Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Charlie Napier

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The Celtic Star

·19. November 2024

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter – Charlie Napier

Celtic in the Thirties: Unpublished works of David Potter today features Charlie Napier…

The late David Potter

Name: CHARLIE NAPIER Born: October 8 1910 Died: September 5 1973 Appearances: 200 Goals: 92 Scottish League medals: 0 Scottish Cup medals: 1930/31, 1932/33 Glasgow Cup medals: 1930/31 Glasgow Charity Cup medals: 0 Scotland Caps: 5

Charlie Napier image from Celtic Curio for Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr out now on Celtic Star Books – order at celticstarbooks.com

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“Clap, clap hands, here comes Charlie!”

“Clap, clap hands, here comes Charlie!” was a song which became current in the Great War and its immediate aftermath for the appearance of Charlie Chaplin. By the early 1930s, the resurgent Celtic support adopted this song for their new-found hero called Charlie Napier.

He came from Bainsford, one time home of East Stirlingshire football club and not far away from Alec McNair’s Stenhousemuir, and joined Celtic in 1928 from a club with the bizarre name of Alva Albion Rangers. He was immediately farmed out to Maryhill Hibs for season 1928/29, but Celtic’s catastrophic 0-4 defeat in the Glasgow Cup final to Rangers in October 1929 was the catalyst for Napier’s debut.

He managed to keep his place either on the left wing or at inside left all the 1929/30 season, and generally impressed, not least in a disastrous losing streak round about the New Year, when the team lost four games in a row, but Napier “the sole star in the Parkhead firmament” scored three goals.

An immediate and lasting impression

Charles Napier of Celtic. Photo – The Celtic Wiki

He made a fairly immediate and lasting impression. A turn of speed, great passing ability and extremely comfortable on the ball, Charlie soon earned the nickname “Happy Feet”, for the ball “seemed to dance as it came in contact with him, move to his music and to enjoy being with him” in the words of a newspaper man clearly familiar with the Glasgow Dance Hall.

He had a great game in the Charity Cup final (lost by the toss of a coin!) in May 1930, but success arrived the following season in both the Glasgow Cup final (in which he scored a great goal) against Rangers, and of course the epic Scottish Cup final against Motherwell. Napier’s contribution was a vital one. 0-2 down and within the last 10 minutes, Celtic were awarded a free kick.

Napier could have belted it towards the goal and hoped for the best – the situation was, after all, desperate – but, very intelligently, he lobbed the ball delicately over the Motherwell defence for McGrory to run forward and poke home.

Great partnership with Peter Scarff

He fitted well in that team, getting on well his left wing partner Peter Scarff and the team came close enough to winning the League. A tour of the USA was a great success, but then things imploded very badly after the John Thomson tragedy of September 1931. Things got a great deal worse for Charlie Napier when Peter Scarff took ill, and season 1931/32 was far from happy for him as he was moved about the forward line to cover for injuries and absences when his position was so obviously that of outside left.

Celtic 1930/31. Back; Willie Cook, Peter Kavanagh, Hugh Smith & Peter Wilson. Middle; Peter McGonagle, Chic Geatons, Denis O’Hare, John Thomson, Bobby Whitelaw, Willie Hughes & Will Quinn (Trainer).Front; Bertie Thomson, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Jimmy McStay, Peter Scarff & Charlie Napier.

And yet he was playing well enough to be chosen at inside left for Scotland against England at Wembley, thus making him the first Celt to play at Wembley. McGrory had been struggling with injury this spring and the centre forward was Neil Dewar of Third Lanark. It was not a happy occasion and Scotland went down 0-3. Season 1932/33 was not a great season either, although it was masked to a certain extent by the winning of the Scottish Cup once again. Motherwell were the opponents in a dull final, and Napier was the inside left teaming up with Hugh O’Donnell.

He felt himself becoming frustrated

The next two seasons were unproductive and frustrating. Napier, although struggling with injury, was one the few reasons for happiness in the way that he could light up a football field by his very presence with his dribbling and his speed. Sadly he felt himself becoming frustrated by his lack of progress at Celtic Park, a place that was almost perpetually enveloped in depression.

