Neil Mochan (6 April 1927 – 28 August 1994) was a Scottish professional

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 ...

whose twenty-year playing career included periods in both the Scottish and English top divisions. Born in

Carron Carron may refer to: Rivers * River Carron, Forth, a river in Central Scotland * River Carron, Wester Ross * River Carron, Sutherland * Carron River (Queensland), a river in Australia * Carron Water, Aberdeenshire, a river that flows into the Nort ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling. It borders Perth ...

, he attended St Francis RC School in Falkirk and played juvenile football for Dunipace Thistle. He joined

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

in 1944, where he played for seven seasons before a £14,000 transfer to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He returned to Scotland two years later, joining Celtic for £8,000. Celtic won the invitational

Coronation Cup The Coronation Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2 ...

in Mochan's second game for the club. He had further success the next year as Celtic won the Double in 1953–54. He made his debut 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 ...

at that season's end and was selected in the squad for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

in Switzerland, but Scotland lost to both

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and exited the competition in the first round. Mochan had predominantly played as a centre-forward or outside left during his career but, despite a consistent scoring record, he was not always a first-team regular for Celtic. As a result, he became somewhat of a utility player, filling in at inside-left and even left-back when required. He was selected at outside left in the

1957 Scottish League Cup Final The 1957 Scottish League Cup Final was the final of the 1957–58 Scottish League Cup. The football match was played on 19 October 1957 at Hampden Park, in which Celtic beat rivals Rangers in a record 7–1 victory. The final was nicknamed "Ham ...

and scored twice as Celtic defeated their

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

rivals Rangers by 7–1. In 1960, Mochan joined newly promoted

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and helped them establish their position in the top division. In 1963 he signed for

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

, his younger brother's former club. Dennis Mochan had joined Raith from East Fife in 1959 but left for

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 ...

the year before Neil joined the club. Mochan returned to Celtic as a trainer after his retirement from playing in 1964. He served for many years as head trainer under his former team-mate

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

and continued in a coaching capacity well into the 1980s, under Stein's successors

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 ...

and

Davie Hay David Hay (born 29 January 1948) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He broke into the Celtic team in the late 1960s, as one of a generation of players who continued a highly successful era for the club. A contract dispute betwe ...

. A biography of Mochan, ''Celtic's Smiler'' by

Paul John Dykes Paul John Dykes is a Scottish podcaster, author, scriptwriter and documentary producer. His first book, ''The Quality Street Gang'', focusing on the group of footballers known by that term, was released by Celtic F.C. in 2013. This debut was na ...

, was published in 2015, along with an accompanying feature-length documentary.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mochan, Neil 1927 births 1994 deaths Men's association football forwards Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Greenock Morton F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Dundee United F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Falkirk (council area)