Jimmy McGrory

James Edward McGrory (26 April 1904 – 20 October 1982) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Clydebank as a forward and then went on to manage Kilmarnock before returning to Celtic as manager after the end of the Second World War.

He is the all-time leading goalscorer in top-flight British football with a total of 550 goals in 547 competitive first-team games at club and international level.

McGrory is a legendary figure within Celtic's history.

In his first season of 1921–22, he helped the side win a Double.

St Roch's won the Scottish Junior Football League and the Scottish Junior Cup, where he scored the equalizer in a 2–1 win over Kilwinning Rangers.

He played for Celtic for 15 years between 1922 and 1937, although he did spend the majority of the 1923–24 season on loan at fellow Division One side Clydebank.

He signed his first full professional contract for Celtic on 10 June 1922, for £5 a week, in the pavilion at Third Lanark's Cathkin Park.

He made his debut on 20 January 1923, in a 1–0 away defeat, also at Cathkin Park.

His first goal came two weeks later on 3 February 1923, in a 4–3 League defeat against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

In total, he made three League and one Scottish Cup appearances, scoring that one goal at Rugby Park.

He was loaned out to Clydebank on 7 August 1923 and later that month scored on his debut against Aberdeen at Pittodrie in a 3–1 defeat.

On 1 March 1924, he lined up in the Clydebank side to face Celtic at Parkhead.

It ended up being quite a bizarre day for him, as he ended up scoring the winner in a shock 2–1 victory for Clydebank.

Not long after this, and before the season was out, he was recalled to Celtic.

In his time at Clydebank he played 33 League and Scottish Cup games, scoring 16 goals.

Having returned to Celtic, he featured in the Glasgow Charity Cup semi-final against Queens Park on 6 May 1924, scoring in a 2–0 win.

The final was two days later on 8 May 1924, where he played at outside-left in a 2–1 win over Rangers.

The 1924–25 season started poorly, with McGrory not scoring in his first three games, but worse was to come when his father was killed after accidentally being struck by a stone in a local park.

McGrory played against Falkirk the following Saturday, just hours after having just attended his father's funeral, and yet managed to get off the mark for the season with his first goal in a 2–1 win.

With his goal scoring touch returned, he continued to add to his tally until a knee injury in November 1924 ruled him out until into the following year.

McGrory returned in stunning form in the Scottish Cup, scoring a hat-trick against Third Lanark and a double against Rangers in a 5–0 semi-final victory.

He then headed a last minute winning goal in the 2–1 Scottish Cup Final victory over Dundee on 11 April 1925, the first major honour of his career.

He finished his first full season at Celtic with 30 goals.

The 1925–26 season was a successful one both personally and collectively, with Celtic winning the First Division and him finishing the season with 49 goals in all competitions, which included a streak that saw him scoring in seven consecutive league games.

Celtic reached their second successive Scottish Cup Final, but McGrory this time was on the losing side as they lost 2–0 to St Mirren.

He is the club's top scorer of all time with 522 goals from 501 games and holds their record for the most goals in a season, with 62 goals from 46 games in the 1927–28 season.

He has also notched up a British top-flight record of 55 hat-tricks, 48 coming in League games and 7 from Scottish Cup ties.

Some argue that he scored 56, as he hit 8 goals in a Scottish League game against Dunfermline on 14 January 1928: The eight goals scored in that match against Dunfermline is also a British top-flight record.

After a spell managing Kilmarnock from December 1937 to July 1945, he became Celtic manager, where he remained for just under 20 years, until March 1965 when he was succeeded by Jock Stein.

Although he was only five feet and six inches tall, he was renowned for his prowess and ability for headers.

His trademark was an almost horizontal bullet header, which he performed and scored with regularly, and which earned him the nicknames "the Human Torpedo" and "the Mermaid."

McGrory was born at Millburn Street, Garngad, Glasgow.

He was the son of Henry McGrory and Catherine Coll, both of whom were Irish Catholic immigrants from Ulster.

Henry and Catherine had been married at Saint Baithin's Church (known locally as 'the Chapel') in St Johnston, a village in The Laggan district in the east of County Donegal, before emigrating to Scotland.

Catherine was from the townland of Cavanacaw and Henry was from the townland of Tullyowen, both in St Johnston, County Donegal.

Jimmy's elder brother was born in St Johnston before the family left for Glasgow.

They lived in Glasgow's East End on his father's wages as a gasworks labourer.

McGrory began playing for St Roch's Juniors aged 16, earning £2 a week.

In 2013, St Roch's renamed their ground in honour of McGrory, changing it from Provanmill Park to The James McGrory Park.

With many clubs now scouting him, such as Third Lanark and Fulham, Celtic jumped in first and approached to sign him.