Delaney, Jimmy

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Personal

Fullname: James Delaney
aka: Jimmy Delaney
Born: 3 Sep 1914
Died: 26 Sep 1989
Birthplace; Cleland (Lanarkshire), Scotland
Height: 5 ft 8
Signed: 9 Sep 1933
Left: 8 Feb 1946 (to Man Utd)
Position: Outside Right, Centre Forward
Debut: Hearts 0-0 Celtic, League, 18 Aug 1934
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 19 caps
International Goals: 10 goals

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Biog

As immensely charming as he was talented, the noble Jimmy Delaney is unquestionably one of the best loved Celts of all time.

The son of Patrick and Bridget, James Delaney was born in the small north Lanarkshire village of Cleland on 3rd September 1914. Cleland was a mining community and one which boasted a close knit and almost exclusively Irish populace. Like many of his contemporaries Jimmy would work as a young teen in the pits but it would soon be obvious to most that here was a man destined for a life on the football field rather than the coalfield.

Delaney’s career would begin with local side St.Mary’s, and it wasn’t long before he made the step up to the Midlothian Junior League by signing for Stoneyburn Juniors in the summer of 1933. His performances for Stoneyburn quickly attracted the attention of scouts and eventually sparked a race for his signature between the Hoops and Hibernian.

Both clubs offered the player a trial. Jimmy Delaney would attend Celtic Park for a bounce game and so impressed was Willie Maley by his performance that the very next day he offered the 19-year-old a contract which allegedly included a £20 signing on fee and wages of £2 a week increasing to £4 once he made the first team.

For a teenager from Cleland it was a most lucrative deal and the young Jimmy Delaney wasted no time in signing for the famous Glasgow Celtic.

Famous they might have been but when Jimmy Delaney arrived at Celtic Park that September the truth was the club had seen much better days. Although success was not a stranger to the club, current team manager Maley and much of his side were ageing. The whole club was still coming to terms with the tragic loss of Johnny Thomson. Off the field the building of a new stand had stretched finances to the limit.

The Hoops still boasted some exceptional talents including the great Jimmy McGrory while the likes of Johnny Crum and Malky McDonald gave some hope of a brighter future. Jimmy Delaney would add to that hope with some impressive displays for the reserves in the Alliance League throughout season 1933-34.

On August 18th 1934, Jimmy Delaney made his Celtic first team debut in a league encounter at Hearts. The match finished goalless, but it had been an exciting spectacle and one in which Jimmy Delaney had made a pleasing contribution. A Celtic team going through a period of transition would suffer inconsistent form for much of the following months. Nevertheless, the performances of Delaney were a cause for optimism for the Parkhead faithful.

An exciting old-fashioned winger, Jimmy Delaney was not only blessed with both pace and skill but was as brave and hardworking as anyone who has stepped onto a football pitch.

He quickly won a place in the hearts of the Celtic support with displays which coupled his thrilling (if raw) ability to a never say die attitude.

Although he could be over-wed by the presence of his more illustrious team-mates Jimmy Delaney relished life at Celtic. He loved the club and his pride in wearing the Hoops was impossible to disguise. In 1935 Jimmy Delaney attended the funeral of Tom Maley and as a Celtic shirt was draped over the coffin young Delaney earnestly remarked: “I hope that they will do that for me”.

Delaney’s enthusiasm was unquestionable, but as talented as he was there were some aspects of his game that required some fine tuning. The return to Celtic Park of the great Jimmy McMenemy in the role of trainer would prove to be an inspirational appointment by Celtic. McMenemy recognised the immense talent of Jimmy Delaney and he took it upon himself to coach and mentor Jimmy Delaney. A natural leader, the man known as Napoleon offered Jimmy Delaney not just tactical and technical insights to the game, but also a friendly and welcoming contrast to the strict headmasterly approach of Maley. Jimmy Delaney, who was a naturally shy character, revelled in this relationship and the subsequent improvement to his confidence and game was huge.

Now with a firm believe in his own ability Jimmy Delaney became the undoubted inspiration behind the re-emergence of Celtic as a major football force in the late 1930s. With the dashing winger in scintillating form the Hoops took the league championship title in 1936 and 1938 as well as the Scottish Cup in 1937.

The jewel in the crown though came with the capture of the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938. Held to mark Glasgow’s hosting of this prestigious event the tournament was viewed as an unofficial British championship with an elegant model of the iconic Tait’s Tower the prize.

Celtic defeated Sunderland and Hearts before taking the trophy with a 1-0 victory over Everton in the Hampden final. Delaney was injured in the first game against the Roker Park side but returned for the final where he turned in a typically dazzling performance.

By now an established Scotland star, a bitter blow was to follow when an awkward fall saw Delaney fracture his arm (aggravated by an opposition player inadvertently stepping on it) in a home game against Arbroath in April 1939. The break was horrific, with the winger’s arm shattered into several pieces. At one stage amputation was considered. The irony is that the opposition player was a big Celtic fan (Attilio Becchi (a Scot of Italian origin), and he was distraught about the incident. (His cut shirt sold at Christies in 2002 for £545 [Christies])

Fortunately his arm was to mend but it was more than two years before he returned to the football field – and by then the horrors of World War II ensured sport was no more than a trivial diversion from the events on the battlefield.

