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Personal
Fullname: William Goldie
aka: Willie Goldie
Born: 16 March 1937
Birthplace: Newmains
Signed: 15 Jan 1960 (trial); 28 Jan 1960 (month) trial; 26 Aug 1960
Left: 2 Mar 1960 (free); 26 Oct 1960 (free)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Airdrie 2-0 Celtic, League, 1 Oct 1960
Internationals: N/A
International Caps:N/A
Biog
Goalkeeper Willie Goldie’s solitary first team appearance for the Bhoys was a result of probably the most bizarre reason for selection in Celtic, if not football, history.
He originally was at Celtic in early 1960, and then re-signed in August 1960 on a short term deal as cover for John Fallon. While Frank Connor and Frank Haffey returned from injury, Newmains-born Willie Goldie made his only Celtic appearance on 1st October 1960 in a 2-0 away league defeat at his former club Airdrie.
Willie Goldie had not originally been selected for the side but was spotted by his team-mates walking to the ground as a spectator with his Celtic scarf wrapped around his neck. He was picked up by the team coach, and so impressed was chairman Bob Kelly with Willie Goldie’s keenness in following the team that Bob Kelly bizarrely decided to play him in the First Team that day.
It was no dream debut for Willie Goldie, and he was attributed to be at fault for Airdrie’s two first half goals which settled the final score of 2-0. Reported to be badly positioned for the first and failing to grasp the second one cleanly. He was a bag of nerves, but in fairness he was hardly properly prepared for the role. He never played for the Celtic First Team again.
Apparently, in the caustic words of a reporter: “Goldie gave away the goals like free soap coupons“.
Celtic to this point had gone five league games from the start of the season without a win, but thankfully (if not ironically) Celtic finally won a league game for the first time that season in the next match, a 4-2 victory v St Mirren. Maybe Goldie’s surprise team appearance shook things up?
It was another case of the unwanted mass meddling by the club’s Chairman, and this event more than others clearly highlights the ineptitude in the running of the First Team during that drought era which saw Celtic not win any trophies from after the League Cup win in 1957 up until the Scottish Cup victory in 1965 when Jock Stein returned back to the club.
Although let’s be honest, most Celtic supporters have dreamed of being called over the tannoy during a match to help play a part for the side, and then score the winner. That didn’t exactly happen in this case, but he got the one dream appearance for the First Team that the rest of the us all crave.
Former midfielder Bertie Auld probably best summed the whole farce as follows:
“This was Celtic in 1960 and you came to expect the unexpected. Anything could happen. And often did.”
Willie Goldie was released in October 1960 and subsequently joined Albion Rovers in January 1961.
Other Celtic keepers who won only a single competitive first team appearance include Bobby Wraith, Gordon Marshall Snr and Barry John Corr, but none of them ever had as comical a story behind their time.
According to the “Alphabet of the Celts” book, the Old Course at St Andrew’s was said to know the power of Willie Goldie’s truly massive drives.
Tragedy was to follow when in 1962 Willie Goldie was forced to retire from football following a tragic accident at work which resulted in him suffering a leg amputation.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1960 | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 |
| Shut-outs |
0 |
– |
– |
– |
0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
Miscellaneous
The match programme from the game Willie Goldie made his debut.
Articles
Bob Kelly’s influence on team selection was emphasised one afternoon on 1 October, 1960, as our team bus was wending its merry way to Broomfield, the quaint home of Airdrie Football Club.
The chairman recognised one of the Celtic supporters, bedecked in a huge woolly green-and-white scarf, walking towards the same destination. ‘That’s one of our reserve goalies, isn’t it?’ asked Kelly. It was, indeed, an individual called Willie Goldie, and Kelly ordered the bus to be stopped.
Goldie was invited on board and he didn’t only get a lift to Broomfield, he also played! Kelly was so impressed with his commitment to Celtic that Goldie suddenly found himself in goal. John Fallon, who had been in position for the previous four league games, was dropped. Just like that. Celtic duly lost 2-0.
By the way, Goldie got plenty of opportunities after that to support the club from the terracings – he never played in the first team again!
Actually, I owe him a big thank-you for helping restore me to the first team. I missed the game against Airdrie with Alec Byrne playing outside-left, but I returned for the next match and scored two goals in a 4-2 victory over St.Mirren
Willie Goldie and the strangest debut in football
Damian Mannion
10th November 2017, 10:44 am
Updated: 10th November 2017, 10:48 am
Source: https://talksport.com/football/309079/willie-goldie-and-strangest-debut-football-171110261507/
A Celtic fan plucked from the crowd and thrust into the starting line-up of his beloved club; Willie Goldie must have been on cloud nine when this happened to him. However, the reality was much different, as Retro Football Blog explains…
To use a football cliché, Willie Goldie’s Celtic debut is the stuff dreams are made of.
