Greatest Celtic players of all time
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Celtic FC is a Scottish soccer team known amongst fans as The Bhoys, The Celts, and The Hoops. They are based in Glasgow and play in The Scottish Premiership. They are also one of the most supported clubs in the world and have produced some of the greatest players known to football, like Sir Kenny Dalglish who later went on to play for Liverpool FC. Anyone can be the underdog and still win trophies, games, and more, but for Celtic, they have won on excellence, helped by some of these legends. So let’s look at some of the greatest players The Bhoys have ever had.
Sir Kenny Dalglish
Sir Kenny started his professional soccer career in 1971 when he joined Celtic, where he won four Scottish League Championships, four Scottish Cups, and one Scottish League Cup. He appeared a whopping 338 times for the club. Playing in the forward position, Sir Kenny was capped a whopping 102 times for the Scottish National soccer team where he scored 30 goals. But this superstar’s accolades don’t end there. He won the Ballon d’Or Silver Award in 1983, the PFA Players Player Of The Year also in 1983, and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1979 and 1983. But Sir Kenny is not only known for his Scottish playing roots. This outstanding soccer player joined Liverpool FC in 1977 where he played an astonishing 515 games. Cited as the most successful period during his career, Sir Kenny won six English League Championships, the FA Cup, four League Cups, five FA Charity Shields, three European Cups, and one European Super Cup, all with the Reds. After what seems like one epic soccer career, Sir Kenny retired in 1990 and now at 71 years old, lives in Glasgow.
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Bobby Lennox
This Scottish retired soccer player played for Celtics FC. He was also one of the original members of the 1967 European Cup-winning team – they were known as the Lisbon Lions back then. Bobby signed with Celtic in 1961 – the team poached Bobby from Scottish Junior team Ardeer Recreation. In total, Bobby scored a whopping 301 goals for the team, only second to Celtic’s all-time highest goal scorer Jimmy McGrory. Out of the 301 goals Bobby scored for Celtic, 171 of them were scored in the Scottish League. Some of his accolades include placing third for the European Golden Boot (1967 -1968), winning eight Scottish Cup medals, and winning five League Cup medals. The outside left player currently lives in Saltcoats, United Kingdom.
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Jimmy McGrory
The highest goal-scoring player Celtic FC has ever seen! Jimmy started his career with Celtic and proved why the history books will forever utter his name and share his accolades. Out of the 501 games he played for Celtic he scored 522 goals, yes 522 goals! What a record! But his legendary status goes much deeper than that. Joining the Celtics in 1922, at the start of his 15-year run he was only earning £5. Jimmy would go on to score his first goal in 1923 and that set off an amazing career. The center forward was known for his headers, which looked as though he was in a horizontal position when he headed the ball – he almost always scored when he headed the ball, impressive. This earned him the nickname human torpedo and mermaid. While at Celtic, Jimmy was also loaned to division one side, Clydebank, where he spent most of the 1923 – 1924 season. Some of his impressive accolades include:
- Scored 62 goals from 46 games in the 1927 – 1928 season.
- British top-flight record: 55 hat tricks, 48 in League games, and 7 from the Scottish Cup.
But Jimmy didn’t only play club soccer, he represented his country in 1928, 1931, 1932, and 1933. He scored 3 goals in 1931, 1 in 1932, and 2 in 1922. Fun fact, Jimmy scored the most goals of his career in the 1927 – 1928 season with 62 goals.
After playing soccer professionally for 15 years, Jimmy went on to manage Kilmarnock from 1937 to 1945. Hereafter, he became the manager of Celtic. He was the manager for 20 years and retired in 1965. While sadly Jimmy passed away in 1983, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and his legacy lives on now more than ever!
