Fleming, Willie

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Fullname: William Fleming
aka: Willie Fleming
Born: 30 April 1901
Died: […]
Birthplace: Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire
Signed: 16 August 1924 (from Vale of Leven)
Left: 18 Aug 1925 (to Ayr Utd)
Position: Centre Forward
Debut: Celtic 6-0 Kilmarnock, League, 8 Nov 1924
Internationals: none

Biog

Signed from Vale of Leven in August 1924, Willie Fleming was seen as a typical storming 1920s centre-forward when he arrived at Parkhead.

Although not the tallest of players, Willie Fleming was a hardy competitor and was used by Celtic as cover for the great Jimmy McGrory whom Celtic were to lose for a period due to injury.

The 23-year-old Willie Fleming made a huge impact on his debut when he scored four goals in a 6-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock at Parkhead on 8 November 1924. In all of football this must rank as one of the greatest debuts ever, and one of the best ever at Celtic.

Curiously both The Scotsman and Glasgow Herald match reports are quite muted on this incredible achievement by Willie Fleming.

He scored on a handful of occasions thereafter, including a double v Aberdeen in a 3-1 win in the league in January 1925. However, after a 1-0 defeat to Motherwell a week after the Aberdeen match, he was only in and out the side, mostly deputising for the great Patsy Gallacher.

Willie Fleming had played in the Ne’er day derby on 1 Jan 1925, and scored a consolation goal for Celtic in a 4-1 defeat to Rangers, a result that reflected that Celtic were slipping.

Jimmy McGrory was back in the side in mid-January, and was to soon match Willie Fleming’s earlier feat, with Jimmy McGrory scoring 4 goals in a 5-1 win over Third Lanark. He was to score plenty of goals to the end of the season keeping out any potential challengers like Willie Fleming. Jimmy McGrory is one of the greatest goal scorers ever in the game, there is little anyone in any era could have done with this sort of challenge to face.

Willie Fleming’s record with the first team has been skewed statistically by his incredible debut, but he never came close to it. He’d lost his goal scoring touch in particular after the Motherwell defeat. His last game was ironically a 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock but he signed off with a goal to his name in that final appearance, so in total had scored five goals against them but Kilmarnock at least now got some revenge with a victory.

Celtic were to finish the league campaign in fourth, just ahead of Cowdenbeath, but 16 points behind Rangers who stormed to the title in 1924/25, the key difference being Celtic’s poor away performances. Willie Fleming only played in one winning away match that season although he still scored four goals in the away matches. Celtic lost 12 matches that season and drew 8 games out of the 38.

He did play for Celtic in the Glasgow Charity Cup in May 1925, which Celtic lost 2-1 to Partick Thistle but at least Willie Fleming was to score once again for Celtic. So a goal in a final with Celtic.

He didn’t get to play in the first team for the Scottish Cup final of 1925 which Celtic famously won. If he had played then likely Patsy Gallacher wouldn’t have, and it was a final best remembered for the sublime performance given by Patsy, and the match has since been dubbed as ‘The Patsy Gallacher final‘. History could have been so much different. Sadly, Willie Fleming never played a match during this Scottish Cup run losing him the chance of a medal and meant he missed the glorious 5-0 demolition of Rangers in the semifinals.

Willie Fleming netted 10 goals in 19 league appearances for Celtic before he departed for Ayr United in August 1925.

Willie Fleming was a good goal scorer as can be seen from the statistics, but the club already had the peerless Jimmy McGrory and a wealth of talent in the squad so made things difficult for Willie Fleming to retain a place in the first team. Which bodes the question that if Celtic had such quality in the squad, then why did Celtic underachieve so heavily in that decade and thereafter?

In any case, Celtic went on to win the league the next season, so on paper it looks like Celtic weren’t disadvantaged by moving Willie Fleming on, but he was still young with time on his hands.

He stayed for nine seasons at Ayr Utd where he was switched from the forward line to defence, and helped them win promotion to the top tier and remain there for many years.

As a mark of respect, Celtic played his benefit match on 13 Sep 1931, a match marked by the first showing of Peter Scarff’s fatal condition. It was just a week after the match v Rangers when John Thomson died on the pitch.

Willie Fleming later moved to Dundee Utd in 1934, but was freed in Apr 1935, where we believe he thereafter hung up his playing boots.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

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