Scottish football: Former Celtic striker John Divers has died aged 74
Tuesday 23 September 2014 17:19, UK
Former Celtic striker John Divers has died.
Divers, whose father John also played for the club, scored 110 goals in 232 games during a nine-year career at Parkhead. He was 74.
His place in Celtic folklore was cemented in August 1965 when he grabbed the first goal of the season which would lead to the club equalling their own world record of nine successive league titles.
In a statement on their website, Celtic said: "John Divers, who played for the club between 1957 and 1966, sadly passed away today (Tuesday) at the age of 74.
"It would seem that John was destined to join Celtic as his father, also John, wore the Hoops between 1932 and 1945, and his great uncle was none other than the legendary Patsy Gallacher.
"John was born in Clydebank on March 8, 1940 and joined Celtic on July 7, 1956 before scoring on his debut on November 16, 1957 in a 2-2 home draw with St Mirren.
"That was to be the first of the goals that would make him a 'Century Bhoy' as he was to go on and reach the magical 100-goal figure in his 232 Celtic games before moving to Partick Thistle in 1966.
"It was, however, the 99th of those goals, and his last league goal, that was to unpredictably go down in Celtic history.
"It was in the 15th minute of the opening-day league game against Dundee United at Tannadice on August 15, 1965 when he opened the scoring in a 4-0 win and so scored the very first goal of Celtic’s nine-in-a-row.
"John remained a true Celtic supporter through the years and the thoughts and prayers of everyone at Celtic Park are with the Divers family at this sad time."
Celtic will hold a minute's applause before Wednesday's home game against Hearts for Divers, and Jambos fan Gordon Wilson who was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital after taking ill during their game against Cowdenbeath at the weekend.
