LOAFRS 20 Sandy McMahon

Celtic’s first Football star

Few football clubs can boast as rich and storied history as Glasgow Celtic. The club has won multiple honours and titles and has produced countless legends such as Jimmy McGrory, Kenny Dalglish, Patsy Gallacher and Jimmy McMenemy. But who was Celtic’s very first star player? Well, that title belongs to footballer by the name of Alexander ‘Sandy’ McMahon, who played for the club between 1890-1903, scoring an incredible 177 goals in 217 appearances, propelling the club into prominence.

Sandy ‘The Duke’ McMahon was the club’s first bonafide star forward, and the first Celt to epitomise the era. He was considered a complete forward and paved the way for future Celtic forwards of the 1900s such as Jimmy Quinn and Jimmy McColl. His swashbuckling style of play as an old-fashioned inside left-led to him being nicknamed ‘The Prince of Dribblers’ by the supporters.

He established a phenomenal collaboration with Johnny Campbell (later of Aston Villa fame with 109 goals in 215 appearances) on the Celtic left wing. This partership lasted over a decade and propelled the new club to its first great successes and set the stage for later players.

Sandy’s first cemented his legend with the Celtic supporters when his two goals in the 1892 Scottish Cup Final replay versus powerhouse Queen’s Park set up a 5-1 victory.  

Sandy was the leading goal scorer in season 1892-93 and led Celtic secure the League Championship for the first time. He was the first Celt to score over 100 goals and remains in the Top 10 Celtic goal scorers of all time (currently ranked 8th) although he has the distinction of playing the fewest games on the list.

In 1893-94, Celtic again secured the league title with Sandy scoring a sensational 30 goals in 30 games in all competitions – a Celtic record unbroken until ‘Sniper’ Jim McColl bested it over two decades later. He was the leading scorer 8 of the 10 seasons at Celtic scoring in the 1899 and 1900 cup finals winning two further medals. By the end of his career, McMahon was a four-time Scottish league winner and earned an international cap for Scotland six times, scoring four goals.

In 1903, MaMahon joined Partick Thistle in what was the highest profile signing of the time. Unfortunately, McMahon was plagued by injuries to his knees and ankles, without which, he would have surely added to his already record-setting totals. As a result, he only recorded three appearances for Partick before retiring. Sadly, Sandy died at the young age of 45, less than thirteen years after leaving Celtic Park.

Sandy McMahon Cards

Sandy McMahon’s prime seasons were in the 1890s; however, few cards of Scottish footballers exist during this period. As a result, I know of only one cigarette card of the Celtic legend to exist.

1901 F & J Smith, Cup Tie Cigarettes, Footballers, Card No. 15