Celtic took him on board in 1933. Not only did he play well himself but he also brought out the best in the dashing Jimmy Delaney and gave a new lease of life to the dangerous but ageing Jimmy McGrory.

He was a member of the Celtic side which won the League Championship in 1936, but the highlight of his Parkhead career came with the Scottish Cup final a year later. His influence in this tournament was immense.

When Celtic trailed 4-2 deep into the second half in the quarter-finals against Motherwell, it was Buchan who led by example and got the equalising goal which made possible a win in the replay at Fir Park.

Already the names of this forward line Delaney, Buchan, Crum, Divers, and Murphy tripped from the lips of the support. Of these players, Jimmy Delaney and Johnny Crum were the dashers, Buchan and John Divers the thinkers and Frank Murphy a conventional but highly useful left winger.

The final evoked great interest since the opposition, Aberdeen, had not reached this stage before. On the day of the final there were more than 146,000 at Hampden – three times the present capacity of the national stadium.

It was an eventful match. An early goal from Crum was immediately nullified within a minute by one from Matt Armstrong. So in the second half it was time for Buchan of the sloping shoulders to go to work. His pace was most deceptive, his style almost laboured at times but before long, spectators would notice that the pursuing defender was toiling in his wake.

Fittingly he got the winner with a shot which clipped the inside of the post before crossing the line quite slowly. McGrory had found a couple of yards for him and that was all that he needed.

He had little time to enjoy his triumph, however. Within three months he was transferred to Blackpool for (pounds) 10,000 which was then a record transfer fee for a move involving a Scottish club. Contrary to repute, the powerful Celtic were a transferring club and Buchan was merely following the path beaten out by Charlie Napier and the brothers O’Donnell, Frank and Hugh.

It was not the happiest of transfers for a variety of reasons. It meant that he missed out on the splendid Empire Exhibition Cup win in 1938 and the winning of another championship in that same Golden Jubilee year. In the short term, however, Malcolm Donald filled the gap left by his going very satisfactorily.

As for Buchan’s own career, World War II came along before he had really settled in England. When it came he at first returned to Scotland and proffered his services to Celtic. Astonishingly the club showed little enthusiasm and nothing ever came of it. The services of Matt Busby and the O’Donnell brothers were likewise declined in one of the most foolish strategic decisions that Scottish football has ever seen.

Rumours abounded that Celtic were not at all prepared to breach the maximum war time wage of (pounds) 2 per week and certainly Buchan did eventually play for what had been his local team, Stenhousemuir.

The latter club closed down for the duration after June 1940 and Buchan went back south to become a PT instructor in the Royal Air Force, which at least ensured his fitness.

His international recognition had hitherto been confined to two outings against the Irish League but he was not chosen for the wartime match against England at Hampden in April 1943. Matthews and Carter engineered a 4-0 win for England and he never again attracted the notice of the selectors.

By the time peace returned in 1945, Buchan’s best years had gone and people like Stan Matthews, Stan Mortensen and Ernie Taylor were queuing for places in the Blackpool front line. Yet he retained enough of his old ability to do a very satisfactory job for Hull City before finishing with Gateshead.

On the field his individual style with his head in front of hunched shoulders, his vision and his strength won the hearts of the support. Off-field, the centre-shed, the chalk-striped suit and the loosely-belted greatcoat were all hallmarks of the top professionals of his day.

He was a most influential player and Celtic’s casual attitude towards him and his fellow exiles cost them some 20 years supremacy in Scottish football in the post-war

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Willie Buchan – ‘a player ahead of his time’

The Scotsman

Published on 09/07/2003 01:00

WILLIE Buchan, the Celtic legend who was believed to be the Parkhead club’s oldest surviving player, has died at the age of 88.

The “maestro,” who scored the winning goal in the 1937 Scottish Cup final, in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a club match in Britain, passed away peacefully in a nursing home near his home town of Grangemouth.

In a 32-year career, from 1933, he played for 14 clubs and was the subject of one of the first five-figure transfer fees, a move that took him to Blackpool, one of England’s top teams, and ultimately a partnership with Sir Stanley Matthews.

When Buchan signed for Celtic in 1933, the non-Catholic was also being chased by Rangers, but the inside- forward believed he had more chance of breaking into Celtic’s first team because Rangers already had the superb Archie Macauley in his position.

It was an inspired decision and for four seasons Buchan, regarded as “a player ahead of his time,” scored a goal every two games and laid on hundreds more for Jimmy Delaney and Jimmy McGrory, who still holds the record for goals scored for a British club.

