Celtic Memorabilia: The John Thomson glass

Since primary school I have been a big Celtic fan. How do you define what it means to you and what embraced you to follow them?

My earliest recollection would be that of collecting Celtic memorabilia, everyone in the playground wanting to swap their Celtic stickers, metal badges or sew on patches (remember them).

I have always enjoyed reading about Celtic’s history and have a vast array of books and programmes which I have had since childhood.

Some of these items were purchased by myself although numerous have been given to me by fellow collectors or by family members as a present. I have never been a hard person to buy a present for as Celtic are normally somewhere in the equation.

Celtic are a club steeped in tradition and we all have memories of our own, maybe it was your first game, the meeting of a player or something as simple as getting an autograph book signed.

I remember when I was around 12 years old my step-father telling me of some Celtic items which had been given to his elderly aunt by a family member who had passed away. She lived in Carbrook Street, Glasgow G21 and as we lived in Ayrshire we tried to visit her every couple of months.

I could not wait to visit as she would not tell me what she had for me until we arrived. When we did she took me through to the living room and handed me a box. Inside were numerous Celtic pennants, badges, photos and match programmes.

The thing that really caught my eye though was a small sherry glass which was hand painted. It had on it the inscription Good Old Celtic – J. Thomson and showed Johnny Thomson jumping to catch a ball.

I still have that very glass today and as you can see from the picture some of the writing has come off but I feel this adds a sense of history to it.

At such a young age I never knew the full story of this player so I sat down and listened to her as she explained to me the disaster of him being killed whilst playing a game of football against Rangers.

What I like most about this item is the fact that although it may not be of great value it has a historical attachment to the club and is not something which has been mass produced unlike most of today’s souvenirs.

The story of John Thomson is one which we all know and it is amazing to think that it will be the 80^th anniversary of his death later this year. Gone but never forgotten.

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