Will Quinn’s unique claim to fame; Trainer of Celtic, Scotland, Ireland and Wales | OneFootball

Will Quinn’s unique claim to fame; Trainer of Celtic & Scotland…& Ireland…& Wales…

I thought we had learned most things about the extraordinary life of former Celtic trainer Will Quinn over the past year or so, but apparently not.

In the second of our most recent articles published on The Celtic Star, we covered the match between the Irish League and Scottish League at Cliftonville’s Solitude in November 1912, the afternoon Celtic defender Joe Dodds was shamefully attacked by a mob following the game.

Players back row from left: Dodds, Gordon, Lawson, Hampton, Walker, Reid.Players front row from left: McAtee, Jackson, Raisbeck, Bowie, McNeil.Photo courtesy of Steven Quinn.

READ THIS…Pistols fired as Celtic’s Joe Dodds attacked and beaten by mob in Belfast

In the fourth of those articles, we focused on a League International played on more familiar territory a little over three years later. On Saturday, 15 March 1915, Will proudly posed alongside four Celtic greats as the Scottish League hosted the English League at Celtic Park.

Photo courtesy of Steven Quinn.

READ THIS…Four Celtic greats line up for the Scots against the English at Celtic Park

And a further two stories covered a full international match between Ireland and Scotland which took place at Dalymount Park, Dublin in March 1913, the cap from which is still in the possession of Will’s family to this day.

The maroon cap is from the Ireland v Scotland Home International match played at Dalymount Park, Dublin on Saturday, 15 March 1913. Photo Matt Corr

READ THIS…The bizarre Dublin story behind Will Quinn’s maroon cap

It turns out though that Scotland was neither the first nor only country Will Quinn worked for back in the day.

Included amongst the memorabilia shared with me recently by his great-grandson Steven were another two photographs which have taken quite a bit of time and trouble to research, primarily as no Celtic players are included, but the good news is that we’ve finally managed to come up with some answers.

If you’ve been following this series, you may recall that I had suggested the Quinn family moved from Ayrshire to Ireland sometime after Will received this letter of reference from his previous employer, Kilmarnock Football Club, in January 1907.

Kilmarnock v Celtic. Saturday, 26 August 1899

READ THIS…A unique letter from the vaults of Scottish football history

And we know from Census records that the family were living in Dublin in April 1911, before Will returned to Scotland to take up his new post at Celtic Park.

The photo below shows that Will was working for the Irish Football Association in early 1910.

I believe it was taken before the international match between Ireland and England played at Cliftonville’s Solitude ground in North Belfast on Saturday, 12 February 1910. This was the opening match of that season’s Home International Championship and ended in a 1-1 draw.

The Irish team that afternoon was as follows;

Billy Scott (Everton, captain); Sam Burnison, (Distillery) & Paddy McCann (Belfast Celtic); Val Harris (Everton), English McConnell (The Wednesday) & Johnny Darling (Linfield); Pepper Renneville (Leyton), John Murphy (Bradford City), Jimmy Murray (Motherwell), Bill Lacey (Everton) & Frank Thompson (Cliftonville).

No fewer than five of the Irish players were making their international debuts that afternoon; Paddy McCann, ‘Pepper’ Renneville, John Murphy, Jimmy Murray and Frank Thompson.

Jimmy Murray was born in Kilmacrennan, County Donegal but spent some of his early years in Scotland, beginning his football career with Shettleston Juniors. He was the first Motherwell player to receive an international cap, which this photo now captures for posterity, whilst his teammate George Robertson would become the club’s first Scotland cap three weeks later. (@SteelmenHistory).

Sam Burnison would achieve that same distinction for the Irish at Bradford (Park Avenue) the following year, where his club manager was former Celt Tom Maley.

Frank Thompson scored the opening goal for Ireland that afternoon on his international debut. He was the player struck in the face by an orange, intended for the aforementioned George Robertson, when Irish supporters attacked the Scots following a match in Dublin two years later. He won the FA Cup with Bradford City at Old Trafford in April 1911, playing alongside Frank O’Rourke, Maura McColgan’s grandfather.

Captain Billy Scott was the elder brother of Elisha, who kept goal for Liverpool and Ireland and is the Anfield club’s longest-serving player. Indeed, it was Everton goalkeeper Billy who recommended Elisha to Liverpool! Elisha was then the last-ever manager of Belfast Celtic and the man responsible for selling Charles Patrick Tully to Glasgow’s Celts in the summer of 1948.

Will Quinn is standing on the extreme left, towel draped over his shoulder, whilst I believe the others in the photo are as follows…

Back row from left; Sam Burnison, Val Harris, Billy Scott, Johnny Darling, David James English McConnell & A. A. Jackson (Scottish referee); Front row from left; Linesman, William ‘Pepper’ Renneville, Bill Lacey, Jimmy Murray, John Murphy, Frank Thompson, Paddy McCann & Bob Torrens (Coach).

