Alexander McMahon (16 October 1870 – 25 January 1916) was a Scottish
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 ...
who spent most of his career with
Celtic.
Career
Born in
Selkirk, McMahon started his career with Woodburn F.C. then Darlington St Augustine's
before relocating to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
. There he played with Leith Harp and
Hibernian before a first venture to the professional game in England with
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
.
He returned to Hibs in February 1889 but found the club floundering due to the mass recruitment of their players by newly-formed
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 ...
club
Celtic.
McMahon eventually followed the path of other former Hibernian favourites, such as
Willie Groves
Patrick William Groves (20 August 1868 – 13 February 1908)
Spartacus Educational was a 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 ...
team until 1903, making at least 217 appearances and scoring 171 goals. Equally adept at centre forward or inside left, he won three
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,[Scottish League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a 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 km sout ...](_blank)
medals in 1893, 1894, 1896 and 1898. His first moment of glory came in the
1892 Scottish Cup Final
The 1891–92 Scottish Cup was the 19th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic when they beat Queen's Park 5–1 in the final after a replay.
Calendar
Fifth round
* Match Abandoned
F ...
replay, when he scored two goals in the 5–1 victory over
Queen's Park. He also scored in the
1899 cup final when Celtic beat
Rangers 2–0, and in the
1900 final when they beat Queen's Park 4–3. In 1892, following his cup final display, McMahon returned to professional football in England with
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
but, after concerted efforts from the Celtic committee, returned to Glasgow without having played for the
East Midlands side.
The advent of professionalism in Scotland the following year stemmed the southward drift and ensured players such as McMahon could earn sufficient remuneration for their talents by staying in their native country. He was also granted a
testimonial match
A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...
against Rangers in 1899. McMahon played six times for
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
between 1892 and 1902 and scored four goals in the 11–0 rout of Ireland in
1901
Events
January
* January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Minist ...
. He also represented the
Scottish League XI
The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...
on nine occasions.
McMahon eventually left Celtic in 1903, joining
Partick ThistleThistle sign Scottish international, Celtic legend Sandy McMahon
Partick Thistle - The Early Years where he played little due to injury and retired a year later. He earned several sobriquets during his playing days, such as the "''prince of dribblers''" and ''"The Duke"''. The later was derived from the French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893) was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1 ...
(the descendant of an Irish soldier who had served under Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
). Writer John Cairney
John Cairney (born 16 February 1930) is a Scottish film and television actor who is well known to audiences in Scotland and internationally through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Macki ...
recounts that when the duc de Magenta died, Glasgow news-vendors cried "McMahon died! McMahon died!" to sell more papers, with many Glaswegians purchasing the paper under the assumption that the story referred to the popular Celtic player, rather than the far-removed foreign politician.
In May 2015, a biography, ''Sandy McMahon And The Early Celts'' by Celtic historian David Potter, was published.
See also
* List of Scotland national football team hat-tricks
alt=A head and upper shoulders shot of a statue of a footballer, Denis Law, who scored three hat tricks for Scotland, pictured here in a statue outside Old Trafford.
Since Scotland national football team, Scotland's first international associat ...
References
External links
Biography
at ''London Hearts Supporters Club''
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Sandy
1870 births
1916 deaths
Burnley F.C. players
Celtic F.C. players
Darlington St Augustine's F.C. players
Hibernian F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Partick Thistle F.C. players
People educated at Selkirk High School
People from Selkirk, Scottish Borders
Scotland men's international footballers
Scottish Football League players
Scottish Football League representative players
Scottish men's footballers
Sportspeople from the Scottish Borders
Scottish league football top scorers
Men's association football forwards