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Personal
Fullname: Graham Barclay
aka: N/A
Born: 11 April 1957
Birthplace: Bothwell, Scotland
Signed: 19 August 1973
Left: 30 Apr 1977 (free)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Clydebank home 4-1 Scottish Cup 15 February 1975 (only game)
Internationals: N/A
Biog
Bothwell born goalkeeper Graham Barclay joined Celtic in 1973 from Lanarkshire Junior club Blantyre Victoria, and was dubbed “a great prospect“.
He stayed at Parkhead for 4 seasons but was always behind Peter Latchford, Denis Connaghan and Ally Hunter in the battle for the No.1 shirt. Not exactly the most glamorous names in the world of goalkeeping (or even Celtic’s) but Graham Barclay still never made a league appearance for Celtic.
His only first team outing came on 15th February 1975 when he was between the sticks for the 4-1 Scottish Cup Fourth Round victory over Clydebank at Celtic Park. He was just 18 years old at the time and was played after the manager was exasperated by the form of the main goalkeepers (having conceded six goals in the past three games). Ally Hunter was dropped and Denis Connaghan’s cartilage was playing up.
Despite that, he was never given further opportunities despite Celtic continuing to heavily concede in the league that season (and at least once in each of the next five competitive games). His chances were not helped by Jock Stein bringing in Peter Latchford to Celtic soon after his debut match. He was even given few opportunities at the reserve level, with only ten appearances with the reserve team.
His performances for Scotland Pro Youth were said to be seldom short of brilliant, so boded well for the future. He was loaned out to Dunfermline in July 1975 to help him gain additional match time experience.
In any case, he managed to play for the Celtic First Team in a competitive match, something that the rest of us can only dream of. Celtic went on to win the Scottish Cup that season, so Graham Barclay can take some pride in having at least played a role in that run.
The bigger difficulty was that Celtic were to finally concede the league title and not reach the coveted ten in a row. It was a frustrating season, and things had to change. He may have been possibly penned in for the long-term, but circumstances with Jock Stein (e.g. car accident in July 1975 and then absence for recovery time), poor management at board level and a rapidly declining economic environment hampered development & investment at the club. Jock Stein also generally had a weakness with handling goalkeepers, a position he seemed to generally not be able to handle as well as he did with outfield players.
Graham Barclay was eventually released by the club in 1977.
He soon moved into opening a successful Gentleman’s Outfitters with his brother, and due to the commitment to this new business he left football behind him despite an offer to assist at Hamilton Accies at one point, and appears to have given up the senior game at the age of just 20. With the economic environment of the time and for many years later, it possibly was a frugal and wise decision, but we can only now wonder if the circumstances were any better how his career potentially could have turned out if he had been given more opportunities.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1973-77 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Shut-outs | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |