Scottish Catholic Observer

Thanks to new research by historian Thomas Davidson, the links between Glasgow’s European Cup-winning team and Scotland’s national Catholic newspaper have been revealed.

In 1887, the first ever Celtic committee was formed. The committee would manage the club for a decade—and a third of its original members had previously set up the company that would found the successor paper to the SCO.

In 1884, Dr John Conway—who would go on to be Celtic’s first honorary president and who kicked the first ball at Celtic Park—fellow committee member Joe Shaughnessy, and James Conway established the Glasgow Printing Company. Its aims included the ‘establishment and publication of new newspapers in Scotland and elsewhere advocating Roman Catholic and Irish and Scottish national principles.’

Early shareholders included some of the men who would go on to play key roles in the founding of Celtic, including James Quillan, a Celtic vice-president; Joseph Nelis, a committee member; and John Glass, who was described by Celtic great Willie Maley as the man ‘to whom the Club owes its existence.’

Mr Shaughnessy would serve as secretary of the new company, and he was followed in that role by another member of the Celtic committee in Michael Cairns.

Despite failing to win the support of Archbishop Charles Eyre of Glasgow, the Glasgow Observer launched on April 18, 1885. It was not a financial success, and in 1894 it was taken over by the MP Charles Diamond, an Irishman who had established Catholic newspapers around the UK. The newspaper would eventually change its name to the Scottish Catholic Observer in 1968.

Historian Thomas Davidson uncovered the links while producing a booklet on Mr Shaughnessy for the Celtic Graves Society, with the profits from all sales being donated to Mary’s Meals.