Matt Corr on Celtic in the Fifties – At the end of the storm, Flags and Coronations
Following on from the highly acclaimed and hugely successful Celtic in the Thirties volumes, Matt is back this time providing the Celtic support with the most comprehensive account of a decade that would have been very familiar to many of our own dads and grandads who would tell their stories of Charlie Tully, Willie Fernie and so many others.
Indeed the Celtic support to this day still sing about this decade with their renditions of ‘Piling on the Agony, Putting on the Style.’
Celtic in the Fifties comes in two volumes. Volume One is titled ‘AT THE END OF THE STORM’ while Volume Two’s title is ‘FLAGS AND CORONATIONS’.
With hundreds of pre-orders to be packaged and of course the game at Paisley to attend last night it was a hard task to get a chance to catch up with the Celtic author to get his reaction to the two new books, which are available to order now at Celticstarbooks.com/shop.
“It’s always a really special day when the books arrive. Makes it real,” Matt Corr said.
“These latest two volumes have involved 18 months of intensive research and writing. Full-on stuff where pretty much everything else gets dropped. But at the end of all that we have another special period of the club’s history fully chronicled and out there being shared and, hopefully, enjoyed.
“That’s what this is all about for me.”
The 1950s seem almost mystical to many Celtic supporters today with only the older generation having direct memories of watching the Celtic stars of the decade and of course there were so many of them. It’s probably fair to suggest that Celtic had so many great players back then but frustratingly perhaps not too many great teams.
We asked Matt what to him is really special about being the first Celtic historian to document the 1950s so comprehensively, and he immediately referred to the Celtic heroes of the era and the privilege of getting to share their stories.
“Sharing the stories of the heroes we all know about; Tully, Evans, Stein, Fallon, Fernie, Peacock, McPhail, Collins. Mochan. So many incredible Celts,” Matt said.
“And also those who perhaps wore the Hoops only briefly but still lived the dream. They are all part of our story and deserve to be in there. That’s often the most rewarding part of what I do,” the Celtic in the Fifties author said.
“A family being able to share the story of their dad, or Granda or whatever. That sense of pride to see his name or photo in there, for folk to read about both now and many years into the future. If your relative played at Celtic Park between 1949 and 1954, then the strong likelihood is that he will be name-checked in one or both of these books.
“We have the oldest-living Celtic signing and even provisional Celtic signing. Oldest surviving first-team player. OIdest to play in a cup final etc.
“One of the daughters of one of those former Celtic players wrote to me recently, after I sent her a copy of Celtic in the Thirties, which covered the birth of her dad.
“It was a really lovely letter, saying how he was ‘quietly proud’ to be mentioned and to be remembered forever more and what a ’truly wonderful’ gift that was for him. Things like that make it all worthwhile.”
If you pre-ordered your copies of Celtic in the Fifties then they are now either all posted or ready for collection by Royal Mail tomorrow morning. Orders placed over the weekend will also be posted tomorrow morning.
Thank you to everyone who has ordered and in doing so help us fund the book publishing and to document Celtic’s unbroken history properly, accurately and thoroughly. Each successful book publishing event fuels the next and another decade will get the same care and attention a few years from now.
Hail Hail!
