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Personal
Fullname: David Prentice
aka: Davie Prentice
Born: 29 July 1908
Died: 10 November 1984* [TBC]
Birthplace: Alloa (from Alva Albion Rangers)
Signed: 18 Feb 1928
Left: June 1930 (to Plymouth Argyle)
Position: Left-half
Debut: Raith Rovers 1-4 Celtic, League, 9 Mar 1929 (scored a goal)
Internationals: none
Biog
Left-half David Prentice was a highly-rated junior who signed for the Bhoys from Alva Albion Rangers in February 1928.
A loan spell with Stranraer followed before the Alloa-born player made his Celtic first team debut (9 Mar 1929) in a 4-1 league win at Raith Rovers. Playing at inside-right, Prentice helped himself to the opening Celtic goal to equalise and set up the rest of the match for Celtic.
Following his fair debut, it could have been the beginning of a good career for this player at Celtic. Granted that Raith Rovers finished bottom of the league table that season, conceding a demoralising 105 goals in 38 games, it was still a fine achievement by David Prentice who was just 20 years of age to score on his debut.
He returned to his normal position soon afterwards. His boots apparently went up in flames with the burning down of the old Celtic pavilion stand. His career at Celtic sadly seems to have followed suit.
In truth, reports state that he never looked like recapturing the form of his debut, and didn’t score another goal again. He played four league games in season 1928/29 and two the next season, as Celtic failed in both to come close to challenging Rangers’ then league hegemony. His last game was a 3-2 defeat to Partick Thistle away on 30 Nov 1929. Celtic had lost three and drawn one of the games he played in.
He made a total of six league appearances for Celtic before joining Plymouth Argyle in June 1930 following spells on loan at Ayr United and Nithsdale.
Did Celtic lose out or not on him? When you look at his later playing record away from Celtic, he never did seem to recover a goal scoring touch. He also seemed to not settle long at clubs, possibly a sign that his Celtic debut was a peak moment, sadly one he could little match again.
He moved to Walsall, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Raith Rovers, Mansfield Town, Bath City and finally Trowbridge Town, where he appears to have finally hung up his boots in the senior game.
It is reported that he passed away in 1984 after a long life (TBC).
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1928-30 | 6 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 6 |
| Goals: | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |
Honours with Celtic
None
Pictures
Notes
- Some sources (e.g. the books ‘A-Z of the Celts’ & ‘Celtic: 125 years of…’) claim David Prentice scored a hat-trick on his debut but this is not correct; it was Peter Scarffe who scored a hat-trick in this match according to the Herald newspaper Match report see match page.
- Wikpedia claims he passed away on 10 November 1984 (Wikpedia), but needs to be further confirmed.