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Fullname: James McKay
aka: Jim McKay
Born: 11 June 1918
Died: 14 November 1986*
Birthplace: Stirling
Signed: 1 September 1944
Left: 24 March 1945 (free, own request); 23 July 1945 (to Alloa)
Position: Centre-forward
Debut: Celtic 2-3 Rangers, Glasgow Cup, 7 Oct 1944 (scored once)
Debut (league): Celtic 1-1 Hibernian, Regional League, 14 Oct 1944
Internationals: none
*Acc to Wikipedia
Biog
Stirling-born Jim McKay came straight to the Bhoys from the army in September 1944 after serving in Burma with the Cameronians army unit. So can be said to have come from the jungle to The Jungle!
Certain folk seem to point to The Jungle terracing having obtained the moniker around after World War Two (1939-1945), due to the large number of returning servicemen from the Far East, and christened the stand with the ‘Jungle‘ name, but others dispute this. So maybe Jim McKay’s entry could have played a small part in this?
The “sharp-shooting” centre-forward made a scoring debut on 7th October 1944 but Celtic still lost 3-2 to Rangers in the Glasgow Cup at Hampden.
He went on to play a total of three Regional League games for the Bhoys – scoring two goals – before asking to be released in March 1945.
His two league goals came first in a 1-1 draw with Hibs at home on 14th Oct 1944, and then one a week later v St Mirren in a 2-1 defeat. He played v Hearts in his final league game for Celtic on 25th November 1944 in a 2-0 defeat away. After this defeat, Celtic finally managed a long string of good results which kept him out the side (including even a then rare Ne’er Day victory over Rangers). So maybe there was an element of poor luck with timing for him.
In reflection, taking into account how poor Celtic were throughout this period, it’s surprising that Jim McKay was not given further opportunities when you look at his brief record. Possibly another indicator of the lack of good management at the club at the time.
On the other hand, Celtic lost two and drew one of the three league games he played, although seems he was the least of the problems. Celtic were at this time still a poor side. In any case, Jimmy McStay was not to last long as manager.
Jim McKay later joined Alloa and also went on to play for Portadown, Cowdenbeath and Tranmere Rovers.
According to his biography on Wikipedia he died in 1986.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | REGIONAL LEAGUE |
REGIONAL SCOTTISH CUP |
LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1944-45* | 3 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 3 |
| Goals: | 2 | – | – | – | 2 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
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Links
Notes
- Might be able to get a picture of this player from his time at Tranmere Rovers (1949-50), no luck so far. Maybe a team photo. Played 12 times for them.
- Or maybe via WW2 army service records somewhere.