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Fullname: Patrick Comerford McAuley
aka: Pat McAuley, Patrick McAuley
Born: 31 July 1921
Died: 16 March 1970
Birthplace: New Stevenston (Lanarkshire)
Signed: 29 July 1940; 18 Mar 1942
Left: 21 Aug 1941 (free), 23 Aug 1941 (Arthurlie); 16 Dec 1950 (Luton Town)
Position: Left-half
Debut: Celtic 0-4 Hibs, Regional League, 26 Oct 1940
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League
International Caps: 0 / 1
International Goals: 0 / 0
Biog
The talented left-half Pat McAuley enjoyed two spells at Celtic Park in the difficult 1940s.
Originally signed in July 1940, Pat McAuley had previously only played junior football with Douglas Hawthorns. He made his Celtic debut in a 4-0 home defeat to Hibernian in the Regional League on 26th October 1940.
After just over a year at Parkhead he joined Arthurlie for a brief spell, but in March 1942 he returned to the Hoops for a second spell with the Bhoys, and from the start of the 1942/43 season he became a regular starter for the Celts.
Pat McAuley had developed into a fine player. A clever footballer with abundant skills and an excellent football brain. He had the vision and ability to create chances from nothing and his scheming was the basis of many Celtic attacks. An instinctive genius, but a rare gem in what was then an ailing club & First XI.
Fine moments include scoring a magnificent solo goal v Falkirk in Oct 1942, and he walked through the Hearts defence for a goal in Feb 1943.
He destroyed Rangers in the League Cup in Aug 1949, with Rangers players said to have avoided tackling him to avoid being left floundering, with the match report stating:
“McAuley was the foundation stone of a splendid victory…… a football artist …… snake-hipped ….. with defense-splitting passes”.
Charlie Tully was a fan, and was said to have said of Pat McAuley that “McAuley was the brains behind attack after attack“.
Alas too few of Pat McAuley’s team-mates shared his talent and as such his qualities were often wasted.
Celtic were at their lowest during the 1940’s, and the team management were too much under the thumb of the board who were incompetent. There were few bright moments in his time at Celtic as the team lurched from one poor performance to another, only just escaping relegation in season 1947/48. He played in the pivotal 3-2 victory over Dundee in Apr 1948 that saved Celtic from potential demotion. Some would argue that his absence in some matches towards the tail-end of that season was in part the reason why matters ended up going through to that final match.
To many supporters, Pat McAuley was considered to have had the ability to have become one of the best players of all if he had the opportunity in a better team. He had the ignominy to play with Celtic instead at their nadir. He wasn’t the only one to suffer, but maybe more than any of the others at the clubs it is a case of “What if?”. At least Willie Miller won caps for the international side to gain some recognition, and John Gallacher is remembered for his glut of goals.
Pat McAuley fell foul of the ‘Corinthian spirit‘ of director Bob Kelly (or mismanagement is a better way to put it). Pat had asked for extra money on top of his wages – essentially a wage rise – or to be transfer listed, prior to the 19th November 1949 game against Third Lanark, and he was promptly dropped in favour of Alec Boden who took his position for the rest of the season. Sad to see this treatment as Pat was a great regular for many a season before.
When he was reinstated to the team in January 1950 it was as a left-back and this marked the beginning of the end of his time at Celtic. He never even got to play in the Glasgow Charity Cup final when Celtic won 3-2 v Rangers (6 May 1950), which would have been a fine moment as Celtic struggled for any silverware or even wins over Rangers during this era.
He joined the touring Celtic party to Rome in 1950 playing in Lazio’s 50th birthday match in Rome, but he never returned to Celtic Park for the 1950/51 season.
Disillusioned with life at a poor-paying, underachieving and poor-playing Celtic, lacking in ambition and playing quality, he moved to Luton Town in December 1950.
However, one note of major criticism must be added. The board do deserve flak for their poor management during the post-war years, but one major forward thinking move they made was bringing in the legendary Jimmy Hogan in as a coach. He was a legendary & seminal coach but there was resistance from senior players at Celtic who were not impressed with his coaching credentials or the sight of a white-haired old man showing them where they had (clearly) been going wrong – these after all were the players who almost relegated Celtic. In that respect, players like McAuley wasted a golden opportunity to help turn things around, and unintentionally didn’t help to rectify the problems.
Centre-forward Frank Walsh later confirmed this in the excellent Eugene McBride book Talking With Celtic:
“You know, John McPhail, Pat McAuley, Jimmy Mallan, they wouldn’t listen to him.”
In total, Pat McAuley had played 222 games for the Hoops in the main competitions and scored 27 goals, winning one cap for the Scottish League XI in a 3-0 victory over their Irish League XI counterparts.
Sadly, he never won any major honours whilst at Celtic. It’s a record that clearly highlights how poor the club was at the time, and it is an indictment of the club at the time that a fine player like Pat McAuley left without anything great to show for his time & effort for the first team. Ironically, Celtic finally managed to win a major title the season following his departure, winning the Scottish Cup in 1951, the club’s first major honour for 13 years.
Following his time at Luton Town, he moved on to Kettering Town and then returned back to Lanarkshire to play for Albion Rovers. He was later working as a crane operator at the old Ravenscraig steel plant in Motherwell.
He passed away in March 1970.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | REGIONAL LEAGUE |
REGIONAL LEAGUE CUP | TOTAL |
| 1940-41; 1942-50 | 78 | 9 | 22 | – | 90 | 23 | 222 |
| Goals | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | 20 | 3 | 27 |
Honours with Celtic
No Major Honours
Quotes
Jimmy Mallan misses a penalty (saved by future Celtic player Ronnie Simpson) in match v Queen’s Park:
Pat McAuley: “That’s the last **** penalty you take for Celtic!”
48mins, Celtic awarded another penalty, and captain Pat McAuley sends it wide!
Jimmy Mallan: “That’s the last **** penalty you take for Celtic!”
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