Tommy Callaghan (6 December 1944 – 25 October 2024) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played for

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 ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

and

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

. He was a left-sided

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 ...

famous for his long attacking runs from deep positions, and powerful shot.

Career

Born in

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

, he signed for Celtic from Dunfermline on 22 November 1968 for a reported £35,000. Although he scored on his debut the following day in a 4–0 win over

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

Firhill Firhill Stadium, also known as Wyre Stadium at Firhill for sponsorship reasons, is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick ...

, he took a long time to settle at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

and was never really accepted by the supporters. After making more than 250 appearances for Celtic, Callaghan moved on to Clydebank on 4 November 1976. He scored for his new club on his debut three days later. He left Clydebank in 1978 to become player-manager of Galway Rovers in Ireland. Callaghan represented the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

twice and gained his first

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

club.

Personal life and death

His brother

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

played for Dunfermline and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and his father William, maternal uncles

Patrick Flannigan Patrick G. Flannigan (4 August 1909 – 22 September 1987) was a Scottish professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Career Born in Cowdenbeath, Flannigan played for Kelty Rangers F.C ...

and David Flannigan, son Tommy Callaghan Jr nephew Willie Callaghan Jr, and grand-nephew Liam Callaghan all played football to some extent. On 25 October 2024, Callaghan died at the age of 79.

References

;Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Tommy 1945 births 2024 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Cowdenbeath Men's association football midfielders Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players League of Ireland players Lochore Welfare F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Celtic F.C. players San Antonio Thunder players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players Galway United F.C. players Scottish football managers League of Ireland managers Galway United F.C. managers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate football managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Expatriate association football managers in the Republic of Ireland Scottish Junior Football Association players