Currie resident pens biography on legendary footballer John Thomson
Currie resident, Hugh Ross, has written a biography about John (“Johnny”) Thomson, the legendary Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper of the late 1920s and early 1930s who died from injuries sustained in the Old Firm game at Ibrox Park on September 5, 1931.
Catapulted into Celtic’s first eleven three months after signing for the Parkhead club when he was 17, John was selected to play for the Scottish League when he was 19 and became the Scotland national team’s regular goalkeeper at the age of 21. He was regarded as being “the best goalkeeper in the world” and his agreed move from Celtic to Arsenal would have set a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, but it never took place because of his death.
The book (which is entitled Death and Glory – The Life and Times of John Thomson, The World’s Best Goalkeeper) is likely to appeal not only to Celtic and Scotland supporters but to anyone with an interest in the history of football and social history, since it contains details of the game - and of life - in Scotland and elsewhere from before the First World War up to the early 1930s that have never been available before.
The book’s pages are full of stories about the great players of the time (including Jack Harkness and Barney Battles of Hearts and Jimmy McColl of Hibs and Leith Athletic) and fascinating facts about events, such as the first World Cup, which occurred during John’s lifetime.
The author is well placed to tell John Thomson’s story, for he grew up in Cardenden - the mining village in Fife where John lived for most of his all-too-short life – and knew John’s family and friends.
Death and Glory – The Life and Times of John Thomson, The World’s Best Goalkeeper is being published by Kindle and Amazon Books on September 5, the 94th anniversary of John’s death.
Royalties from sales of the book will go to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation – a charity committed to funding research to find effective treatments to motor neurone disease.