Celtic Player of the Day – Alec Thomson aka “Eckie Tamson”

The Celtic Star

·2 maggio 2025

Celtic Player of the Day – Alec Thomson aka “Eckie Tamson”

“Eckie Tamson” was a Buckhaven boy, and played for the Wellesley Juniors just like his namesake John Thomson, but Alec joined Celtic a few years earlier in 1922.

He was a talented inside forward who became an integral part of the Celtic teams of the 1920s and the 1930s. He has been described as “sinewy” and certainly was not a sturdy player, known as the “frail lad that wore the green”.

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But there were other, more flattering descriptions as well like “McGrory’s fetch and carry man” and “Mr Ever Ready”. He had a tremendous passing ability, and had a fine turn of speed with the ability to take a goal.

He was good enough to win four Scottish Cup medals in 1925, 1927, 1931 and 1933 and the Scottish League in 1926 being able to play alongside men like Paddy Connolly, Peter Wilson and Tommy McInally as well as the mighty McGrory who was happy to admit that he lost count of the amount of times he scored from a Thomson pass.

He was also a calming influence in the dressing room, a good counterweight to the wilder characters like Tommy McInally and Bertie Thomson. He was naturally very upset by what happened to his close friend John Thomson, but helped everyone to get through it.

Soon after his last Scottish Cup medal in 1933, he lost his place, left for Dunfermline Athletic and returned to the mines in 1937. A modest and humble man who died in 1975.

David Potter

*Article from The Celtic Star archives celebrating the work of David Potter.

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