Three weeks later, Scotland jumped to the top of the Home International Championship table with a 1-0 win over Wales at Rugby Park, the first time an international match had been played at the home of Kilmarnock. The Scotland team on Saturday, 5 March 1910 included five current Celts and one former star, reflecting the order of the day as the Hoops closed in on a sixth successive League title. The hosts lined up as follows.

Jimmy Brownlie (Third Lanark); George Law (Rangers) & Jimmy Mitchell (Kilmarnock);Alec McNair, Willie Loney & Jimmy Hay (captain – all Celtic); Alec Bennett (Rangers), Jimmy McMenemy, Jimmy Quinn (both Celtic), Archie Devine (Falkirk) & George Robertson (Motherwell).

Four Scots made their international debuts that day; Willie Loney, George Law, Archie Devine – who scored the only goal with just four minutes remaining – and George Robertson.

George Robertson

The Welsh goalkeeper at Rugby Park was Leigh Richmond Roose, a famous amateur who played for Celtic seven days later in a Scottish Cup defeat at Shawfield. That would be his one and only appearance for the club and sadly he would be a casualty of the horrific world war which followed a few years later. See the link below for my take on Leigh’s incredible story.

Leigh Roose

READ THIS…Celtic’s Fallen – Leigh Roose was cut down in his prime

Two weeks late, it was Scotland’s turn to visit Belfast, this time to take part in the first international match played at Windsor Park. Loney, Hay and Quinn were the three Celts who retained their places in the Scotland side, whilst the Irish were unchanged. Frank Thompson made it two goals in his first two starts for his country with the only goal of the game, 10 minutes after the restart.

On Saturday, 2 April 1910, 106,000 spectators flocked to Hampden to watch Scotland take on England, this time Jimmy Hay, Jimmy McMenemy and Jimmy Quinn the trio of Celts selected. First-half goals from Napoleon and the Bhoy from Croy gave Scotland victory, meaning that the destination of the Home International Championship would depend on the result of the final game, bottom-dogs Wales due to take on Ireland in Wrexham nine days later.

The Irish needed just a point for a share of the title and a win to take the crown outright, but their dreams had been shattered by the interval, by which time they were 3-0 down. Johnny Darling’s penalty goal just after the break would be the only glimmer of joy as they went down 4-1 at the Racecourse Ground, the Championship going to Scotland for a 10th time.

Speaking of the Welsh leads me nicely to the second photo requiring additional research.

This shows an older Will Quinn with the Welsh international team, and with what I believe to be the north enclosure at Ibrox in the background. If that is correct, then the only two matches which fit that description and Will’s timeline took place on Saturday, 30 October 1926 and Saturday, 27 October 1928. I have identified the Welsh goalkeeper as Bert Gray of Oldham Athletic then Manchester City, and the captain as Fred Keenor of Cardiff City, but they played in both matches! However, the absence of Arsenal winger Charlie Jones from the photograph convinced me that this image relates to the latter match, played in October 1928.

There were no Celts in the Scotland team which won 4-2 thanks mainly to a hat-trick from Newcastle United’s star centre-forward Hughie Gallacher, the man who in my opinion did more than most to restrict the number of Scotland caps awarded to Jimmy McGrory.

The Welsh side lined up as follows.

Bert Gray (Manchester City); Ernie Morley (Clapton Orient) & Willie Jennings (Bolton Wanderers); Sam Benyon (Manchester United), Fred Keenor (captain – Cardiff City) & David Evans (Huddersfield Town); Willie Hole (Swansea), Willie Davies (Notts County), Wilf Lewis (Swansea), Len Davies (Cardiff City) & Rees Williams (Manchester United).

Willie Davies scored both goals for Wales, the first and last of the afternoon, whilst Jimmy Dunn of Everton scored Scotland’s fourth. This was Scotland’s first international since the famous Wembley Wizards’ 5-1 demolition of England seven months earlier.

Meanwhile, across the city at Hampden, the following Celtic side was taking on Queen’s Park at Hampden in a League match.

John Thomson, Willie McStay & Peter McGonagle; Peter Wilson, Jimmy McStay & Jean McFarlane; Paddy Connolly, Alec Thomson, Jimmy McGrory, Joe Riley & Denis McCallum.

A 25,000 crowd watched Celts fight back from 3-1 down to lead 4-3 before finally settling for a point. John Thomson saved a penalty at 2-1 whilst both Jimmy McGrory and Joe Riley notched doubles, the only competitive goals former Maryhill Hibernian star Riley would score for the club.

And why was Will Quinn the trainer for Wales at Ibrox?

Well, according to his great-grandson, that was all down to the Welsh trainer taking ill on the way to Scotland for the game, Will kindly stepping in to help.

By doing so I reckon he must have a unique record, as the only man to act as trainer for three separate international teams.

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola-vogue

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