Personal
Fullname: John Mitchell
Born: 18 May 1884
Died: 20 Jun 1964
Birthplace: Paisley
Signed: 26 Nov 1906 (from Baillieston Thistle)
Left: 2 Sep 1913 (to Cowdenbeath)
Position: Left-half
Debut: Celtic 4-1 Partick Thistle, League, 1 Dec 1906
Internationals: none
Biog
John Mitchell played close to a hundred games in a Celtic career which spanned near on seven years.
Signed from Baillieston Thistle in November 1906 the hard-working left-half made his Hoops debut in a 4-1 league win at home to Partick Thistle on December 1st.
Patsy Gallagher described his play as “a champion grafter at left-half“.
However, generally he was used as cover for the first team, apart from the first two-thirds of season 1912-13.
He played in his first run of games in 1906-07, which earned him a place on the Denmark & Norway tour of 1907 and played goalie in the first match.
In season 1907-08, he was a first pick for the First Team but was competing for the role with Jimmy Hay, and ultimately lost out. Still he played a number of games in that season and picked up winners medals for the league title championship and Glasgow Cup in season 1907-08. The Glasgow Cup was a great victory, as Celtic had to play Rangers three times after two draws in the initial matches, before finally prevailing 2-0 in the third and final match. Celtic only lost one game in that great 1907/08 season in which John Mitchell played, which included matches defeating Rangers in both the Scottish Cup and league.
Thereafter he was used as cover, but stil helped Celtic win the league titles in 1908-09 & 1909-10. He played in other finals including the Glasgow Cup & Charity Cup Finals of 1910-11, Celtic losing 3-1 & 2-1 to Rangers.
He finally became a starter in season 1912-13, with Celtic losing the league to Rangers by just four points. His last game was a 2-1 win over St Mirren in April 1913.
John Mitchell eventually left Celtic after 95 Scottish Cup & league appearances in September 1913 when he joined Cowdenbeath before retiring in the summer of 1916. Despite that near-ton of league & cup appearances for Celtic, he never scored a goal for the first team in a competitive match. A sign of a true defender.
He passed away in 1964.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1906-13 | 89 | 6 | n/a | n/a | 95 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
- 1907-08