Celtic books
As well as fanzines, there were other ways for fans to write about Celtic, in particular the club’s history. Celtic are one of the clubs in the world which surely have most books published concerning their story. Arguably the first official club book was The story of the Celtic, written by legendary manager Willie Maley and published in 1939.
Willie Maley’s book The Story of Celtic. Photo The Celtic Wiki
After this, there were other books, particularly player stories such as Charlie Tully, Jimmy Johnstone and Billy McNeill. The publication of renowned Celtic history book The glory and the dream in the 1980s started a real taste for Celtic history, and since then many club researchers have become well-known, including Pat Woods, Tom Campbell and David Potter.
Tom Campbell and Pat Woods, co-authors of The Glory and The Dream. Photo The Celtic Star
In more recent years – and especially with the rise of self-publication – there has been an explosion in the number of books which are available, often printed by Celtic-specific publishers such as The Celtic Star or Celtic Quick News (all incidentally published by The Celtic Star Editor David Faulds) . The late Celtic historian David Potter once remarked that there could never be enough Celtic history books, and this will remain the case as long as there are new stories to tell.
David Potter, Celtic Historian and Author.
Despite predictions of the end of the so-called ‘mainstream media’, one of the main ways that Celtic supporters – and fans of all clubs – can find out about their team is TV, radio and newspapers. However, there are so many other options too if Celtic fans want club specific stories.
