A few months ago, I asked if there were any non-Scots in Celtic’s nine-in-a-row league championship line-ups 1966-1974.
We’ve already printed several suggestions, which included Paul Wilson (born in India), Danish goalkeeper Bent Martin and Sheffield-born Steve Hancock.
Andy Walker, as you might expect, also gave input. Although I specifically said 1966-74, the Celtic fan offered: “In 1965, Jock Stein’s first signing was Irishman John ‘Jack’ Kennedy for £5,000 from Distillery FC.
“He signed him two days after taking the Celtic job. Jack was the Olympic goalie in the 1964 Games.
“His debut was against Raith Rovers in the Scottish League Cup on September 29, 1965, and he played for the Irish League three times.”
Lochee lad Andy continued: “Gordon Marshall Sr was born in Farnham, Surrey, and made his debut for Celtic in the European Cup against Boldclub Copenhagen on September 15, 1971.
“Incidentally, Gordon has a rare record with Celtic, as his two sons played for Celts.”
Andy also put forward Dane Johannes Edvaldsson and English goalie Peter Latchford but they signed in 1975.
Undaunted, he continued: “A wee story about Peter Latchford is that he made his debut v Boavista (Portugal), and saved a penalty from Alves.
“During the match, Peter was prodded in the back by soldiers with guns, and told: ‘Don’t waste time’.”
Apart from Paul Wilson, none of the other offerings were signed in the time frame or did not play in league games, which was really the stipulation of the original query.
India-born Wilson, who came to these shores as a one-year-old, is probably as Scottish as Rabbie Burns. Indeed, he even gained one cap for Scotland, on as a sub in a 1-1 European Championship draw against Spain in 1975.
So, I’ll let this run, but, as ever, I’m willing to be educated otherwise.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.