Craig, Thomas

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Fullname: Thomas Craig
aka: Tully Craig
Born: 12 October 1897
Died: 29 January 1963 [*see notes]
Birthplace: Black Close, Bainsford (Falkirk) [*see notes]
Signed: 4 June 1919
Left: 10 May 1922 (to Alloa)
Position: Left-half, defender
Debut: Kilmarnock 2-3 Celtic, League, 17 Jan 1920
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 8 (all with Rangers)
International Goals: 1

Biog

Thomas Craig (commonly known as Tully Craig) was signed from Grange Rovers (Grangemouth) in June 1919. His nickname ‘Tully’ came from that he spent several years growing up in Tullibody, although he did grow up mostly in Carronshore, and was a dock labourer when he first took up senior football in 1919.

He made his first team debut in a 3-2 league win at Kilmarnock on 17th January 1920. He was coming on to being 25 when he signed for Celtic, so was a late bloomer in football to reach the senior game.

The left-half impressed on his debut, scoring two goals but after a 2-0 defeat to Clydebank a week later he was out of the side for three months, whereupon on his return he scored for Celtic v Ayr Utd in a comfortable 4-0 victory.

Despite the good start, he wasn’t to score again, and he was deemed to be too lightweight by Willie Maley and consequently spent most of his time at Parkhead in the reserves.

He played only a couple of matches for Celtic in the league title winning season of 1921/22. In his final match v Ayr Utd, a 0-0 league draw, a match report was negative on his performance, stating:

“Celtic missed McInally at centre forward, Craig making but a poor substitute for him”.

Both of his league games that season were draws, and as Celtic were to win the league title by just the 1pt over Rangers, these results could have been costly, but thankfully not.

Wille Maley was said to be only too pleased to offload the Falkirk-born player to Alloa in an exchange deal which saw Tully Craig and two other Celts swapped for Willie Crilly. Whilst Willie Crilly would disappoint in the Hoops, Tully Craig went on to be a huge success at Alloa – so much so that after a season Rangers snapped him up for a hefty fee.

On 19 August 1922, Alloa played Celtic, and it was said:

“Craig was so good, Gallagher warned his colleagues to watch him. Why did Celtic ever let him go?”.

At Ibrox, Tully Craig continued to impress, and he was to be a key member of the successful Rangers side of the twenties. He went on to be capped eight times by Scotland, and after leaving Rangers he became the manager at Falkirk (15 years) and Linfield (1 year).

Reputedly, as the manager at Falkirk he pioneered the first all-ticket match in Scotland, Falkirk v Rangers on 19 Mar 1938.

In retrospect, it appears that Willie Maley may have likely got this one wrong on this player. As Celtic were to begin a decline from around the time Tully Craig had left the club, it could be argued that this error to let him go is another notable early example of Celtic’s errors that were to become costly over the next few decades to come.

He passed away in 1963.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

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Notes

• His date of birth corrected to 1897, and not 8 July 1895 as previously stated from certain sources. His place of birth amended from Bainsford (Falkirk) from Laurieston. Date of passing amended to 29 January 1963 from 21 July 1963. Thanks to the peerless Andy Mitchell for this update/correction @andymitchmedia.