Jim Casey (born 2 August 1957 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

) is a Scottish retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He spent eight seasons in Scotland and part of one season in the United States. Originally a schoolboy signing with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, Casey signed a professional contract with the Bhoys in May 1974. He made his Celtic first team debut in the 1-0 League Cup win at home to

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

on 24 September 1975. He saw little first team time until the 1977-78 season. That year, Casey was given his break at sweeper after an injury to

Pat Stanton Patrick Gordon Stanton (born 13 September 1944) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Stanton played for Hibernian for most of his career, making nearly 400 league appearances. Late in his career, he had a short and successful spe ...

. He was impressive against

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

in a 4-2 win in the League Cup on 3 September 1977 but seven days later Celtic blew a two-goal lead against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in a league game at Ibrox to lose 3-2 and Casey again found himself out of favour. After

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, m ...

's arrival in 1978, Casey re-entered the first team until disaster struck on 13 December 1978 against

in a League Cup semi-final. With the game tied at 2-2, Casey came on for the injured Mike Conroy. At 113 minutes, Roy Baines blocked a

Derek Johnstone Derek Joseph Johnstone (born 4 November 1953) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Johnstone played mainly for Rangers winning 14 major trophies during his career. He also had a spell at Chelsea and a brief stint in management wit ...

shot. The ball rebounded, struck Casey and rolled into the net for an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

. It was Celtic's first League Cup defeat against Rangers since the 1964 final. Casey returned to the reserves and during the 1979-1980 season, he the team, scoring against Morton in 2-0 Scottish Cup victory on 8 March 1980. Casey was earmarked for a place in the 1980 Scottish Cup Final to replace the suspended Tom McAdam, but an injury in training stopped any hopes he had. Capable of playing both as a sweeper or as a holding midfielder the former Scotland schoolboy international was never able to hold down a regular first team starting spot and he eventually left Celtic for U.S. indoor side Phoenix Inferno of the Major Indoor Soccer League in November 1980. However, he lasted only a few weeks before he was back in Scotland with

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

. He retired in 1983.

References

External links

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TheCelticWiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Jim 1957 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Men's association football midfielders Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Arbroath F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Phoenix Inferno players Scottish Football League players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Maryhill F.C. players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers