On 10 April 1924, Glasgow Celtic provided the opposition in a friendly match for the benefit of the St. Anne's Young Men's Club. In the morning before the match took place the players and officials of both teams paid a visit to the Houses of Parliament where they were entertained by Mr. Jack Jones, M.P., the Mayor of West Ham and local M.P. Mr. Will Thorne.

Despite the inclement weather on the evening the 13,000 present witnessed a superb match, and although contested in a friendly spirit, those present was rewarded with a splendid example between the difference in playing styles adopted by the English and Scottish footballers.

An additional interest of the game was the return to the Boleyn Ground of former West Ham centre-forward Syd Puddefoot, the Falkirk player was an invited guest player for the Hoops. Puddefoot had moved to Scotland two years earlier for £5,000, a record fee that cemented his place in football history for a player moving from an English club to a Scottish Club. The Limehouse born player was delighted to be back in east London and said "I feel like a schoolboy on holiday, you wouldn't believe how I have been longing to turn out again on this ground".

The game also marked the return to the Hammers' side of Vic Watson who had been sidelined for some six months with a foot injury. It was an ironic twist of fate that Watson should return to the Claret and Blue for the match as it was he who had taken the place of the local hero Puddefoot when he had transferred north of the boarder.

The Hammers also used the friendly to field their own guest player, Clapton Orient’s forward Vivian Gibbins and within three minutes of the start it paid dividends when the amateur international headed home a Billy Edwards centre from the right wing to the delight of the home supporters. Gibbins impressive display didn’t go unnoticed and West Ham manager Syd King added the free scoring centre-forward to his playing squad four months later.

Despite the heavy ground conditions Celtic gave an exhibition of their close passing game, coupled with Puddefoot’s characteristic trademark dribbles and dashes which the Boleyn faithful fondly remembered and the Glaswegians’ got their reward with an equaliser through the tricky skills of their Scottish international inside-forward Joseph Cassidy.

The Hammers’ restored their advantage in the first minute of the second period through Billy Moore and inevitably, Puddefoot would take centre-stage when he levelled the scores with a fine left foot shot as the game ended in a creditable 2-2 draw.

The St. Anne's Club benefited to the extent of some £500 whilst the spectators had the advantage of seeing a team whose reputation had been further advanced by the winning of the Scottish Cup the previous season.