Community 12/08/2025
John Thomson Biography
Lifelong Raith Rovers supporter, Hugh Ross, has written a biography about one of Kirkcaldy’s favourite sons – John (“Johnny”) Thomson, the legendary Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper of the late 1920s and early 1930s who died from injuries sustained in the Old Firm game at Ibrox Park on 5 September 1931.
Born at 74 Balfour Street, Kirkcaldy, on 28 January 1909, John moved with his family to Cardenden nine months later and lived in the village for nearly all of the remainder of his life.
As a youngster, John was a keen Raith Rovers supporter and a regular attendee at Stark’s Park, where he stood behind the visiting teams’ goalkeepers, mimicking their actions and analysing their performances.
After a mere handful of games for junior club Wellesley Colliery, he played trials for Raith Rovers and Cowdenbeath before signing for Celtic, after impressing Celtic’s chief scout, Steve Callaghan, in an East of Fife Cup encounter against Denbeath Star. (The actual signing took place with the form resting against an electric traffic junction box in Kirkcaldy’s Gallatown!)
John was only 17 years old when he signed for Celtic and, less than three months later, he became their regular goalkeeper. When he was 19 he was selected to play for the Scottish League and the Scotland national team at the age of 21.
Regarded as being “the best goalkeeper in the world”, his agreed move from Celtic to Arsenal would have set a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, but it never took place because of his death.
The book’s pages are full of stories about the great players of the time and the teams that John played against, as well as fascinating facts about events, such as the first World Cup, which occurred during John’s lifetime.
Death and Glory – The Life and Times of John Thomson, The World’s Best Goalkeeper is being published by Kindle and Amazon Books on 5 September, the ninety fourth anniversary of John’s death.
Royalties from sales of the book will go to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation – a charity committed to funding research to find effective treatments to motor neurone disease.