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Fullname: Thomas Bogan
aka: Tommy Bogan
Born: 18 May 1920
Died: 23 Sep 1993
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 1 February 1946 (from Hibernian)
Left: 30 Sep 1948 (to Preston NE)
Position: Outside-Right
Debut: Celtic 0-1 Hibernian, Regional League, 2 Feb 1946
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 1 game (needs confirmed if official cap or not)

Biog

Midfielder Tommy Bogan moved from Hibernian to his home city of Glasgow to sign for Celtic in 1946.

"The player with the greatest burst of speed I ever encountered was Tommy Bogan.. He could gather a ball and sweep past you almost in one movement." - Davie Shaw June 11 1955

He made his debut against Hibs the day after he signed for Celtic, and we duly lost! Not a great start to lose against the team you just left, but Celtic were performing poorly in the post-war period and this was likely a result to show Tommy just what he was to deal with.

He was capped for Scotland v England at Wembley in 1945, however he twisted his knee when he somersaulted over Frank Swift in a lightning quick first minute attack and was carried off! [Needs further checks. Possibly this was a game for which an official cap was not given. Info from "A-Z of The Celts"]

His best season was 1947-48, where his great play made him popular. It was said that "Celtic supporters have taken Bogan to their Hearts".

During his time at a sadly struggling Celtic he made 55 appearances and scored 9 goals. He was never contented at Celtic and was to bemoan that he could never understand why he left Hibs. This must be taken in light that Celtic were appalling post-war. We just avoided relegation at the end of season 1947-48 whilst Hibs won the league that season. Everything was going wrong for him.

One quote from Tommy seemed to sum it up:
Jimmy Hogan (new Celtic coach/trainer): "The good ship Celtic will set sail on Aug 14th [1948]."
Tommy Bogan: "There will be some passengers aboard this ship!"

He stayed at the club a little over two seasons before moving south to Preston North End in 1948. It just wasn't to be for Tommy at Celtic.

He played for Preston for one season, before moving to Manchester United in September 1949. However, it was apparent that Bogan had not adapted to the English game and moved back to Scotland to play for Aberdeen in March 1951. A move back to England soon followed, with Bogan moving to Southampton after just four appearances for Aberdeen. Again, though, he struggled to fit in and he moved to Blackburn Rovers and then Macclesfield Town before retiring from professional football.

His subsequent career after leaving Glasgow shows that likely the Celtic environment wasn't possibly the only problem. He moved to various clubs and remained for relatively short periods, and didn't seem to settle in. The issue was thus with Tommy Bogan, and maybe that was the problem at Celtic also. However, with the poor state of Celtic (at team and board level) during the post-war years, no single player could make a difference, and in effect Tommy Bogan was another player to lose out in the poor environment in his tenure at the club.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

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