JUST PUBLISHED

"My Search for Celtic's John" - by Tom Greig

Celtic Football Club has had many legends over the years - from Jock Stein and Jimmy Johnstone to Henrik Larsson and Martin O'Neill. When he died tragically following events on the football field at the age of twenty-two, John Thomson was the first-choice goalkeeper of Glasgow Celtic and Scotland, and already acknowledged as a sportsman of legendary status. More than thirty thousand attended his funeral in his native Fife and, over seventy years on, his grave remains a shrine of pilgrimage for Celtic fans the world over.

Making full use of oral history techniques, eye witness accounts, archival and medical records and sifts of contemporary newspapers, this book is a study of John's personal life, his schooldays and meteoric rise from juvenile football to international stardom. It traces the surviving family of John's sweetheart to learn what became of her after John's death.

There is the account of the accident itself, its sorrowful aftermath, and the heartrending effect it had on Rangers' Sam English. Along the way, the author challenges some astonishing misinformation surrounding the player and reveals some fascinating coincidences too. It includes some never-before-published photographs and a guided tour of John's birthplace.

A percentage of all profits from the sale of this book will be donated to a Motor Neurone Disease charity.

Honouring Johnny

It is with the greatest of pleasure that I have seen a major withdrawal from our website, namely all of the items encouraging support for the major honouring of John Thomson. It was a telephone call seeking comment from BBC’s Reporting Scotland during the morning of September 24th which broke the news to me that our beloved Johnny would shortly be inducted into the SFA’s Football Museum Hall of Fame. I was so thrilled to hear the news of the honour which is massively merited and long overdue, but in no way diminished in its sweetness. It has been a long road for the huge number of Thomson fans and friends who were active in seeking this accolade for the greatest goalkeeping genius our country has ever known, and we will all be united in delight come mid-November 2008 when the "Prince of Goalkeepers" officially takes his place in this pantheon of fame. I wish to record my heartfelt gratitude: to the Celtic Chairmen and Boards of Directors over the years who, either in private or in public, have nurtured the memory of John Thomson; to "The Celtic View" for unfailingly helping me to sustain my end of the campaign on Johnny’s behalf; to the hundreds of fans and friends in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada and the USA who have signed the petition on my website, or who have contacted me to express their support and ask how they could help; to my son, Dr Lorne Greig, for the excellence and creativity of his website support; to all the staff at the Hall of Fame Museum for being patient in turn with my passion, irritation and recurring disappointment; to all my friends in the kingdom of Fife whose phone calls have kept me from sleep since the news came through; to the members of the John Thomson Memorial Committee there for all their efforts through their annual tournament and their lobbying of politicians local and national; to my dear friend, Tom Kirk from Dundonald, Fife, who taught me the merits of patience and perseverance; and finally to all Celtic fans wherever they may be, past and present, who have kept his memory alive down the years, and for those yet to be who will come to revere him too.

There will be a grave today in Bowhill, Cardenden, which will be decked in flowers and memorabilia, and which forever will truly "warmer, sweeter be". Justice has been done. If you have played a part in this success, my heartfelt thanks to you all.