Joe McBride biography
Joe McBride is still to this day one of Scotland's best strikers ever. Sadly, this great player passed away of a stroke on July 11, 2012. It was a sudden death that shook up his family and made headlines all over Scotland.
Youth Career
Joe McBride was born in Govan, Scotland on 10 June 1938. He spent his childhood growing up there with his family and attending the local Roman Catholic high school, St. Gerard's.
He was the son of James and Bridget McBride. His father was a carpenter at the shipyards, and his mother was a hairdresser. Joe also had two older brothers: Jim, who was a joiner [a carpenter that fits joints without nails or screws], and Alexander, who was an aeronautical engineer.
From an early age Joe showed signs of becoming a footballing hero. At the age of fifteen, he was signed by a top professional club, Kilmarnock FC. He played three years with Kilmarnock and made a name for himself. He was then noticed by bigger clubs and made a big move to the English giants, Wolverhampton Wonderers.
Joe struggled with homesickness and moved to Luton Town for one year; from there he moved back to Scotland to play for Partick Thistle. This was when his career really took off. Shortly after moving, he transfered to Motherwell for two seasons, and, after having a phenomenal goal scoring record, he got his dream move to boyhood heroes, Celtic FC.
Professional Career
He played four years with Celtic setting goal scoring records, leading the team to European success, and beating Italian giants Inter Milan in the European Cup Final. Joe was Celtics biggest ever transfer signing at the time, and he was also the first signing by one of the greatest managers of all-time, Jock Stein.
Joe still has one of the best goal scoring ratios in the world to this day at 91%. He is remembered all across the footballing world for his 37 goals he scored in just 25 games in the 1966-67 season.
In his later years he moved to Hibernian, one of Scotland’s other big clubs, and continued his great form. From there he moved to Dunfermline, and ended up finished at Clyde.
McBride's name is always mentioned when voting for Celtic’s best ever striker. Celtic is where he enjoyed the most success of his career. In 105 games he scored 97 goals. However his career came to a tragic end due to a knee injury.
