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		Fáilte - Banna ceoil Cheiltigh Ghlasgú is fearr ar domhan

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DID YOU KNOW?

Charlie & the Bhoys played their first ever gig in the tiny Squirrel Bar down the Gallowgate. The pub still stands and can be found two streets behind the Barrowlands market.

STORY - WILLIE MALEY

Willie Maley gave Celtic Football Club 52 years of unbroken service as player, match secretary, honorary secretary and secretary manager.

Indeed, his life and the early history of Celtic are inseparable and he played a vital role in the development of the club.

Maley was a disciplinarian and from the time of his appointment on 23 June 1897, to the day he was forced to retire under acrimonious circumstances in February 1940, he ruled over the team with an iron fist.

There is a verbatim record, of one team talk before the Ne'erday battle at Ibrox in1921: "Play the ball from the whistle and keep playing it . . . do your very best . . . remember the old Celtic spirit . . .", and if that was hardly the most complicated tactical talk ever delivered, it still did the trick as Celtic beat their deadliest rivals 2-0.

When his brother, Tom Maley died in 1935, Willie could not travel to Perth with the side but turned up at Queen Street station, urging them, "Give a little extra today boys."

He was a hard man to please. After the team had drawn, Maley would tell them, "You realise that awful shower next door now think they're man for man every bit as good as you!"

Early in his managerial career, Maley believed in youth policy, which helped Celtic progress to their most successful era. Indeed, he was held in such high esteem that during the club's second great period, from 1914 to 1918, the Press regarded him as 'The Orginiser of Victory'

Away from football, Willie was the driving force behind the hugely successful annual Celtic sports meeting which took place at Parkhead each August. For many years he was a member of the committee of the Scottish Amateur Association, eventually being elected its president.

He was president of the Scottish Football League from 1921 to 1924 and did a great deal for charity. A devout and frequent pilgrim to Lourdes and there were many stories of  Maley's immense personal generosity and readiness to help individuals as well as groups.

In 1920 Willie Maley became a partner in the Bank Restaurant in Queen Street. When his partner died in 1926, he became the sole proprietor of the premises.

'The Bank' was an establishment where the manager and the board selected the Celtic team every Thursday, and where Celtic players met before and after games. It was also a famous rendezvous for personalities and sportsmen.

It was the 'The Bank' which was partly involved in Maley leaving Parkhead in less than happy circumstances. At the outbreak of war, Maley, then aged 71, could boast that he had been the only manager in Celtic's history.

But his health, understandably, was not at its best and he had missed much of what turned out to be a disappointing 1938/39 season. The directors were apparently concerned at his age and constitution and when a dispute arose over money, it served merely to signal the board's unease.

They were also increasingly unhappy that players and officials continued to eat at 'The Bank' - later described as a glorified pub - and that it had become a meeting place for players, current and retired.

Things came to a head in the first wartime season when, by Christmas, Celtic were near the bottom of the table. Maley was hardly a man to resign, but after a meeting with chairman Tom White he 'retired'.

The decision was made public in the programme for Celtic's home match against Morton on 10 February 1940.

'The Bank' remained in the family, his son running the business after Wille Maley's death on 2 April 1958, in the Bon Secours Nursing Home, at the grand old age of 89.

52 Years with Celtic. Wille Maley was his name!

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