Good morning team. Quote of the day: 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.' Mao Zedong.
Hanwell Celtic - Posted 3 years ago
Quote of the Day (2)
Good morning team. Quote of the day 2: 'The last time we got a penalty away from home Jesus Christ was a carpenter.' Lennie Lawrence Charlton Athletic Manager 1989.
Hanwell Celtic - Posted 3 years ago
Soccer Schoolmaster No 6 'Handsome' Tom Maley
Tom Maley was born in Portsmouth in 1865 but later his family moved to Glasgow. He trained as a teacher at St Mary’s Training College in Hammersmith between 1885- 6 and he quickly developed a reputation as a fine footballer when he returned to Glasgow playing for Cathcart, Hibernians, Partick Thistle and Third Lanark before becoming one of the founders of Glasgow Celtic and playing in their first ever fixture, a 5-2 victory against Glasgow Rangers in 1888. The original purpose of the club was to raise money for destitute Irish Catholics in the east end of Glasgow.
At 37 his playing days were over he became manager of Manchester City.” The club had finished bottom of the First Division with only 28 points from 34 games but Maley’s impact on the club was immediate. The club lost only five of the next 34 games and won the Second Division and promotion back to the First Division with four points to spare over Small Heath. Further success followed and the team seemed destined for greatness. They won the FA Cup in 1904 beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0. The club narrowly missed out on ‘the double’, finishing runners up to Sheffield Wednesday.
Maley returned to teaching and became headmaster of St Mary’s Catholic School, Calton, in Glasgow. He remained in that post until 1911. He then returned to management taking over Bradford Park Avenue and securing promotion to Division 1 in 1914.
Maley resigned in 1924, ending his managerial career at Southport in 1925. He returned to his beloved Scotland and in his retirement became a Governor of Slatefield Industrial School in Glasgow. He died in 1935 aged 70. He was one of the best-known Catholic laymen in Scotland in his day and his funeral was attended by 50 priests and thousands of people.
Throughout his life Maley never lost his concern for the poor, nor his conviction that games were a means of providing both health and happiness for the disadvantaged in society. As a young man he helped establish a club whose raisond’ȇtre was the eradication of poverty. In his middle age his football teams played in numerous charity matches and, after his retirement from club football, he became a governor of Slatefield Industrial School where ‘he did everything possible for the comfort and health of the boys. Together with Mrs. Maley and his family, he was constantly organising sports and swimming matches for the boys.’ A devout Catholic, who raised thousands of pounds for Catholic charities, he ‘tramped miles every Sunday to instruct Catholic children in their Faith.’ The Glasgow Star commented, ‘Of his personal character one cannot speak too highly. He was one of God’s gentlemen, endowed with a combination of qualities which won unfailingly the hearts of all and especially those of the young. A man with all the qualities associated with manhood, he was possessed in addition of a sweetness of disposition and a charm of manner which gained for him countless friends in every part of the country.’
