Celtic - paying high wages in the 1890s

[Cinneide]

I'm sure I've read articles about Celtic finding creative ways to over-pay players (over and above their wages) in the late 1890s but I can't put my hands on them at the moment.

Can anyone point me in the direction of anything online, or confirm what I think I have read?

[Scottish]

The term 'creative accounting' may first have been used in the 1980s but I'm fairly sure it was a common practice for centuries beforehand. And in football it wouldn't just be Celtic.

In their first year as a limited company in 1898 Celtic's annual expenditure was over £14,000, £3500 of which was put down to players wages. That works out at around £200 per player or £8 per week on average - which was a massive sum for the time and certainly comparable to the top clubs in England.

The maximum wage of £4 per week wasn't introduced in England until 1901 and was never introduced in Scotland at all so while there were reasons for hidden payments to players this wasn't one of them.

I'm sure you'll have read articles somewhere about players being found jobs, houses or pubs to run.

[Cinneide]

I'm sure you'll have read articles somewhere about players being found jobs, houses or pubs to run.

That's what I'm after. Cheers. Any online references?

[Scottish]

Afraid not but they're unlikely to be contemporary references, more to be found in articles by former players in papers and books much later.

[LLD]

I recently read Marie Rowan's biography of Dan Doyle, "The Life and Death of a Wild Rover" and there were references to him being given the running of a pub.

[Cinneide]

I recently read Marie Rowan's biography of Dan Doyle, "The Life and Death of a Wild Rover" and there were references to him being given the running of a pub.

That kind of thing is what I'm looking for. Doyle would have been earlier that the late 1890s though, no?

[nightfire]

I recently read Marie Rowan's biography of Dan Doyle, "The Life and Death of a Wild Rover" and there were references to him being given the running of a pub.

That kind of thing is what I'm looking for. Doyle would have been earlier that the late 1890s though, no?

Dan Doyle was at Celtic from August 1891 until August 1899