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Fullname: Daniel Harold Shea
aka: Dan Shea, Danny Shea
Born: 6 November 1887
Birthplace: Wapping, London
Died: 25 December 1960, Wapping
Signed: January 1919 (loan)
Position: Inside-right
Debut: Celtic 2-0 Clyde, League, 2 Jan 1919
Internationals: England
International Caps: 5 (None whilst with Celtic)
International Goals: 0
Biog
England international Dan Shea was one of the most well known names in football when he briefly appeared for Celtic.
The Blackburn Rovers inside-right had played on loan for various sides during the years of the First World War. He had gone to Blackburn Rovers from West Ham in 1912 for a then record fee of £2,000 and was rumoured to be on an astronomical – for the time – wage of £20 a game.
His solitary Celtic appearance came on 2nd January 1919 when the Londoner helped the Bhoys to defeat Clyde 2-0 at Parkhead. Such was Dan Shea’s reputation that the great Patsy Gallacher was switched to outside-right to accommodate the Londoner. It was said that his appearance for Celtic caused consternation amongst the Celtic support once his identity was rumoured through the crowd.
Celtic won the league that season (1918/19) so he can take some pride at his bit-part in helping Celtic win the title, especially as the title was regained by just the 1pt ahead of Rangers.
Later that season Dan Shea would go on to play for Nottingham Forest in their Victory Shield final victory over Everton, and after leaving Blackburn Rovers he returned to West Ham before moving on to Fulham, Coventry and Orient.
At Fulham, a team-mate (Peter Garigan) wrote of him:
“At Fulham in 1920–21, I had as my inside-right one of the greatest ball artists who has ever played for England – Danny Shea. His manipulation was bewildering. He was the ‘Prince of Partners’, the intellectual footballer”.
After retirement from playing, he was a docker but then Dan Shea coached at Winterthur in Switzerland and was at Woking in the late 1920s. He later became a publican, and then ran a sub-post office in West Ham.
He passed away in 1960.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1919 | 1 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 1 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League