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Fullname: Francis Meechan
aka: Frank Meechan
Born: 27 Oct 1929
Died: 20 Aug 1976
Birthplace: Condorrat
Signed: 1 July 1952
Left: 1959 (free)
Position: Defender, Full-back
Debut: Hibernian 3-0 Celtic, League Cup, 30 Aug 1952
Internationals: none

Biog

Croy-man Francis Meechan signed for Celtic in July 1952 as a free agent after previous spells in junior football and with Hibernian. It was a poor time for Celtic and not one many new players would have liked to be playing at. Celtic were the poor relations in Scottish football at the time as Rangers and the Edinburgh sides were the top dogs.

The full-back made his debut in a 3-0 League Cup defeat at Hibernian on August 30th 1952. He lost his place to Alex Rollo for the Coronation Cup success but was a regular in the League and Cup double winning side of 1954.

In one strange moment for Frank in a game v Falkirk , the Celtic crowd once famously turned on Frank Meechan for fouling the great Jimmy Delaney (who had recently just moved to Falkirk).

A tendency to make the occasional costly error - such as the gaffe which let Clyde score a last minute equaliser in the 1955 Scottish Cup final - meant Frank was never a regular starter in his latter years at the club. After initially being the starting partner of Mike Haughney through 1954-55 he fell into the reserves and as a replacement for Sean Fallon whenever the Irishman was injured. He made a resurgence to the first team in the latter half of season 57/58 as a right back to the left back of Neil Mochan. After a loan period at Stirling Albion in 1958 he was eventually released by the club in 1959 after 116 appearances.

He later was to be a scout for Celtic until July 1975.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

[Indicate any known awards (player of the year, etc)]

Pictures

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