Jay Beatty, also known as Wee Jay Celtic Bhoy, is a supporter of Celtic F.C.
Beatty is the son of Martin and Aine and the younger brother of Olivia. On Sunday, 11 May 2014, Celtic manager Neil Lennon gave Beatty (then 10 years old) his League Winners medal.
Beatty, a Celtic fan with Down syndrome, was then picked up by Celtic’s Greek striker Georgios Samaras. Samaras carried Jay around the pitch in front of 52,400 supporters at Celtic Park. Beatty stayed with Samaras while Samaras gave his interviews, and Beatty lovingly rubbed Samaras’ beard.
In July 2013 Wee Jay Beatty was invited to join Celtic on the team bus where he sang “Hail Hail the Celts are here” with the first team players. This was after Jay trained with the first team that day. This was prior to the Champions League qualifier match in Belfast where Clifftonville faced Celtic FC. Celtic came out on top the night with Celtic 2-0 Cliftonville (agg 5-0)
Beatty also received a Christmas present from Celtic rivals Hamilton Academicals Football Club, and was invited to watch the two teams play. At half time during the game, he was invited onto the pitch and was given the chance to take a penalty. Beatty scored and celebrated with both sets of fans. Beatty’s goal at Hamilton was later included in the SPFL’s “Goal of the Month” contest. He received 97% of all votes, beating out all of the professional players who were nominated for goals in the same month (January 2015).
He has since had two songs written for and about him, as well as numerous social media pages dedicated to him. “Wee Jay Celtic Bhoy” was written and performed by Jim Scanlon of the Celtic Band “Charlie and the Bhoys” and went into the “Easy Listening Top 100” Charts on iTunes.“Little Jay” was written and performed by Patrick McDaid and reached Number 1 on the same iTunes “Easy Listening “ Charts, beating singles from Elton John, Barry Manilow, and Andrea Bocelli.
