- Jimmy McGrory
James Edward "Jimmy" McGrory (b.
26 April 1904 ,Garngad ,Glasgow - d.20 October 1982 ) was a Scottish football player for Celtic who holds the record for most career goals in British football. He is regarded as a legend at Celtic and one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the game. [cite web | author=John McManus| title="Jimmy McGrory - LIVES AND TIMES" | work=The Scotsman | url=http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1018&id=1575302006| accessdaymonth=5 June | accessyear=2007] Although he was only 5 ft 6 in he was nicknamed the "Mermaid" for his heading abilities and in his career he was able to score 550 goals, the highest tally in British football history. [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=823367.html FIFA.com - Celtic spirit shines on ] ]Background
McGrory was born at Millburn Street, Glasgow. He was the son of Henry McGrory and Catherine Coll, Irish Roman Catholics. They lived in Glasgow's East End on his father's wages as a gasworks labourer.
When McGrory was 16 he began playing for St. Roch's Juniors for £2 a week. The following year, in 1922, he joined Celtic from St. Roch's, before going on loan to Clydebank for the 1923 - 1924 season. Between 1922 and 1937, he scored 397 league goals for Celtic (as well as 13 while on loan at Clydebank). He played alongside club legends such as
John Thomson andPatsy Gallacher under legendary managerWillie Maley .He was the Scottish league's top goalscorer in 1926/27, 1927/28 and 1935/36. Over the course of his career, he amassed 550 goals in first-class matches, including 410 goals in 408 league games, making him the most prolific scorer in British football history.
Despite McGrory's success, Celtic had to wait a decade after 1926 before again winning the Scottish league championship. After leaving Celtic, he joined Kilmarnock as manager, before returning to manage Celtic in 1945. He held this position for nearly 20 years, before
Jock Stein took over as manager in 1965. During his time in charge, Celtic recorded one of their most famous results, a 7-1 thrashing of arch rivals Rangers in the Scottish Cup final. To this day it remains the greatest margin of victory in the history of British Cup finals. The game and McGrory are remembered in the supporters' song "Hampden in the Sun". McGrory is also remembered in another popular song amongst the supporters named after his manager, the "Willie Maley Song".Despite his outstanding goal scoring success, McGrory won a mere 7 caps for the
Scotland national football team during his career and he managed toReferences
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