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Fullname: James Charles McQuilken
aka: Jamie McQuilken, James McQuilken
Born: 3 October 1974
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Signed: 31 March 1993 (Youth scheme)
Left: 4 November 1995
Position: Defender/Left-back
Debut: Celtic 1-0 Falkirk, League, 20 April 1993
Internationals: none
Biog
Left-back James McQuilken made his way through the youth ranks at Celtic before making his Bhoys debut in a 1-0 league win over Falkirk at Parkhead April 1993.
The former St John Bosco Academy pupil was a product of Celtic Boys Club and had initially signed on at Parkhead as a YTS player. The youngster impressed in the reserve sides of the early 1990s and he was a full back who liked to get forward and test defences.
However his first team opportunities were initially limited by the presence of Polish international Dariusz Wdowczyk, and Jamie just never progressed as had been hoped.
After his debut, he had to wait until 1995 for his next games, and he won a run of matches in October 1995 (acting as cover for the injured Tosh McKinlay), and to his credit the Celtic side were undefeated with three matches won and one drawn.
After his first team starting debut, Tommy Burns even singled him out for praise:
“I thought Jamie McQuilken was magnificent”.
It was a poor time to be at the club for anyone, let alone an aspiring footballer. Celtic were desperate for any silverware and so development was not as a priority as it could or should have been. The club was going through the Celtic Takeover ramblings and its difficult aftermath. Not easy for Jamie McQuilken or others, and he likely suffered in part from it.
By the time he left Parkhead in 1995 for Dundee United, Jamie had made only four starts for the Hoops. He just wasn’t given enough opportunities to prove himself, but had the proud record of leaving Celtic undefeated in his five matches played with the First Team which in that era was a very rare proud record.
Post-Celtic Career
When offered a senior contract and first team role by Dundee Utd, he joined the club on 4 Nov 1995 for £150k against Tommy Burns wishes but with his understanding. He looked good at Dundee Utd but by November 1996 he was told he was not part of their future plans and left for a brief spell at Hibernian before joining Falkirk in July 1998.
Falkirk valued his ability using him both as a defender and left-side midfield player and he stayed with them till June 2003. Out of contract he was picked up and rapidly remaindered by Steve Paterson at Aberdeen before joining the ‘Old Bhoys’ home-from-home with Billy Stark at St Johnstone.
A loan to Gretna at the start of 2004/05 became a full move on 31 May 2005.
He was released by Gretna prior to their meltdown in January 2007 and joined Queen of the South on a free transfer. He played a full 90 minutes in the 2008 Scottish Cup Final (their first ever) where they lost 3-2 to Rangers. A great achievement for a lower tier side of their size to make it that far, and having qualified for Europe they played in an early round of the UEFA Cup.
He signed a new contract with Queen of the South at the start of the 2008-09 season and continued to play for them, but left in December 2009, and went on to wrap up his playing time in the juniors with Cambuslang Rangers.
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/ FA Cup |
League cup | Other | ||||
| Queen of Sth | 05/01/2007 | 31/05/2010 | Signed | 70 (15) | 2 | 9 (0) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 |
| Gretna | 31/05/2005 | 05/01/2007 | 12 (13) | 2 | 2 (3) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 4 (0) | 0 | |
| Gretna | 09/07/2004 | 08/05/2005 | Loan | 29 (3) | 2 | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| St Johnstone | 08/01/2004 | 31/05/2005 | Free | 15 (0) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Aberdeen | 02/06/2003 | 08/01/2004 | £ 60000 | 7 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Falkirk | 01/07/1998 | 02/06/2003 | Signed | 153 (4) | 6 | 14 (0) | 0 | 10 (1) | 0 | 6 (1) | 0 |
| Hibernian | 01/01/1997 | 01/07/1998 | Signed | 10 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Dundee Utd | 04/11/1995 | 01/01/1997 | £ 150000 | 12 (6) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 |
| Celtic | 31/03/1993 | 04/11/1995 | Signed | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Giffnock N BC | 01/08/1992 | 31/03/1993 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
none
