Some great names have graced Scottish history in this time, none more iconic than James McGrory. A lot of footballers who played during those times, had a whole different mentality, playing conditions and managerial upbringing. It's difficult to compare them to the stars of the next generation, but McGrory so easily qualifies as one of football's absolute GOATs.
Just some stats before diving deep into his career - 396 goals in 378 matches in the Scottish league, 538 goals in 534 professional games, 55 career hatricks. British record (Till date) for most goals in professional and league football, British record in most hattricks (Till date) and the only player to score 8 goals in a single league game in British football.
At 5'6', he was a very tiny stature for most defenders. I read some article on Scottish league's history where the writer mentioned how the league historically had some tall and well built defenders, and assumed average height of those defenders could be around 5'9" Oor 5'10". Despite that, his heading prowess was just staggering and earned him the nickname "Human Torpedo".
A tragic incident happened in 1924, his father passed away and he had a game against Falkirk on the same day as the funeral. He was all of 20, but made a huge call to play football and then attended the funeral (Some say he didn't attend).
After his father's death, he scored his first goal of the 1924/25 season against Falkirk and despite missing out a few months starting from November due to an ankle injury, his goal-scoring touch got way better. In the following season, he won his first league title with the club, first of many more to come.
He scored a whopping 49 goals in the season and in 1926/27, where he registered 48 goals, he also scored a whopping seven hattricks (Yes, in one season). Silverware unfortunately wasn't very kind, with Rangers winning 8 of the 9 seasons after 1924/25, the other winner being Motherwell.
He did win another title in 1935/36, before leaving the club to manage Kimarnock in 1937. It took a lot of time for him to get settled as a manager, nearly 18 years to give you a number (Including 6 years of second World War). Luckily he did win a league trophy with his boyhood club Celtic as he became the first man in their history to win the league as a player and manager.
His managerial career wasn't a spectacular one, but he paved way for Scotland's most iconic managerial figure, Jock Stein, in 1965. He was associated with Celtic football for another 14 years as Public Relations Officer, before quitting in 1979. He passed away three years later, on 20th October, 1982.
Arsenal, perhaps the best British club of those times alongside Rangers, showed great interest in buying McGrory and even offered him a blank cheque. He would've become the highest paid British football of the generation, but later on after retirement, he said "McGrory of Arsenal never sounded as good as McGrory of Celtic".
The thing about McGrory was, he was just too nice. That's what didn't help him much as a manager, but he garnered love of most football lovers across the country, which went beyond club rivalries.
A true hero of Scottish football and perhaps the greatest ever to have donned the Celtic jersey, James Edward McGrory lives on in the memory of Footballing folklore.
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