John Clark of Celtic

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·28 June 2025

John Clark of Celtic – Just one of us from Holytown and Chapelhall

John Clark of Celtic – Just One of Us from Holytown & Chapelhall

By JoeBloggsCity 27 June 2025…

John Clark, Celtic FC. Photo The Celtic Wiki

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With the sad passing of John Clark, it has had a stronger hit on the hearts of certain sections of the Celtic support than others. To his family and friends, we can only imagine the loss that they now feel with his passing away (and I pass my sincere condolences on to his family). To the rest of us who have never had the good fortune to have met to speak to him personally or little knew him, his aura and achievements are what first stand out to him, but also his incredible achievements which have been heavily documented in the various write-ups this week across the online Celtic forums and sites.

There is though another section of the support who will have been heavily struck by his death, and the main thing I wanted to address is something here I find very difficult to explain to those of you who have been more fortunate to have been brought up in either metropolitan or suburban areas.

A little background to the wee villages…

John Clark was raised and lived in Chapelhall and Holytown, both small mining villages in North Lanarkshire, which both hold relatively small populations of around 5-7000 each. In these places, for most unless you’ve got a good car and can afford the time and petrol, then you most often are cut-off from everything, stuck with little to do (especially in the days before the internet). There used to be around six pubs on the Main Street in Holytown with little else except council tele (later videos), and even buses out to town were really infrequent. These places are often ignored even by those in the neighbouring large towns let alone on a wider national scale.

With such small populations, it meant that there have been few opportunities for the youth to really stand out to make their name in greater spheres, and sport has been one of the few outlets for people in the Lanarkshire villages and towns to achieve some great national recognition. In no way, am I saying that sport is the only way, with a number having done very well academically/professionally and in politics, but sport is a notable road with often far wider recognition for those who achieve great success.

It helps to explain in part without digging in much deeper, the roots of the attachment that these communities have to their sporting team, especially to Celtic for those of Irish Catholic descent. It also helps to explain why those who succeed at the clubs are held in such esteem, and John Clark achieved so much.

John Clark came from this background, and football played a part to be able to elevate him to a better more fulfilling life and career. In light of the tragic circumstances, with the premature death of his father when he was still a young boy, nobody could ever begrudge the success he achieved after overcoming the circumstances he had to endure. He stuck to his roots and lived in Holytown (marrying a local lady) throughout being a Celtic player, which in the modern age would be unthinkable that a football player would live in such a blue-collar area and not stuck out in some rich fenced off estate or expensive West End flat!

To add to the challenge was that John Clark may have been a resident in Holytown, BUT actually the town was far from Celtic-centric. On John Clark’s passing, journalist Hugh Keevins came out with the baffling line that: “[John Clark] came from a background in Holytown, where Celtic was a big thing in people’s lives and it never left him”. He clearly had never visited the place! Celtic might be a big thing to some but certainly not to the bulk of the rest! Yes the town has a small Catholic community, church and school, but the town is historically culturally a Presbyterian town with the July marches through the town arguably the biggest occasions in the year (the marches were massive and seemed to be endless when I was a kid). So it’s obvious where the general sympathies lie.

However, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to get into any divides, this isn’t the place, but living in the town seemed to add to the respect that many had for John Clark from the local Celtic support, who remained overwhelmed that he lived amongst them when he possibly could have chosen to move out to more affluent areas (as admittedly he did many years later after he had left Celtic). One old time resident once told me that in contrast to his teammates in more Celtic-centric towns, there was relatively far less of a crowd/fan-fare for him on his return from Lisbon in 1967 due to the make-up of the village.

Despite that, old timers reflected warmly on John Clark, and even brought colleagues to the village! One occasion was when he was awarded the Holytown Club’s Player of the Year trophy in 1966, bringing over future Lisbon Lions Cesar, Jinky, Chalmers, Gemmell and Yogi! This was done in the White House Pub which has been the centre for the Celtic support in the town over the years, and the location for the supporters bus. It is almost unthinkable now for this to happen as the links between the players and supporters on the ground have distanced, although I do concede it has become complicated with the risks from social media in particular playing a part in this distancing.

Neighbouring towns overshadowing the small towns…

Nearby Bellshill and further out Motherwell due to their far larger size, as well as the maternity hospital in Bellshil, have far more names to link to them to give the local Celtic supporting residents great pride to take in (most notably McNeill and Gemmell respectively). For us in the smaller villages, we have far fewer local heroes, which is why we still cherish John Clark so much.

Added to this, was John Clark’s humble and quiet nature. The villages are full of a cross-section of characters, but communities have their traits too, and John Clark personified the best of those qualities which further endeared him to even those outwith of the Celtic support, and made many look up to him. It reinforced the link to Celtic, and what we could achieve. One of us had made it to the top with Celtic, and was a legend, but he was still always just one of us and kept that ethos with him to final days.

Without meaning to be too melodramatic, football was all that many of us really had to follow or latch on to, and we loved the game: playing it, reading about it, watching it and following it despite the often downtrodden treatment by certain sections with exaggerated beliefs in their self-importance. It gives us fun, laughter, tears and hope (admittedly sometime misplaced too!), and we keep coming back for more. Having someone from your community so successfully involved whilst retaining the character of his upbringing really elevated the experience of being a Celtic fan for us.

The only other major connection that I can think of linking Celtic to Holytown, was that the inaugural Celtic match side included a player born in the village, Eddie Pearson! That’s quite a gap in time, but another landmark link for the village to Celtic. The club has very strong Lanarkshire links, you just need to look at the debt the club owes to the area for the Lisbon Lions contingent.

John Clark’s Legacy

So, I hope at least in part it can help to explain to some of those from more fortunate backgrounds, why there is such an incredibly strong link and fondness for John Clark in some parts beyond just the football, and why it has seriously hit hard home for some than others. Auld, Gemmell and Jinky were far more popular across due to their gregarious natures, but that wasn’t John Clark. Yet he was our own main hero as he was “one of us”, whilst they were main heroes to their town and village communities.

As a former resident of one of the mining villages, it definitely to me brought back to light the past, even though I’ve long gone. John Clark actually left our village before I even was born, so I don’t recall having ever met him when resident there (maybe I did when very young without knowing who he was on any occasion he may have returned). I did have the good fortune to see him in person at a Lisbon Lion dinner and I only wish I had gone up to speak to him for a good chat.

His passing helped remind me of the old supporters bus I travelled on and those I met on those trips, and what I learned from it and I was reminded on his passing of what he meant to them. He was that rarity, a guy from our locale who really made it big, from just next door to us, without any big expense or fat cat academies (like now). A guy who likely would have been with us on the supporters’ bus if circumstances had been different and he’d not gone into football. Someone whose story we could relate to, even for those of us who weren’t even born when he played for Celtic. His time at Celtic, just helped to reinforce why we from the mining villages supported Celtic.

His past time with us should also emphasise why it is important to maintain the Celtic youth development schemes and outreaches throughout the West of Scotland. These efforts help to bring in young talent, and foster goodwill towards the club and within the communities which is an intangible asset that really can’t be quanitified. Also importantly, they should be supported within the working class communities as much as the more affluent areas.

John Clark may have passed on now, but his achievements and memory will survive for generations and for as long as Celtic develops. John Clark embodied what was best about Celtic, and helped push the club to reach the summit of the sport, and he did whilst remaining working and living amongst us on the ground. That in itself is what was most special about him. His legacy in part is Celtic but also the incredible links he has helped further reinforce between the club, its support and these old mining communities.

John Clark, RIP.

JoeBloggsCity