“M’Menemy off on his own, besting Paterson and M’Coll”
It’s not often you come across action photos of a game from a century ago but this picture above catches the legendary Celt Jimmy McMenemy in full flow against Hibernian at Celtic Park.
The man nicknamed ‘Napoloen’ is regarded as one of the finest footballers Celtic have ever fielded. Playing at inside-left he was the key figure in dictating play for the Celtic side that dominated Scottish football for a generation with the titles sequences of 6-in-a-row (1905-1910) and also 4-in-a-row (1914-17). An incredible record for a player who joined club in 1900. He scored 168 goals in 515 appearances for Celtic. One of his most memorable strikes came early in 1914: in the New Year’s Day clash against Rangers he beat FIVE men in a dribbling run before smashing the ball high into the net to help the Bhoys to a celebrated 4-0 win.
In the photo above Jimmy is on another of his famous dribbles, taking on the Hibs players McColl and Paterson. Could this have led to one of the 2 goals he scored that day in a 3-0 home victory? The previous weekend Celtic had defeated Hibs 4-1 in a replay to take the Scottish Cup. A fortnight night later and the league title had been secured with a 6 point gap over Rangers. This was Celtic’s 3rd Leage and Cup double.
Jimmy won an incredible 11 League Winners medals and 6 Scottish Cup medals with Celtic (and 1 more with Partick Thistle). He later became the celebrated coach of Celtic successful team in the late 1930s which won the Empire Exhibition Trophy and was considered one of the most exciting and stylish in the club’s history.
100 years on and the Celtic Graves Society are hosting a commemoration event for Nap at his resting place on Saturday 22nd November 2014, before the Dundee game, at St Peter’s Good Shepherd Cemetery Dalbeth, just a short walk along London Road from Celtic Park. Speakers include Jimmy’s biographer David Potter, former Celtic Chairman Brian Quinn and Lisbon Lion Jim Craig.
More information here: http://celticgraves.com/topic/10211739/1/
The CGS have also produced a commemorative booklet for the event which costs just £3 and is packed full of information on the career of Celtic’s Napoleon and dozens of photos:
the shamrock 
On the terraces before the First World War,the Celtic fans were singing….
‘How happy we will be when the Celtic beat Dundee, rub it in Jimmy Quinn and wee McMenemy’
Taught to me by Jimmy’s second youngest sister and my Gran, who worked on the gates at Paradise before the First World War as a teenager.
RIP Julia McGarvie (nee McMenemy) 1898 – 1980
Thanks Paul! Had not heard of that lyric before, a belter