Delaney was not just by far the best player at Celtic during the bleak war-time seasons he was among the very best in Britain. He carried a poor Celtic side on his shoulders throughout the war and his performances were often the only thing Hoops fans had to cheer.

He had played for Celtic for meagre wages during the war years and was promised by the club that after the conflict he would be better rewarded. That promise was never kept. Jimmy Delaney – mindful of his arm injury – had little choice to consider other options as he sought to provide a little financial security for his family.

Post-Celtic
So it was that in February 1946 he moved south to Matt Busby’s Manchester United for a fee of £4,000. It was a bargain price for a man the Celtic support believed to be among the very best players in the land. His departure would prove heartbreaking for the Celtic support. One story tells the tale of a demobbed soldier finally returning to Glasgow after three years away in the trenches of Europe. As he disembarks from the train at Glasgow Central he notices the newspaper boards declaring the sale of Delaney to United.

When he finally reaches the home he feared he may never see again, he is greeted by a delirious mother and a family all fighting to hug and embrace their returning hero. The young soldier says nothing until, with a tear in his eye, he puts down his kit bag and turns to his father and says: “Tell me it not true, tell me we’ve not sold Delaney?“.

While tongue in cheek such a tale certainly underlined the immense loss Delaney – even at the age of 31 – would be to Celtic. As if the point needed to be proved any further Jimmy Delaney turned on the style and scored the only goal of the game as Scotland beat England 1-0 in the Victory International at Hampden in April 1946. Delaney’s last minute strike sent the 134,000 crowd wild with delight and prior to the goal he had bewitched both them and the opposition with a wonderfully impish display at centre-forward. It also warmed the hearts of the many soldiers who were fighting in the war (well the Scottish ones that is).

After nearly five years of stalwart service at Old Trafford, Jimmy Delaney, at the age of 38, returned to his homeland in November 1950. He was taken there by Aberdeen, who had never forgotten how he had helped defeat them in the cup final 13 years earlier.

His stay at Pittodrie was brief, and in December 1951 he was transferred to Falkirk for £3,500. But his travels were still far from over; he left Scottish football for a second time when he crossed the Irish Sea to sign for Derry City for £1,500 in January 1954.

Even here, at 41, the Delaney cup magic began to work again, and the following May he starred in a 1-0 win over Glentoran in the second replay of the Irish Cup Final. He thus completed a hat-trick of winning Cup medals in three national competitions.

But Jimmy Delaney’s days at Derry didn’t end this extraordinary story. He moved south to Cork and, though he was well over 40, his evergreen and mature touch still counted for something.

At all events he went within a whisker of adding a national cup winning medal in the Republic to his collection; when his Cork Athletic side were beaten 3-2 by Shamrock Rovers in the FA of Ireland Cup Final at Dublin, in April 1956.

Jimmy Delaney scored Cork’s first goal and they led by 2-0 with only 13 minutes left. The Cork secretary had already gone out to buy the champagne. But then a late rally by Rovers pulled two back and, 45 seconds from the end of extra time, they snatched a third. Delaney clearly could not have been closer to a fourth cup winning medal.

His accomplishments were not confined to cup competitions: with Celtic he had won Scottish League Championship medals in 1936 and 1938, and he won 13 caps for his country.

He finished his career at then Highland League club Elgin City. But despite his travels following the departure from Glasgow, Delaney will always be remembered as a Celtic man. His whole-hearted displays in the Hoops ensured it could never be any other way.

Jimmy Delaney – who was of course the grandfather of that other fine gentleman John Kennedy – made 160 appearances for Celtic scoring 70 goals (pre-war) and another 145 games with 87 goals during the war-period. Jimmy Delaney passed away in September 1989. His funeral was attended by former team-mates and latter Celtic great such as Tommy Gemmell and Paul McStay. A Celtic shirt was draped over his coffin. There are very few who deserve that honour more.

Note
The Celtic connection was cemented further in 2003 when Jimmy Delaney’s grandson John Kennedy made his Celtic debut. The centre-half suffered a horrific knee injury on his Scotland debut against Romania in March 2004. Displaying courage his grandfather would be proud, John Kennedy battled back from a career threatening setback but after a long battle called it a day in November 2009 at just 26, and then moved into a long career within the Celtic coaching & managerial backroom team.

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Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League Champions

• 1935-36, 1937-38

Scottish Cup

• 1937

Empire Exibition Trophy

• 1938

Honours with others

• 1954 – Irish Cup Winners Medal
• 1954 – FA Cup Winners Medal
• 1956 – FA of Ireland Cup Runners-Up Medal

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Misc

Newspaper cuttings in an elastoplast tin

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Pictures

• Jimmy Delaney pics

Links

• Graves & Memorials

Books

• Jimmy Delaney: The Stuff of Legend (2006) by David Potter

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Articles

JIMMY DELANEY

By David Potter (from KeepTheFaith website)

Clearly one of the most remarkable football players of all time is Jimmy Delaney. He is known of course nowadays as the grandfather of John Kennedy, Celtic’s talented defender currently recovering from a dreadful knee injury. But who was this man, Jimmy Delaney, and what did he achieve?

