Jim Casey (born 2 August 1957 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

) is a Scottish retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. 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 Fo ...

, 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 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 sp ...

. He was impressive against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

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 2007–08 SPL season. Mo ...

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 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 football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

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

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

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

. 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 Thomas Ian McAdam (born 9 April 1954) is a Scottish former footballer who played for a number of British clubs, spending around half of his career with Celtic. He began as a forward but was later converted to a defender, where he played for the ...

, 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 ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

. He retired in 1983.

References

External links

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TheCelticWiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Jim 1957 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Association football midfielders Scottish footballers Scottish expatriate 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 soccer players in the United States Maryhill F.C. players Scotland under-21 international footballers