John Blair

One of a number of players to turn out for both Belfast Celtic and their Glasgow counterparts, John Blair won all his caps whilst an amateur with Cliftonville...

Name: John Wilson Blair
Born: 12 November 1882, Ballymoney
Died: 20 September 1934, Morecambe (England)
Position: Outside-Right

Representative Honours: Ireland: 5 Caps (1907-1908); Irish League: 1 Cap (1905).
Club Honours: (with Cliftonville) Irish League Champion 1905/06; Irish Cup Winner 1906/07.

Club Career:
Clubs......... --Seasons-- League
Cliftonville.. 03/04-07/08
Belfast Celtic 07/08-10/11
Celtic ....... 10/11........ 1/ 0
Motherwell.... 10/11........ 6/ 0
Belfast Celtic 10/11-11/12
Linfield ..... 11/12
Shelbourne ... 12/13-13/14
Distillery ... 13/14
Cliftonville.. 14/15

Biography:
Johnny Blair came through the amateur ranks from Cliftonville Olympic to establish himself in the first team, winning an Irish League title in 1905 - when Cliftonville shared the title with Distillery following two drawn play-off matches - and picking up an Irish Cup winner's medal with a win over Shelbourne in 1907.

This same period brought five Irish caps, all in the Home Nations Championship, and all ending in defeat.

Early in 1908 John Blair left Solitude for Belfast Celtic, but his four seasons at Paradise coincided with a rare lean period, and he missed out on adding to his medal collection. His form did however convince Celtic to sign him up when he moved to work in the Clydebank shipyards in October 1910. Although his debut was reported to be eagerly awaited, Blair made just one appearance while in Glasgow, in a 0-0 draw with Third Lanark on 19th November 1910.

Within a month Blair had moved south of Glasgow to Motherwell, where he played six times before returning to Belfast Celtic at the end of the season. From then on Blair became something of a journey man, after a year back at Paradise, he spent another year with Linfield, brief spells with Shelbourne and Distillery, and finally a season back with Cliftonville before retiring in 1915.

Ireland Cap Details:
16-02-1907 England. (a) L 0-1 British Championship
23-02-1907 Wales... (h) L 2-3 British Championship
16-03-1907 Scotland (a) L 0-3 British Championship
15-02-1908 England. (h) L 1-3 British Championship
14-03-1908 Scotland (h) L 0-5 British Championship

Summary: 5/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 5.