Lamb, Peter

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Fullname: Peter Lamb
Born: 9 June 1925
Died: 11 July 1978
Birthplace: New Monkland
Signed: 31 December 1945
Left: April 1947 (free); 5 May 1947 (to Alloa)
Position: Defender/full-back
Debut: St Mirren 0-1 Celtic, League, 31 Aug 1946
Internationals: none

Biog

Full-back Peter Lamb made just a single appearance in a competitive match for Celtic.

The New Monkland-born defender had signed for the Bhoys from St Anthony’s on New Year’s Eve 1945 but had to wait until 31 August 1946 before he got his chance in the first team. That chance came in a league tie at St Mirren and Peter Lamb helped his team to a 1-0 victory. Not a stellar match, said to be “a match devoid of subtlety…. the ball was biffed about“.

One bit of honour for him was that his debut was actually Celtic’s first victory of the season, the seventh match (including the Glasgow Cup). In the first fifteen competitive matches Celtic only won two matches, but had some bad defeats including a 6-2 defeat to Aberdeen.

However, despite the poor environment, he couldn’t dislodge the great Bobby Hogg from the right-back berth, despite the aging Bobby Hogg actually entering his final days at Celtic.

On the other hand, it was another return to mediocrity for Celtic that season, languishing in seventh place in the league, well behind title winners Rangers and even behind Morton. Much had to change at Celtic but it needed to be more than just player turnover. Additionally, Celtic had Jimmy McGrory installed as the new manager, who was to prove to not be a great manager.

In fairness, this was the post-war period, and despite the war being over, circumstances were still very difficult and austerity measures were still in force. This meant many players were still doing a second job at the same time as they were playing for their club side, it was no easy environment to make changes & investment in.

Eventually Peter Lamb was released by the club in April 1947, and moved onto Alloa. He later moved onto Wigtown & Bladnoch, before hanging up his boots in Dec 1955. For Wigtown & Bladnoch, he helped give Third Lanark a hard passage in the Scottish Cup in Feb 1953.

After his football career, he worked as a colliery electrician. Sadly, Peter Lamb died prematurely from lung cancer in Alloa on 11 July 1978, at the age of 53.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

None

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