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Fullname: Finlay McLean
Born: 1879
Died: […]
Birthplace: […]
Signed: 2 July 1904
Left: 1 June 1905 (to Hamilton)
Position: Outside-right
Debut: Partick Thistle 0-2 Celtic, League, 20 Aug 1904
Internationals: none
Biog
Outside-right Finlay McLean was signed by the Bhoys in July 1904 from Hamilton Academicals, as a replacement for Bobby Muir but soon lost his place to the popular Alec Bennett.
He made a scoring debut on 20th August 1904 when Celtic won a league tie at Partick Thistle 2-0.
His most notable match was the next one where in a 4-1 win over Port Glasgow in the league he scored a goal alongside Jimmy Quinn who scored a hat-trick in his comeback game from injury. Some sources have claimed that actually Finlay McLean had got a double in this game, but both the Scottish Referee and the Glasgow Herald say that Jimmy Quinn had a hat-trick
The problem for Finlay McLean was that Davie Hamilton was waiting in the wings and that was a talent too far for Finlay to match. It was though Bennett and Finlay who seemed to be the ones switching to be in and out the side, and it was Bennett who won favour in the end.
Alec Bennett got the nod over Finlay for the Glasgow Cup which Celtic won that season, although Finlay McLean did score against Queen’s Park in a 3-0 victory in an early round in the same competition.
As well as the above mentioned matches, he also scored one in a 4-2 win over Motherwell.
Still Finlay McLean in his number of matches helped Celtic that season to the league title which is much to respect. Notably, this was a season when both Celtic & Rangers were tied at the season end on 41pts with a victory in a play-off match awarding Celtic the league title, but Finlay was long out the side to be considered for this one.
In total, he had made a total of 15 league appearances for Celtic and scored three goals in these games.
He returned to Hamilton in June 1905 and moved later to Workington Town before returning back up north.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1904-05 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Goals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Pictures
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