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Fullname: William Henry B. Malloy
aka: William Malloy, Willie Malloy, William Molloy, Willie Molloy
Born: 2 April 1900 […to be checked… see notes below]
Died: […]
Birthplace: Gateshead […to be checked… see notes below]
Signed: 24 October 1925
Left: 7 September 1928 (to Dumbarton)
Position: Outside-Right
Debut: Dundee 1-2 Celtic, 17 Mar 1926, League
Internationals: none
Biog
The nephew of Celtic great Johnny Madden, Willie Malloy was signed from Dumbarton Harp in October 1925. Wanted by Aberdeen, but Celtic got him. Described as a ‘prolific leader‘ but wasn’t to prove it at Celtic.
The outside-right made his debut for the Bhoys in a 2-1 league win in at Dundee on 17th March 1926 and scored a debut goal which boded well. Celtic had already won the league title two weeks back, so can say he was being given a run to trial him settle him into the first team.
Brought primarily as cover for Jimmy McGrory, he actually ended up deputising for Adam McLean.
He was unlucky not to play in the Scottish Cup final of 1926 as he himself also got injured as well as Adam McLean, and so it was Willie Leitch who started. Celtic went on to lose 2-0 to St Mirren. The disappointment was as Celtic were heading towards a domestic league & cup double, but sadly lost out with this defeat.
He had a short run of games around March 1926, one game in April and just two games early into the next season. He played in only a single defeat, with six wins out of eight matches, which is an excellent record to look back on.
The 3-1 win v Morton in April 1926 followed the Scottish Cup final, and despite having won the league it was said that “little enthusiasm marked their success” as the fans were a little downcast from having lost the opportunity to grab the league & cup double. Willie Malloy had a bittersweet day as he was taken from Celtic Park to the Royal Infirmary with a chipped ankle bone.
Willie Malloy was to then spend periods of his Celtic career on loan at Arthurlie and Ayr United.
In total, he had played a total of eight first team games for Celtic before finally leaving and joining Dumbarton in September 1928, where he went on to have a good goal scoring record for the side.
He had a league winners medal with Celtic at least from his time with the club.
Sadly, after that league title winning season, Celtic didn’t win a league title again for ten years, and then again for a generation. A decline had really begun at the club with manager Willie Maley ageing and increasingly out of touch, and the impact was having a detrimental impact on the first team.
Willie Malloy later moved to teams down south (Yeovil & Petters Utd, Swansea and Bristol City) before heading home and playing for Falkirk then wrapping up his time with Dumbarton.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1925-26 | 5 | 1 | – | – | 5 |
| Goals | 1 | 0 | – | – | 1 |
| 1926-27 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 2 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
| Total |
7 |
1 |
– |
– |
8 |
| Goals |
1 |
0 |
– |
– |
1 |
Honours with Celtic
Pictures
Links
Notes
- Some resources (e.g. Wikipedia) have his surname as Molloy, others as Malloy. We are using Malloy as is consistent with certain Celtic sources.
- Birth date & Birthplace different to Alphabet of the Celts: 1904 & Barrow in Furness acc to Wikpedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Molloy_(footballer)