John Divers (footballer, born 1940)

John Divers (8 March 1940 – 23 September 2014) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Partick Thistle.^[3]

John Divers

Personal information
Date of birth	(1940-03-08)8 March 1940
Place of birth	Clydebank, Scotland
Date of death	23 September 2014(2014-09-23) (aged 74)
Position(s)	inside forward
Youth career
	Glentyan Thistle[1]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1956–1966	Celtic	171	(80)
1956–1957	→ Renfrew[1]
1966–1969	Partick Thistle	30	(5)
Total		201	(85)
International career
1962–1963	Scottish League XI[2]	3	(4)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Club

Born in Clydebank, Divers was the son of former Scottish international John Divers and grand-nephew of ex-Celtic player Patsy Gallacher.^[1] He played 248 games for Celtic between November 1957 and September 1965.^[4] Playing mostly as an inside left, he scored 110 goals for the club, which helped gain him a reputation as a skilful, clever and hard working player.^[5][1]

He contributed to Celtic's nine consecutive league championships in a row by scoring the first goal of that period, away against Dundee United in 1965.^[6] After joining Partick Thistle in the early part of the 1966–67 season, he later retired from the Senior game in 1969 to attend Strathclyde University.^[5]

International

Divers was part of a number of Scotland squads (including a 1962 match against Uruguay) but never got onto the field.^[1] He played on three occasions for the Scottish League XI, scoring 4 goals.^[2]

Later life

Divers spent some of his later life in teaching, spending most of his career in St Patrick's High (where he'd also been a pupil), later Our Lady and St Patrick's High School in Dumbarton.^[1] He died in September 2014.^[6] His family connections mean he was related to fellow footballing descendants of Patsy Gallacher: sons Willie and Tommy, and grandsons Brian and Kevin.^[7]