Willie Maley

1868 — 1958

Football Manager: Willie Maley’s connection with Celtic, both as player and manager, stretches incredibly from the club’s formative steps onto the football field in 1888 until the early years of the Second World War. Maley was a notable midfielder and his performances for Celtic would earn two caps for Scotland in 1893. His initial appointment to a management position with Celtic came in 1897 and for the next 43 years he would assert a controlling influence over the Parkhead club.

Maley won the Scottish League Championship in his first full season in charge and between 1906 and 1910 his greatest side, featuring Jimmy McMenemy and Jimmy Quinn, would win an unprecedented six league titles in succession. From the First World War until 1940, Maley would built a further two great Celtic teams. His first would win six titles between 1914 and 1922 while the second, towards the end of his reign, would win League titles in 1936 and 1938 and the Scottish Cup in 1937. In total Celtic, under Willie Maley, claimed an impressive haul of 16 league titles and 14 Scottish Cups.