![\"Celtic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/6a22a0d7-a6f7-45d3-8acf-e4bd472470bd.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe former Hoops striker was signed by Jock Stein from Motherwell in 1971 and soon became a fans’ favourite.<\/p>\n
Capped twice by Scotland, he scored a hat-trick for Celtic in the 1972 Scottish Cup final and 1974 League Cup final, both wins over Hibernian with scorelines of 6-1 and 6-3 respectively.<\/p>\n
Lawwell told the club’s official website: “This is extremely sad news and I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to Dixie’s family and friends.<\/p>\n
“Dixie was a great Celt and one of the finest goalscorers ever to have played for the club.<\/p>\n
“I was fortunate enough to have watched him play throughout his career and he played his part in the successes we enjoyed in the 1970s, not least in those unforgettable hat-tricks he scored against Hibs in two cup finals at Hampden.<\/p>\n
“I was even more fortunate to get to know him personally over the past few years, and it was always great to meet him here at Celtic Park on a matchday.<\/p>\n
“What was always clear was his real love of Celtic and also the love that supporters had for him too.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell paid tribute to \u201cgreat Celt\u201d John \u2018Dixie\u2019 Deans, who has died aged 79. Photo: Steve Welsh\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
Deans also scored six goals in a 7-0 defeat of Partick Thistle in November, 1973 before he left Parkhead in 1976, after scoring 124 goals in 184 Celtic games.<\/p>\n
He also missed from the spot in the penalty shootout defeat by Inter Milan in the 1972 European Cup semi-final at Parkhead.<\/p>\n
Deans had subsequent spells at Luton, Carlisle, Partick Thistle and Adelaide City, and latterly he was involved in matchday hospitality at Celtic.<\/p>\n
Parkhead chief executive Michael Nicholson said: “Every Celtic supporter will be saddened by this news and I know that the thoughts of the whole Celtic Family will be with Dixie’s family at this time.<\/p>\n
“Dixie was always a Celtic supporter and his fellow fans recognised and loved that about him, as well as appreciating his talents as a player and what he did throughout his time wearing the Hoops.<\/p>\n
“To say his goalscoring record was impressive is an understatement and he will always be remembered as a true Celtic great.”<\/p>\n
In a statement on their official website, Motherwell said: “Deans will be remembered fondly for his exquisite goalscoring form at Fir Park.<\/p>\n
“He passes away aged 79 years old and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this incredibly sad time.<\/p>\n
“Rest in peace, Dixie.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Hoops striker was signed by Jock Stein from Motherwell in 1971 and soon became a fans’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5082,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-183217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-celtic-fc","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}