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| The Bhoy in the Picture: McAdam and Wilson |
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| Written by St Anthony |
| Monday, 17 November 2008 21:58 |
 With all the commotion regarding Remembrance Day, poppies, minutes silence/applause (delete as appropriate) and a linesman with the audacity to be called Murphy, we lighten the load with bit of good old fashioned Celtic nostalgia.We have had a couple of requests in the last few weeks for Tom McAdam and Paul Wilson so we are pleased to oblige. The first picture shows Tom McAdam leaping for a ball with Ian Redford of Rangers during a game at Ibrox in April 1981 which Celtic edged 1-0 through a goal by Charlie Nicholas. McAdam was signed by Jock Stein in September 1977 as a centre forward and, after 18 months up front with mixed results, by May 1979 he had lost his place a young George McCluskey. Faced with an injury crisis to his centre backs new manager Billy McNeill threw Tom into the deep end at centre half for the last few games of the season against Patrick (played on a bank holiday afternoon), St.Mirren (played on a Friday evening, a very rare event in those days), Hearts at Parkhead and Rangers on a never to be forgotten Monday evening when Tom was one of the legendary Celts to form the ‘4-2’ League winning team. The gamble had paid off and for the next six seasons Tom McAdam became a first pick at centre back in a very successful Celtic side. The Celtic fans were divided over Tom’s value at times and some did not rate him (he was after all an ex striker) and others thought that the problem lay with his defensive partner the aggressive Roy Aitken who it was thought was more effective in midfield. Nevertheless Tom managed to see off such competitors for his place such as MacDonald, Edvaldsson, Garner, Moyes and O’Leary. Perhaps his finest moment came in the 1985 Scottish Cup final against his old side Dundee United. He had missed the 1980 and 1984 finals and was determined to win the last domestic honour to elude him. With Celtic 1-0 down he made several vital interceptions to keep Celtic in it and an Aitken inspired Celtic roared back with two great goals to win 2-1. A couple of weeks after that final Tom and his family were the guests of honour at the Celtic Supporters Association rally in a packed Kelvin Hall arena. Tom was given a special presentation and was visibly moved as he stepped into the limelight and it was a much deserved award for this under rated Celt.  The second picture is a focus on Paul Wilson from Shoot magazine in
1975. We have already discussed Paul in a previous article but it’s
fair to point out again that he suffered terrible racist abuse from the
terraces in Scotland during the 1970’s which went entirely unheeded by
the press at that time.Paul was part of the famous ‘Quality Street Gang’ reserve team of the late 60’s early 70’s and although he may not have been in the class of Macari and Dalglish he nevertheless had a successful and more longer Celtic career than both of them. Paul is also fondly remembered for several outstanding performances against Rangers in the 1970’s. Murdo MacLeod tells of the day he made his Celtic debut in November 1978 at Parkhead against Motherwell. Paul, who by that time was a Motherwell player, ran over to Murdo before the game started to shake his hand and wish him well in his new career at the club. A great gesture by a fine Celt. Apologies for the garish pink print but remember it was the 1970’s. Also, try and spot the inflatable Rangers player on the track next to Wilson’s knee. Brings back memories of the inflatable ‘Jinkys’ that Celtic fans brought to games during that period. If you have a favourite player from the past let us know and we’ll provide a picture and some info. Don’t think that we can’t provide the obscure and if your fancy was for Jackie McNamara senior, Joe Fillipi or Jimmy Bone (really !) then we shall provide. There is actually a pile of Jimmy Johnstone stuff and as we haven’t shown anything of the wee man yet something of Jinky will be coming in the weeks ahead. Keep watching. |