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Fullname: David Cattanach
aka: Catt, Davie Cattanach
Born: 27 June 1946
Birthplace: Falkirk
Signed: 19 August 1963
Left: 20 January 1972
Position: Defence/Half-back/Full back
First appearance: Saint Mirren home 5-0 league 9 April 1966
Last appearance: Cowdenbeath home 3-0 league 7 November 1970
Only goal: Dundee United away 5-0 league 30 March 1968
Internationals: none

Biog

Half-back David Cattanach was signed by the Hoops in August 1963 from Stirling Albion having been a much sought after youngster with Manchester United and Liverpool on his trail.

He made his first team debut in a 5-0 win over St Mirren on April 9th 1966 in a league clash at Parkhead. A member of the squad during the all conquering 66-67 season it wasn't until the next year that he got a regular run of games. In September 1967 Davie played at Ibrox in front of a massive crowd of 90,000 and was capable of playing in a number of positions. On January 28th 1968 he was at right back when Celtic lost to Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup and Davie carried the can for the defeat.

He continued to play sporadically and scored his only goal at Tannadive in a 5-0 win in March 1968 after coming on as substitute for Charlie Gallagher. In the Autumn of 1970 he had a fine spell in the side as sweeper which included playing in Finland against Kokkola in the European Cup and he was regarded as being unlucky losing his place to Jim Brogan after that.

He made a total of just 19 appearances for Celtic - with that one goal - before joining hometown club Falkirk in January 1972. After hanging up his boots, David went on to be a very successful businessman.

He may not have reached the heights of others, but he was much more an important person off the pitch. A lauded youngster as mentioned above, he was one of the initial members of the "Quality Street Gang" group of players alongside George Connelly and Davie Hay, with whom he remains close friends to this day, and became a fine captain of that successful development side. Whilst the careers of his fellow colleagues rose, his never did but he played a part in their rise.

In the early days, at his home, many players from the "Quality Street Gang" plus others used to meet up and stay with him for a get together around once a month and have a friendly (and competitive) kick about. The players lining up for these games were astonishing (Hay, Macari, Connelly, Gorman, Dalglish, McGrain, Alex Smith etc) . It was such a major part of these players playing development, that those who couldn't make it used to enquire about how the games went and what were the scores (and it was all just a kickabout!). It was something special and a whole life in itself. It played a strong part in the development of all those players, and it was all in Davie Cattanach's back garden!

On a personal level, what was most important about Davie Cattanach was that he looked out for others, such as watching out for George Connelly (whose full situation Cattanach admits he didn't know in its entirety at the time). Connelly was thankful for his friendship and Davie's departure from Celtic in part fuelled Connelly's later accelerated downward spiral at Celtic (both personally and on the pitch).

One other story Davie Cattenach recalls is of Tony McBride. Heralded as a prodigious talent, the drink destroyed McBride. Davie tried to pull him straight to no avail, and it's a measure of Davie's character that as a colleague and a friend that he at least tried to help him.

Despite Davie Cattanach's lack of success to cement his name in the first side, he will be remembered by those who knew him. It is a measure of his character that he stayed at Celtic to remain a squad player when he could have played in the first team for virtually any other club in Scotland.

We hope and wish him all the best to this fine Celtic gentleman. His worth to the club and his fellow players was more than simply the sum of any goals or matches he ever played in.

Quotes

"Davie Cattanach was there [in the reserves] most of the time as well and he was a rough and ready defender who was very enthusiastic. It was good for us to see someone who was perhaps out the picture but still had great enthusiasm for the club and still worked hard. He also takes a bit of credit for our knowledge of the game."
Danny McGrain on Davie Cattanach (2012)

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

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