Celtic Women

Founding and early years

Celtic Football Club was formally constituted at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Irish Marist Brother Walfrid on 6 November 1887, with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the East End of Glasgow by raising money for the charity Walfrid had instituted, the Poor Children's Dinner Table. Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund-raising was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian, which was formed out of the immigrant Irish population a few years earlier in Edinburgh. Walfrid's own suggestion of the name Celtic (pronounced Seltik) was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish roots and was adopted at the same meeting. The club has the official nickname, The Bhoys. However, according to the Celtic press office, the newly established club was known to many as "the bold boys". A postcard from the early 20th century that pictured the team and read "The Bould Bhoys" is the first known example of the unique spelling. The extra h imitates the spelling system of Gaelic, wherein the letter b is often accompanied by the letter h.

On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5–2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter". Neil McCallum scored Celtic's first goal. Celtic's first kit consisted of a white shirt with a green collar, black shorts, and emerald green socks. The original club crest was a simple green cross on a red oval background. In 1889 Celtic reached the final of the Scottish Cup in their first season taking part in the competition, but lost 2–1 to Third Lanark. Celtic reached the final again in 1892 and this time were victorious after defeating Queen's Park 5–1, the club's first major honour. Several months later the club moved to its new ground, Celtic Park, and in the following season won the Scottish League Championship for the first time. In 1895 Celtic set the League record for the highest home score when they beat Dundee 11–0.

Early to mid 1900s

In 1897, the club became a private limited company and Willie Maley was appointed as the first "secretary-manager". Between 1905 and 1910, Celtic won the Scottish League Championship six times in a row. They also won the Scottish Cup in both 1907 and 1908, the first times a Scottish club had ever won the double. During World War I, Celtic won the league four times in a row, including 62 matches unbeaten between November 1915 and April 1917. The mid-1920s saw the emergence of Jimmy McGrory as one of the most prolific goalscorers in British football history; over a sixteen-year playing career, he scored 550 goals in 547 games (including 16 goals for Clydebank during a season on loan in 1923–24), a British goal-scoring record to this day. In January 1940, Willie Maley's retirement was announced. He was 71 years old and had served the club in varying roles for nearly 52 years, initially as a player and then as secretary-manager. Jimmy McStay became manager of the club in February 1940. He spent over five years in this role, although due to the Second World War no official competitive league football took place during this time. The Scottish Football League and Scottish Cup were suspended and in their place regional league competitions were set up. Celtic did not do particularly well during the war years, but did win the Victory in Europe Cup held in May 1945 as a one-off football match to celebrate Victory in Europe Day.

Ex-player and captain Jimmy McGrory took over as manager in 1945. Under McGrory, Celtic defeated Arsenal, Manchester United and Hibernian to win the Coronation Cup, a one-off tournament held in May 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II. He also led them to a League and Cup double in 1954. On 19 October 1957, Celtic defeated Rangers in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow, retaining the trophy they had won for the first time the previous year; the 7–1 scoreline remains the highest-scoring British domestic cup final. The years that followed, however, saw Celtic struggle and the club won no more trophies under McGrory.

Jock Stein Era and European Cup Win

Former Celtic captain Jock Stein succeeded McGrory in 1965. He won the Scottish Cup in his first few months at the club, and then led them to the League title the following season.