Matthew Marr: The Bould Bhoys! Glory to their Name

Author Matthew Marr joined Paul John and JP Mason on Thursday’s Bulletin to chat about his debut book “The Bould Bhoys! Glory to their Name”.

As Matt describes, the book covers a relatively untouched, yet monumental season in Celtic’s history; the 1892/93 season in which Celtic won their first ever Scottish League title.

“I’ve always had an interest in Celtic’s history and wanted to write a book for a while. and the Covid situation gave me the push to do it” Matt told ACSOM.

“I was thinking ‘what’s an important story that’s interesting and that largely hasn’t really been written about’.  Most Celtic history books give it (the 1892/93 season) a page or a paragraph; it’s really not seen as a big thing and because next month marks 130 years since we first won the title, I thought this is would be the perfect time to fully tell that story.”

Despite its importance, season 1892/93 has, until now, been lost to the annals of history.  Not only was it the season that Celtic won their first league title, but, as Matt explains, it was a much bigger and intriguing season on the whole.

“It was our first season at Celtic Park and it was the season that Brother Walfrid left, so there was loads of things happening on and off the park that make it a really interesting”

Thanks to hours of diligent research, The Bould Boys! Includes tales of riots involving attacks on Celtic teams, players being kidnapped to ensure transfer went ahead (or not), and, of course, the journey to the first League title in the clubs illustrious history.

The Bould Bhoys! Glory to their Name is available, amongst other place, in the Celtic store.  If you’re up at Celtic Park on Saturday, pop into the store before the game and you might just find Matt gazing at his book on the shelf, and who could blame him.

“I wanted it in the Celtic shop.  I mean, there’s just a bit of ego there” Matt joked, “but I really wanted to be able to go into the shop and go ‘God there’s my book’, so that’s been fantastic.”

The Bould Bhoys! Glory to their Name promises to be a fantastic addition to the plethora of books covering Celtic’s storied history, add it to your collection.

Matt can be followed on Twitter @hailhailhistory and @celtsfirsttitle