Willie Maley's legendary Celtic life & legacy... in numbers

Willie Maley was his name / he brought some great names to the game / when he was the boss at Celtic Park.

He most certainly did. Maley was the founding father and architect of the style of football that has now become widely known as ‘the Celtic way’.

The great man spent more than 50 years with the club as a player and a manager, amassing a haul of trophies and moulding several great sides that spawned a litany of legendary names such as Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy Quinn, Alec McNair and Jimmy McGrory.

With the news that a bronze statue in his likeness is to be unveiled next month in his birthplace of Newry, County Down, here is the Celtic life of Willie Maley in numbers…

1868: The year the great man was born in Newry, County Down. He was, by four years, the younger brother of Tom Maley, who would also play for Celtic. A third Maley brother who would become a big name in football, Alex, came along six years after Willie. Due to their father's job in the army and subsequent honourable discharge, the three footballing siblings were born in different countries (Tom was Portsmouth in England while Alex was Largs in Scotland).

1869: The Maleys make the decision to relocate to Scotland, settling in Cathcart on Glasgow's southside.

1887: It was in Cathcart that a delegation from the newly-formed Celtic FC called to the Maley home with the intention of signing Tom. He was out and so Brother Walfrid and John Glass recruited Willie alongside him. He would sign properly after the turn of the year.

5-2: The first of our numbers that is not a calendar year, 5-2 refers to Maley's first game as a Celtic player. It was, of course, the first official game anyone played as a Celtic player. Over 2,000 people turned out to see the new team take the field at the original Celtic Park. The team was: Michael Dolan; Eddie Pearson, James McLaughlin; Willie Maley, James Kelly, Phil Murray; Neil McCallum, Tom Maley, John Madden, Michael Dunbar, Charlie Gorevin. Tom Maley bagged a hat-trick, with McCallum and Kelly also on the scoresheet in the resounding win over Rangers.

2: Despite never being labelled a ‘star’ while playing, Maley was nonetheless good enough to earn two caps for Scotland – against England and Ireland – while he added a single appearance for the Scottish league select too.

1897: Back to the calendar years now and it was then, three years before the turn of the century and at the age of just 29, that Maley was appointed secretary-manager of the club. He set about making an impact immediately by winning the league in his first full season at the helm.

1910: The year in which Maley and Celtic made history by winning a sixth league title in a row. The record – which would stand until the Jock Stein era – was built on the likes of Quinn’s goalscoring and McNair’s influential and experienced defensive nous. The run included the first two doubles in Scottish football; a domestic clean sweep given the League Cup did not come into existence until 1947.

62: Maley oversaw a second legendary side, helmed by the mercurial star Gallacher, which not only won four titles in succession to 1917 (plus a further two in 1919 and 1922) but set a UK record for the longest unbeaten run in senior/professional football. The 62 matches encompassed a massive 49 wins and just 13 draws. It is, you feel, fair to say that with Maley in the hotseat the likes of Gallacher and Quinn had indeed made their mark. That record would stand for a century until Brendan Rodgers’ team went 69 games undefeated in Scottish football.

3: The third of Maley’s legendary team contained the iconic figure of McGrory, who went on to become the club’s leading goalscorer of all time and one of the most prolific players in the history of football into the bargain. Spearheaded by the ‘human torpedo’, Maley’s side won league titles in 1936 and 1938 and a Scottish Cup in between.

43: Maley lasted an astonishing 43 years at the helm between 1897 and 1940. His tenure amassed over 1,000 victories and an amazing haul of 30 major trophies; 16 league titles and 14 Scottish Cups. Bring in the assortment of other pieces of silverware – 14 Glasgow Cups, charity cups and the likes of the Empire Exhibition Trophy – and Maley added around 60  to the Celtic trophy cabinet.

1958: On April 2, at the age of 89, Maley died in Glasgow of ‘arteriosclerosis and senility’. The city had then been his home for almost all of his 90 years though his story would live for far longer and if far more places than that.

Celtic Park, where a man is judged by his football alone. It’s not the creed nor his nationality that counts. It’s the man himself.

Maley famously uttered both of those statements. Of all the things that he is most remembered for, they remain standout quotes and still ring true to this day.

Willie Maley was his name.

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