Buchan’s departure to Blackpool in 1937 for 10,000, an astronomical sum in the Depression era, caused outrage among supporters, who regarded it as an act betrayal by Celtic’s board.

Eugene McBride, the author of two books on Celtic, explained the club’s thinking.

He said: “They saw money and clapped their hands. They did not, however, spend it on the team and Willie’s departure caused a major decline.”

The attitude of the Celtic board is summed up by its reaction to Buchan’s most glorious moment when he scored the winning goal in the 2-1 cup victory over Aberdeen in front of a record 146,433 fans at Hampden.

McBride added: “A director grabbed Willie as he came off the pitch and said: ‘Why couldn’t you miss?’ Willie was dumbfounded until he realised the executive was thinking about the revenue from a replay!

“In those days, players were paid a lot, in comparison to ordinary working men, but nowhere near the sums of today that reflect their value as crowd-pullers.”

Buchan’s skills pleased fans. He had star quality that made supporters want to watch him. Days after he signed for the club, his presence in a Celtic “alliance” attracted 10,000 fans to Firhill for a reserve match against Partick Thistle.

Two months later, when the Parkhead faithful realised how good he was, a crowd of 39,000 turned out for a 2nd XI Cup replay against Rangers.

Buchan added: “He was also the penalty king, albeit often using a ‘tearing’ run up, only to execute a silky side-foot push right or left, and always beyond the keeper.

“Willie loved scoring goals, but he did not like to upset the rigging of the net; the ball just over the line suited him.”

After his transfer, he was just as adored by Blackpool fans. In one memorable game Buchan set up all the goals in a 9-2 thrashing of Stockport.

During the war years, he joined the RAF and, as was the custom, he was one of a number of top players allowed to “guest” for teams.

He variously played for every top team, including Manchester United, eventually returning to Scotland to finish his career with East Stirlingshire.

Bill Lawless, a former director of ’Shire and a lifelong friend, said: “I had the honour to play against him and even then he was great. I swear I watched Willie beat a man, apologise, and then beat him again. He was so confident that he did it for fun.”

Now, the oldest-surviving Parkhead player is Jackie Watters, who is 83.

Buchan’s daughter, Leisha Huskie, 49, said yesterday: “I was the youngest and dad was at the end of his career, but he continued to have a lifelong love of the game and ironically it was my daughter, Jenna, who inherited that love. They talked constantly about football.

“Because he was my dad, I probably hadn’t realised just how influential he had been as a player, until we attended the funeral of Jimmy McGrory, and people came up to him. He was obviously remembered with fondness.”

Buchan’s funeral will be held at Falkirk Crematorium tomorrow at 3.30pm.

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Interview with Willie Buchan in Celtic View, 1998

On Jimmy McGrory
“Jimmy McGrory was an incredible player. I remember playing alongside him in a match against Motherwell at Celtic Park when he scored a hatrick in just over three minutes. They would centre the ball and it would just as quickly end up in the back of the net again.
“As eveyone knows he was magnificent with his head not only for scoring goals but also in creating them. Having played England, I would have no hesitation in saying that he was better than both Dixie Dean and Tommy Lawton. As Jimmy got older his reputation went before him. It still amuses me to reflect on a match we played at Firhill.
“The Thistle centre half had been asked to mark McGrory and he certainly followed his instructions to the letter.
“When Jimmy quickly nipped into the dressing room for new bootlaces in the second half the centre half followed him into the tunnel, awaited his return before going back onto the field. Ive never seen anything like it but that, I suppose, was the price of fame.”

On the 1937 Cup Final.
“Even now I still remember the incredible volume of sound that greeted us as we ran onto the field. I had never heard anything like it and initially I found myself slightly overawed. The memory of my winning goal is still vivid in my mind too.
“The ball was played through from our own half and Jimmy McGrory flicked it on, allowing me to move in on the keeper from the right hand side of the area. The two full backs closed in and I remember as the keeper came out, the goal seemed to become smaller, I just managed to squeeze the ball past him and in off the post.”

On the 8-0 defeat by Motherwell.
“That game at Fir Park remains for me the one blemish in an enjoyable career with Celtic. To lose 8-0 was bad enough but I ended up in goal because Joe Kennaway sustained an injury. By that time we were already four goals down!
“In the dressing room afterwards Kennaway criticised my efforts but I pointed out that he had lost four goals in twenty minutes. It had taken the remainder of the game for me to concede the same number.
“Willie Maley was furious about it and our trip to Wembley turned out to be rather embarrassing.”

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