Photograph taken in Detroit while on their visit to play Michigan all Stars who they beat 5-0 at the University of Detroit Stadium. While in the city they were given a tour of the famous Ford Motor Works.L – R: Willie Cook, Bobby Whitelaw, Hugh Smith, Joe McGhee, Willie Maley, Bertie Thomson, Johnny Thomson, Jimmy McGrory (with cup) Peter Scarff, Charlie Napier, Peter Wilson, Tom Maley, Denis Currie, Willie McGonagle. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Napier was not prone to depression. He was a show-off by nature and a flashy dresser off the field, often being seen on trams and buses wearing spats or pin-striped trousers and a bowler hat, something that often earned the disapproval of the austere Maley. By early 1935, particularly after a miserable 1-3 defeat to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup at Pittodrie, it was clear that relationships between the sparkly and cheery Napier on the one hand and the miserable and melancholic Maley were not good.

Celtic in the Thirties, Vol One by Matt Corr.

Celtic in the Thirties – Volume Two

“Napier danced his way through the game”

And yet he was twice chosen to play for Scotland in season 1934/35. He had an excellent game and scored twice for Scotland against Wales at Pittodrie, (“Napier danced his way through the game” says The Courier) and then he was chosen for the big game at Hampden against England in April, where, although he did not have the best of games in other respects, his two corner kicks on either side of half time allowed Dally Duncan to score and beat England 2-0.

Charlie Napier’s Scotland cap. Image The Celtic Wiki

One might have thought that this success for Scotland would have strengthened his position with Maley and Celtic, but unfortunately, Napier decided to pick a fight with Celtic by insisting on a benefit before he signed for the 1935/36 season, and when Derby County came in for him, Maley who had shown every sign of wanting rid of Napier, agreed with indecent haste, and to the immense distress of the supporters, Napier went. It probably was a “good” transfer for everyone, for Napier did well at Derby alongside his International colleague Dally Duncan, and Celtic now began to recover.

Transferred Derby then Sheffield Wednesday

He was later transferred to Sheffield Wednesday, for whom he played equally well until the Second World War when he was loaned back to Falkirk (where his father was Secretary) as he was involved in war work near Grangemouth.

Charlie Napier, photo The Celtic Wiki

While with Falkirk, he was involved in a bizarre incident which involved him being suspended “sine die” from 1941 until 1943. Technically still a Sheffield Wednesday player, any field offences had to be dealt with by the English rather than the Scottish authorities, and it was they who dealt with him on February 13 1941.

Trouble with referees and authorities

Napier had been anything but a dirty player, tending however to fall foul of a referee or two by reasons of his mouth. But he had been sent off earlier in the season in a game against Rangers, (for which he had been fined £3) and now he had been cautioned in two other games against Hamilton Accies and Albion Rovers. It was generally agreed that a ban of some sort – a week or two or possibly even a month – was necessary for the man whom The Daily Record agreed could be “hot headed” now and again, but the English FA shocked the world by imposing the indefinite one of “sine die”.

Charlie Napier, photo The Celtic Wiki

Appeals from Sheffield Wednesday and Falkirk’s Manager Tom “Tully” Craig proved to be fruitless, so Napier could not play until the English FA relented at the end of the 1943 season, which meant that “Happy Feet” had missed two and a half years of football! This meant that he was now nearly 33 when he came back for Falkirk, and by the time that the war ended, he did not go back to Sheffield Wednesday but finished his career with Stenhousemuir, finally giving up in 1948. He was Coach of Bonnybridge Juniors for a while and his son, also called Charlie Napier also played the game at that level.

He died in Falkirk aged 62 on September 5 1973, generally reckoned by those who had seen him as one of the best ball players around.

David Potter

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr, Volumes One & Two, Published by Celtic Star Books, November 2024. Image The Celtic Star

Matt Corr’s wonderful new books, Celtic in the Thirties, Volumes One & Two are both out now on Celtic Star Books and you can order a signed copies by clicking on the links below…