King, John

Personal

Fullname: John King
Born: 19 Jan 1874
Died: […]
Birthplace: Shotts
Signed: 21 May 1895 (from Dykehead)
Left: 3 May 1897 (to East Stirling)
Position: Right-back, Half-back
Debut: Dundee 1-2 Celtic, League, 10 Aug 1895
Internationals: none

Biog

Defender John King signed for Celtic in May 1895 from Dykehead.

Possibly a curious character, where Celtic player Tommy Morrison is said to have said of John King that he had a ‘conceit of his abilities‘. Appears that a joke was played on him by his colleagues in the Celtic team, where on his receipt of a letter from an ‘English Scout’ to meet him at the Alexandria Hotel in Bath Street, he turned up (accompanied by his whole team) only for no Englishman to appear.

He is believed to have made his debut on 10 August 1895 v Dundee in a 2-1 win, helping Celtic to the league title that season. Celtic won nearly all the games he played in that season with just two defeats. Defeating Rangers 6-2 in December 1895 was a key high-mark as Rangers came second in the league.

The next season he played little for Celtic, and his main Celtic career was ended by a poor performance in the infamous Scottish Cup defeat to minnows Arthurlie in January 1897. There were injuries, suspensions & strikes so Celtic were playing with four reserves that day.

It is thought that he was made a scapegoat for the Scottish Cup result against Arthurlie. He had to improvise in a central defence with a half-stripped Barney Crossan, but hardly the only one at fault that day.

Shotts-born John King joined East Stirling in May 1897, who were then not in either of the two senior Scottish league divisions. They were not elected to the Scottish Football League until 1900/01.

He later played football with the Scots Guards in December 1903 but was very shortly discharged from the unit after only a month in January 1904.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Pictures

• Player Pics

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Notes

• Some records have him erroneously called ‘James King’.