McVittie, Matthew

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Fullname: Matthew McVittie
aka: Matt McVittie
Born: 30 September 1937
Died: 21 March 1996
Birthplace: Calderbank
Signed: 29 July 1953 (prov); 9 December 1953 (full)
Left: Feb 1956 – Feb 1958 (Army); 25 Nov 1959 (to St Johnstone)
Position: Inside-Right
Debut: Celtic 4-0 Clyde, Glasgow Cup, 23 Aug 1955
Internationals: n/a

Biog

A highly rated schoolboy prospect Matthew McVittie signed for Celtic on provisional terms from Wishaw Juniors in July 1953.

The inside-right made his first team debut for the Hoops as a seventeen-year-old as the Bhoys defeat Clyde 4-0 in a Glasgow Cup match at Parkhead on August 23rd 1955. However, his major competition debut was in a 4-0 defeat in the away leg of league cup group stages to Rangers a week later, just a few days after Celtic had actually defeated Rangers in the same competition at home.

He was a composed and intelligent ball player he had made good progress – mostly in Jock Stein’s reserve side – when he broke an arm during a match with Derry as part of the 1958 tour of Ireland.

A long stint in the army lost him time and development at Celtic, however Celtic were poor throughout much of the 1950s and Matt was unfortunate to be involved at this time. Celtic had a short purple patch (in the league cup) during his time at the club, but he wasn’t involved heavily and didn’t get a consistent chance in the first team to make a significant difference. He didn’t get to play in any of the runs in league cup when Celtic won the titles in 1956 & 1957. He also missed out on the Coronation Cup and League & Cup double which occurred before his debut for the 1st XI.

Having recovered from the arm injury blow, Matt McVittie became a regular player during the second half of the 1957/58 season scoring 4 goals, and continued into 1958/59 season scoring seven goals.

His best spell was probably in the Scottish Cup in 1958/59 when he scored a goal in the two games v Clyde (one a replay) to help take Celtic through to the next round to play Rangers. One of the goals was disputed as offside, but the ref had played on. In this following game v Rangers, Matt McVittie set up a goal for Divers and also scored himself again in a 2-1 victory, the second goal was ultimately the winner. It all came undone when Celtic lost in the semi-finals to St Mirren 4-0.

He eventually lost his place in the side by late 1959 to the then young (and future great to be) Steve Chalmers. Celtic had a poor start to the 1959/60 season, when in the pre-season league cup competition, Celtic lost to Airdrie and Raith Rovers, and then in the league lost to Rangers 3-1 which was to be Matt McVittie’s last first team game for Celtic.

By November 1959, he had moved to Second Division football with St Johnstone. He did reasonably well there but by February 1960 he seemed to be constantly running out of pace in the second half. He consulted a doctor and to his and the club’s surprise it was discovered that he was suffering from the effects of glandular fever – and had been for some time.

He left St Johnstone at his own request in 1962 and moved to England and Cambridge Town.

Matt McVittie had played 44 times for Celtic in the league & cup and scored 12 goals.

A fair record for which he can hold his head up high, but another for whom potentially it could have been so much better if the set-up at Celtic was at a higher standard than what it had become during his tenure at the club.

He passed away in 1996 at the age of 58.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

No major honours

Pictures

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