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Personal
Fullname: John McCann
Born: 6 September 1867
Died: 10 July 1944
Birthplace: Upper Uphall, West Lothian
Signed: 2 January 1892 (loan); March 1893 (full)
Left: 1893 (to Hibernian)
Position: Half-back
Debut: Renton 0-2 Celtic, League, 25 Mar 1893 (competitive match)
Internationals: none
Biog
Note: This is NOT the same John McCann who who was to become a member of the Celtic Committee 1894-1897.
“Mr McCann was an optimist. He always looked on the bright side of life.”
John McCann is an interesting player from the early days whose life reflected much of the selfless nature of the fathers of the club like Brother Walfrid.
He left school at the age of 11, and was to work in roles including with the Broxburn Oil Works and shale mines.
A keen footballer he started at local side Broxburn Shamrock, then Bathgate Rovers before playing for a period for Newcastle West End, and then a return to Broxburn Shamrock before a spell at Celtic. He was part of the Broxburn Shamrock side that almost created a Scottish Cup shock result but ended up losing 5-4 to Hearts in December 1891. Possibly it was his performance in this match that brought him to the attention of Celtic’s management.
John McCann first appeared for Celtic as a loan signing in 1892, drafted in after the embarrassment of the 8-0 loss to Dumbarton on Ne’erday 1892 (admittedly just a friendly). He played in the friendly match the next day which Celtic duly won 3-1 away at Third Lanark.
He did enough on that day at half-back to be re-signed again by the club a year later when he was used as cover for Jimmy Kelly who was on international duty with Scotland.
John McCann went on to play three league games for Celtic in that second spell at Parkhead, and Celtic won all three games he played in (2-0 v Renton away, 6-0 away to Third Lanark and 4-1 at home to St Mirren).
His last competitive match for Celtic was significant for himself in not only that he finally managed to play a competitive game at Celtic Park, but also that off the field that evening the SFA legalised professional football in Scotland as proposed by a motion by Celtic board member JH McLaughlin. In reality, most clubs were already practising it off the books.
John McCann may have played only a few times, but he had helped play his part to help Celtic win the club’s first League title.
He wasn’t a regular, and in the 2-0 win v Renton, the Celtic side was referred to as a scratch side as certain players were absent due to a Scotland v Ireland match being played at Celtic Park (Scotland winning 6-1) with Celtic players James Kelly, McMahon, John Campbell and Willie Maley playing for Scotland. Renton’s goalkeeper John Lindsay was also playing for Scotland which could help in part to additionally explain the scoreline in Celtic’s favour despite the loss of players.
In this league match v Renton, he had a unique situation in that he made his competitive debut for Celtic in the same game as with his younger brother Edward McCann. He returned back to Broxburn Shamrock that summer, and when you look at the playing records of the two brothers, they both appeared to move around clubs together in near unison.
However, by the end of the year, he had moved on to play for Hibernian and Preston North End before returning to his home area of Broxburn to wrap up his playing career with Broxburn Shamrock.
He was to become a very active member in his local community, which included work on various educational and local government boards over a 50 year period. He played a big role in his local community, and reputedly it was said that “no man in the county took more interest in the subject than Mr McCann“.
He also set up the St Andrews RC Total Abstainers & Benefit Society for Scotland.
He was described as “Broxburn’s best known and most popular public-spirited man”.
He was to become the secretary of the Catholic Friendly Societies Association (Scottish Section), a ‘Strenuous Catholic Social Worker‘, as well as a Justice & Peace official.
Interestingly, Broxburn Shamrock have a curious history. Apparently, Broxburn Shamrock FC, were reported in the papers as ‘disciples of the physical school of football’. Their crowd at another home match was described as ‘threatening and intimidating’ and using ‘vile and opprobrious language.’ St Mirren requested a rematch at a neutral ground because there had not being adequate police protection for their players! As John McCann became a Justice & Peace official, the above is a little humorous in reflection, not that we are aware if he was every alleged to have been party to any of the allegations.
He passed away after a long life in 1944.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1892, 1893 | 3 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 3 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Pictures
Notes
- Some records claim that it was a ‘J Gibb’ and not McCann that played in the league win over Third Lanark, but a newspaper line-up claims otherwise and we have stuck with that.
- This is NOT the same John McCann who who was to later become a member of the Celtic Committee from 1894-1897.
Articles
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