Morrison, John

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Fullname: John Morrison
aka: Jock Morrison
Born: 9 Nov 1909
Died: 25 May 1992
Birthplace: Croy, by Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire
Signed: 5 Oct 1929
Left: 11 Sep 1941 (free)
Position: Defender, Left-back
Debut: Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen, League, 6 Sep 1930
Internationals: none

Biog

Jock Morrison was an all-action full-back who was an integral part of one of the great Celtic sides.

Signed from Croy Celtic in October 1929, he was recommended to Celtic by the legendary Jimmy Quinn, without whom Jock Morrison would likely have carried on being a miner.

Jock Morrison made his Hoops debut in a league encounter at Parkhead with Aberdeen on 6th September 1930 which the Bhoys won 1-0 when he was given a short run. Thereafter he only was awarded sporadic games to play in, and incredibly didn’t even get any first team chances for two seasons (1931-32 & 1932-33).

However with the great Peter McGonagle in the left-back berth it was no easy challenge, and it was not until late 1935 that Jock Morrison finally became an established first team performer, a daunting situation to have to follow on from the popular Peter McGonagle. The previous season he had played in short runs and must have impressed. His proper run began in the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock in the league in October 1935, and thereafter he was a certain starter till the end.

His great patience was rewarded almost immediately as Celtic took the league title and it says everything about Jock Morrison’s talent that he was able to fill the considerable gap left by McGonagle. We can only wonder now what would have been the case if he had opted to move on sooner, and who could have blamed him. It took him five seasons to win a regular place in the first team, a length of time that would not possibly be given in today’s game.

Celtic had begun to hit a trough in the 1930’s, and it wasn’t till Jimmy McMenemy came on board as the assistant manager (really the de facto manager) that things changed for the better and results and silverware followed. Willie Maley had grown too old for the role as manager, but was not stepping aside and the first team was suffering for it.

A Scottish Cup triumph followed in 1937 but all previous achievements were eclipsed during the 1937-38 season when Jock Morrison helped Celtic lift the league title, Empire Exhibition Trophy and Charity Cup. An incredible period which needs to be reflected on more often, and was to be the last great period for Celtic for a generation until the 1950’s.

Jock Morrison was strong, athletic and full of energy and with no little ability with the ball. The great Malcolm MacDonald said of him:

“Jock Morrison was at left-back. He didn’t have much skill but was just an old-fashioned back of the time. No left foot but that didn’t stop him. He used to get on to me when I was having a wee dribble in the penalty area. He used to come after me when I did that and say “Malky, Malky” and give me a mouthful.”

As a measure of his dedication to the defence, you just need to look at his number of goals: just a single goal in 200 first team appearances. This was achieved in the 4-0 win over Hibernian on 11 September 1934 in the league, scoring a penalty which was probably the only way he was going to score. Joins the long list of great Celtic defenders who felt out of place in the opposition half.

His whole-hearted performances made him a massive favourite with the Celtic support. His career would wind down with the dawn of World War II and he eventually retired from the game in September 1941 when combining his wartime work down the pit with football simply got too much for him. He worked in the coal mines until his retirement.

Jock Morrison was a tremendous Celt. His departure in some ways probably reflects also the end of an era. Celtic from there on in till Jock Stein arrived at Celtic (firstly as a player 1953 and then again as manager in 1965) went through some very long barren spells. Jock Morrison is seen as part of a relatively more positive era for the club once he became a regular first team starter. However, in truth despite his quality and that of others he played along with, the return in silverware and titles was below part, and reflective more of the then declining ability in the club management across the board.

He is said to have played every game like a Cup-tie simply because he was playing for Celtic, and that alone makes him a man the support will always revere.

He passed away in 1992. A great Celt.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

• 1935-36, 1937-38

Scottish Cup

• 1937

Empire Exhibition Cup

• 1938

Pictures

• Player Pics

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Jock Morrison – Celtic’s no nonsense Empire Exhibition Trophy Winning left back

Jock Morrison – Celtic’s no nonsense Empire Exhibition Trophy Winning left back

By David Potter 14 July, 2020 No Comments

In Ancient Athens it was said of a woman that “her greatest virtue is never to be spoken about either for good or ill”. Such prejudiced, even misogynistic statements are rightly protested about by feminists, but the same sort of thing can be said about Celtic’s left backs.

Jock Morrison

Willie Orr, Jamie Weir, Joe Dodds, Hugh Hilley, Alec Rollo and to a lesser extent William “Peter” McGonagal fall into this category of filling the role adequately, doing what they had to do and seldom hitting the highlights. It is true that most fans leave the ground enthusing about Henrik Larsson’s goals, Jimmy Johnstone’s trickery and Joe Kennaway’s great saves, and seldom drool about that wonderful “clean as a whistle” tackle by the left back, or his last ditch clearing of the lines.

There are exceptions to this rule of course – Tommy Gemmell springs to mind – but generally speaking, the left back can be assured that if his name is not on everyone’s lips or in the newspapers and the websites (more recently), he has had a good game.

Such a man was Jock Morrison, not a name that automatically comes to everyone’s lips as a great Celtic hero, yet he is up there with the best. He came from Croy and was recommended to Celtic by Jimmy Quinn (well, these are two things in his favour before we start!.)

Born in 1909, Jock joined Glasgow Celtic from Croy Celtic in 1929. He did not immediately become a first teamer for several years because he could not replace the McGonagal legend. But he was happy to bide his time, learning from McGonagal and paying attention to wise heads like McGrory and McStay, probably just glad to be enjoying the fresh air of Parkhead rather than the claustrophobic mines of Croy.
Round about 1935 several things changed. One was that McMenemy and Dodds came back to Celtic Park, effectively to run the team now that Maley was showing less interest in modern developments and modern players, and another was that Jock Morrison took over at left back.

He was immediately seen as competent but not flamboyant. No fancy footwork, no showing off, simply get the ball as far away from the goal as he could. It was said that he got lost once he crossed the halfway line, but he seldom made mistakes on his own side.

The record speaks for itself – the Scottish League in 1936, the Scottish Cup in 1937 and the Scottish League again in 1938. But the icing on the cake was the Empire Exhibition Trophy when Kennaway, Hogg and Morrison; Geatons, Lyon and Paterson; Delaney, MacDonald, Crum, Divers and Murphy took on Great Britain and won. For the modest and unassuming Jock Morrison – by no means as extroverted as Delaney, MacDonald or Crum, but just as vital, for he had defended heroically against the much vaunted Everton forwards in that tense final, it was a great way of repaying the faith put in him by Jimmy Quinn.
Croy had once again produced the goods for Celtic!

No-one knows what caused Celtic to implode in 1938/39; everyone on the other hand knows that Hitler, Poland and war effectively put an end to the great Celtic side of the immediate pre-war years. Maley resigned (or retired or was sacked) in January 1940, and Morrison was not long after him. He was now well into his 30s, and retired to work as a miner in the pits of Croy until he retired. He died in 1992, his death being hardly mentioned or noticed. Yet no-one should underestimate the value of Jock Morrison.

David Potter

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