A Celtic supporter, the goalkeeper had been signed as cover for John Fallon in August 1960, and was travelling as a fan to watch the Hoops in action at Airdrie – the team he had just left – on 1 October 1960.
Celtic’s first team, meanwhile, winless in their first four league games of the 60/61 campaign, were travelling on the bus and, as they made their way to Broomfield Park, some of the players spotted Goldie en route with his Celtic scarf wrapped around his neck.
This was brought to the attention of chairman Robert Kelly, who was travelling with the team and he was so impressed with the level of commitment he thought Goldie was showing that he ordered the bus to pull over and summoned the player on board.
At this point, as far as Goldie was concerned, he had a day off and was simply getting a lift to the ground following a late night out with his wife.
So it was quite a shock when he found out Kelly had instructed manager Jimmy McGrory to start him.
It should be pointed out that back then, although McGrory was the manager, Kelly was the one in charge. It was common for bigwigs like him to meddle in team affairs and make decisions you would nowadays associate with that of the manager.
“I think every club was like that,” former Celt Paddy Crerand explains in Kevin McCarra’s book, Celtic: A Biography in Nine Lives. “Matt Busby must have been one of the first when [in 1945] he became manager of Manchester United, to have the strength to control the club.”
At Celtic Park, Kelly was the boss and McGrory was merely a figurehead.
Fallon, who was due to play in goal for Celtic that day, spoke of the bewilderment that greeted him on his return to the changing room following an inspection of the pitch and goalmouths.
“There, to my astonishment, I saw my boots had been removed from the place where the goalkeeper’s jersey was, and discovered that Willie Goldie, who had set out for this game as a supporter, was going to play instead,” he wrote in his autobiography.
Airdrie won 2-0 and both first-half goals have been attributed in a variety of places to goalkeeper errors.
Former midfielder Bertie Auld probably best summed the whole farce up. “This was Celtic in 1960 and you came to expect the unexpected,” he said. “Anything could happen. And often did.”
Goldie never played for the team again after that and as for Kelly making decisions, that all changed with the arrival of Jock Stein as boss in 1965.
This first appeared on retrofootballblog.com
The Incredible True Story of Willie Goldie’s Celtic Debut
By David Potter 30 April, 2020 No Comments
The following story is likely to strain the belief of anyone, but I am assured by one of the characters that it did happen. It really could only have happened to Celtic in the mad days when Bob Kelly was in charge of the club, and it goes an awful long way to explain why it was that Celtic with talented youngsters like Pat Crerand and Billy McNeill, and experienced, wily old pros like Neil Mochan and Bertie Peacock on board, still could not win anything.
It was October 1 1960. It had generally been agreed that Celtic were off to a bad start this season. In the all-Glasgow Scottish League Cup section, Celtic, after seeming to have had it all won, collapsed in the final two matches, to Third Lanark and then Rangers in the last game and were out of the competition.
They had then lost again to Rangers in the Scottish League, and on the Monday night before this game, they had exited the Glasgow Cup to Partick Thistle. It was fair to say that the team were not impressing their grumbling supporters, but everyone consoled themselves by saying that they had a young side, and they still needed time. It was an excuse however that was now wearing a little then.
But today Celtic were on the team bus making the short trip to Broomfield to play Airdrie, and optimism was in the air that maybe this could be the day that the corner was going to be turned. There was the usual jokes and banter. Suddenly someone said “There’s Willie Goldie!”, and there he was with his green and white scarf round his neck waiting for a bus at Monklands Hospital.
Willie was the reserve team goalkeeper, the reserves weren’t playing today, (they had beaten Airdrie reserves 2-0 on the Friday night) and Willie was a supporter, like everyone else. Mr Kelly, impressed by Goldie’s enthusiasm, told the bus driver to stop and they gave him a lift to the game, and a seat in the stand with the official Celtic party.
But it went even further than that. John Fallon, the man who thought he was playing in goal, went out to have a look at the pitch and both goalmouths, as goalkeepers do. He chatted away to the rest of his team mates, and then came back into the Away dressing room to discover that his boots had been removed, and that Willie Goldie was getting ready to play in the game.
Goldie had played for Airdrie in the past, and Mr Kelly seemed to be impressed by his “local knowledge” that would help Celtic today. Fallon was of course shattered by this, but the real victim was Willie Goldie.
Celtic proceeded to lose 0-2, and Willie Goldie, in the unkind words of a reporter, gave away goals “like soap coupons”, being badly positioned for the first and failing to grasp the second one cleanly.
He was a bag of nerves, and never played for Celtic again. It was an astonishing day for Celtic, Goldie and Fallon. Everyone had just assumed that Fallon must have picked up an injury, and when the truth came out, it was first of all one of these typically Glasgow urban rumours with everyone saying “Naw! I’m no believin’ that!”
But it was true!
David Potter
