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Personal
Fullname: George Gillan
aka: N/A
Born: 21 June 1919
Died: […] 2006
Birthplace: […]
Signed: 7 August 1940 (Loan)
Position: Inside-Left
Debut: Celtic 2-2 Hamilton Accies, Regional League, 10 Aug 1940
Internationals: N/A
International Caps: N/A
Biog
George Gillan was a talented inside-left who played a season with Celtic while on loan from Alloa during the war years of the early 1940s. He was a “stocky lad from Alloa” as The Dundee Courier noted about him.
His senior football career started with Saltcoats Victoria, followed by moves to Arthurlie in 1938 and Alloa in 1939.
George Gillan – signed in August 1940 – scored in an impressive debut for the Bhoys as Celtic drew 2-2 with Hamilton Academical in the Regional League at Parkhead on August 10th.
A constant menace to the opposition defence George Gillan was a nippy and shrewd performer capable of both creating and scoring goals. It was no golden time to be at Celtic, as Celtic lurched from bad to worse most often, and finished fifth in the wartime Regional league table. George Gillan had a stellar patch of performances around December & January 1941, capped by scoring in what was in that era a rare league victory over Rangers away in the league.
“He might have been offside (certainly Rangers and Willie Woodburn in particular were convinced he was) but the referee, the sometimes controversial Mr MC Hutton, didn’t think so and Gillan ran on to a fine pass from Johnny Crum to put the ball past Jenkins in the 60th minute.”
(TheCelticStar (2020))
He also scored a a double Motherwell in a 4-1 victory in late January in the league, and then again in the Scottish Southern League Cup (Scottish Cup replacement during the wartime) a 3-2 victory in March having scored in a 2-1 victory v Airdrie a week before. He seemed to enjoy a rich vein of form scoring against the Lanarkshire teams.
A key achievement was scoring the winner v Rangers in September 1940 in the Glasgow Cup final. Celtic only won two trophies during wartime, the Glasgow Cup and the Glasgow Charity Cup. In the bigger scheme of things, they may not have the gravitas as the league or Scottish Cup, but for an underperforming Celtic side, it gave some semblance of hope in a dire era.
Interestingly, he never lost v Rangers in his brief time at Celtic, which was something quite exceptional as Celtic were heavily outfought by the Ibrox side during this dire era.
In his one season with the Hoops, he made 30 appearances and netted 10 times, as well as two appearances in the post-season Summer Cup and two in the Glasgow Cup. A very fine record.
Celtic were keen to make his move a permanent one but while the inept Parkhead board deliberated about this prospect, Motherwell stumped up the cash (£475 transfer fee) and took George Gillan to Fir Park where he continued to impress. His scoring prowess for Celtic against Lanarkshire sides had paid off.
At a time when Celtic were at their poorest, it was just another bad mistake by the management that the board didn’t tie him up at the club.
On the other hand, Celtic may have lost him to Motherwell but he coached the future Lisbon Lions & Celtic great Bobby Lennox at Ardeer, and so for his part in Bobby Lennox’s development the Celtic support will be eternally grateful.
He passed away in 2006.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | REGIONAL LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | REGIONAL LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1940-41 | 23* | N/A | 7* | N/A | 30* |
| Goals: |
8 |
0 |
2 |
– |
10 |
Honours with Celtic
- 1940