His achievements are 305 appearances for Celtic between 1934 and 1946 (sadly so many of them in unofficial wartime competitions), two Scottish League winners medals, one Scottish Cup winners medal, one Empire Exhibition Trophy medal, one Glasgow Cup medal, three Glasgow Charity Cup medals and 13 Scottish Caps. All right, one may say, that is not all that impressive. Other players (of inferior quality) could be adduced with better records, but Delaney’s record is only half the story.

Jimmy is unique in that he won a Cup winners medal in Scotland , England and Northern Ireland with Celtic in 1937, Manchester United in 1948 and Derry City in 1954. He also almost did the same in the Southern Ireland Cup, but his team Cork Athletic were beaten by Shamrock Rovers in the Final of 1956. Jimmy also played for Aberdeen , Falkirk and Elgin City .

And yet he was a very unfortunate player. On April 1 st 1939, with the Germans already in Prague and casting covetous eyes on Poland, in a League game against Arbroath, Jimmy suffered not so much a breaking of the arm as a shattering and splintering of the bone, as he fell and was inadvertently trodden upon by Arbroath’s Attilio Becchi.

Becchi, unashamedly Celtic daft and enlisted in the British Army in spite of his Italian origins, would be distraught in the war years about his part in that cruellest of injuries, confessing to my father that he wished he could play time over again and avoid the Jimmy Delaney whom he adored.

This broken arm (amputation was considered at one point) kept Jimmy out of football for two years, but he didn’t really miss much as Celtic floundered in the war years. But he was playing again by 1941, and indeed throughout the rest of the war, often the only bright light in an otherwise depressing spectrum.

In the same way as Patsy Gallacher was the talk of the trenches in 1914-18, it was Jimmy Delaney who warmed many a heart in Africa , Italy or the High Seas. And how appropriate it was that it was Jimmy Delaney who restored heart to a war ravaged nation when he scored his famous last minute winner for Scotland against England in the Victory International of April 1946!

Jimmy’s great years for Celtic had been from 1934 to 1939. On the right wing, it was clear that Maley had once again turned up trumps. Delaney was fast, direct, could cross and had the disconcerting ability to cut inside a defender and charge into the box. He could also take a goal. Perhaps his most famous goal-scoring exploit was the hat-trick he scored against Rangers in the Final of the Glasgow Charity Cup in 1936. Delaney was surprised that Maley didn’t greet him with more enthusiasm. “Don’t let that go to your head”, growled Maley.

Celtic won the League in 1936 and 1938, each time playing superb football and delighting the hearts even of non-Celtic fans by their brilliant ability to switch position. Delaney, Buchan (or MacDonald), Crum, Divers and Murphy were one of the best forward lines in the history of the Club – and there were many competitors for that claim.

In 1937, Celtic won the Scottish Cup, 146,433 (and a lot more) seeing Delaney inspiring Celtic to beat Aberdeen only a week after a similar crowd had seen Delaney inspire Scotland to do the same against England . And then in 1938 came the Empire Exhibition Trophy. ”Fetch a polis man, Everton’s getting murdered” was the cry in the Final at Ibrox as Jimmy roasted the Everton defence.

In February 1946, Celtic’s chaotic management allowed the 31-year old to go to Manchester United, but he still had ten years football left in him! The winning of the FA Cup against Blackpool in 1948 was obviously a highlight of his career, but he would always look in the evening paper to see the Celtic result, or ask the Old Trafford backroom staff to listen to the radio. In this he was hardly discouraged by Matt Busby, who had a similar problem in that Busby too suffered from the endogenous and terminal condition called being “Celtic daft”. Indeed how galling it was in these awful days of the late 1940s to think that Old Trafford had two of the most Celtic daft people on the planet, who would have done anything for a return to the ground they loved!

In 1950, Delaney returned to Scotland , to Aberdeen , and it was because of Jimmy Delaney, now almost completely bald (he had been shedding hair even before the war) that Aberdeen were always given a warm and affectionate welcome at Parkhead. He then moved to Falkirk , where the Celtic crowd once famously turned on their full back Frank Meechan for fouling the great Jimmy.

He then went to Ireland before finishing up with Elgin City . But he was never anything other than Jimmy Delaney of Celtic, nor would he ever wish to be.

In similar fashion to Jimmy Quinn of old, Jimmy Delaney remained until his death in 1989 the modest, unassuming old Celt that everyone would have wanted him to be. He was also renowned as a very chivalrous and gentlemanly player – a great role model for children and he once, when invited to present the prizes as a School Sports Day, told the children, “Better to be a Champion Sport, than a Sports’ Champion”.

His son Pat Delaney played for Motherwell in the 1960s, and as we have said, his grandson John Kennedy (who has been similarly cursed by serious injury as his illustrious grandfather was) will, we hope, don the green and white Hoops for Celtic once again and restore for the Delaney family of Cleland the glory that is due for such an outstanding Celtic tradition.

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An interview that Jimmy Delaney gave to Jack Webster in the Herald, shortly before his death.

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