Personal
Fullname: James Thom
Born: […]
Died: […]
Birthplace: […]
Signed: Jan 1895
Left: 1895
Position: Right-half, defence
Debut: Hearts 4-0 Celtic, League, 16 Feb 1895
Internationals: n/a
Biog
Right-half James Thom enjoyed a brief and miserable Celtic career after joining the Bhoys from Parkhead Juniors in January 1895.
His only competitive appearance for the first team came at a time when the Celtic dressing room was rife with disharmony.
In that environment, he could do little to lift the gloom as the Bhoys were thrashed 4-0 at Hearts in a league clash on 16th February 1895.
Celtic had been knocked out the Scottish Cup a few weeks beforehand in their previous competitive fixture losing 1-0 v Dundee. So it wasn’t a good time at the club.
James Thom’s display – like the rest of the team’s – had been poor and unfortunately he was not given a further opportunity to prove himself again.
In fairness to James Thom, Hearts were the best team that season, winning their first top tier league title by a comfortable distance with just two defeats, whilst Celtic were 5pts behind. That 4-0 victory can effectively be seen as the one that won Hearts the title. Hearts also reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup losing to St Bernards who went on to win the trophy by defeating Renton.
James Thom was soon to depart Celtic afterwards, returning to local side Parkhead Juniors.
Back in the day, the Celtic reserve team was mostly made up from the Junior ranks, many from the local Irish teams. Players could also be drafted in from Carfin Shamrock, Broxburn Shamrock, etc straight into the first team on occasion, before professionalism, as the need required. So likely James Thom fitted into this bracket, but at least got to play for Celtic.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1895 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 |
| Goals: | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
External Links
