Footballosophy: A boy's odyssey from the Highlands to Celtic Park to New Zealand - Paperback

by Angus Gillies (Author), Iain Gillies (Author)

Iain Gillies grew up in a fishing village called Mallaig in the Highlands of Scotland. As a child he'd play football with fishing net corks because no one owned a proper football. But his dream was to play for the mighty Glasgow Celtic. As a teenager playing in the Highland League in the mid-1950s, he was spotted by a Celtic scout and soon he was at Parkhead, rubbing shoulders with football greats such as Jock Stein, Charlie Tully, Bobby Collins, Alec Boden and Bobby Evans and being coached by Celtic legends Jimmy McGrory and George Paterson. Iain Gillies was only to have one season in Paradise. But he's dined out on it for the rest of his life... and he'd love to tell you all about it too.

Author Biography

Iain Gillies spent one season at Glasgow Celtic as a teenager before being given a free transfer. That one sentence includes the most proud and most heartbreaking experiences of his life. But he is still Celtic through and through. After the knee injuries that curtailed his career at Celtic threatened to stop him playing football altogether, he became a newspaper reporter and ended up being the editor of the Gisborne Herald in New Zealand for 30 years. He also resurrected his football career, playing and coaching at Gisborne City for decades and making the New Zealand team in 1967. Gillies has won several national journalism awards in New Zealand and has the record as the longest-serving editor in the country. He is now retired and spends most of his time watching football on TV, drinking coffee with his family and friends at McDonald's in Gisborne and looking after his ever-growing tribe of Scottish-English-Irish-Maori-Tongan-Fijian grandkids and great grandkids. He still watches the local football games at the weekend and lives in poised anticipation for the next frustrated coach to turn and say, "Iain, we're short. Can you go in goal."