McIntosh, James

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Fullname: James Boyd McIntosh
aka: Jimmy McIntosh, James McIntosh
Born: 25 May 1886
Died: 18 April 1963
Birthplace: Glasgow
Signed: 10 May 1909
Left: 2 May 1910
Position: Defender, Centre-half
Debut: Morton 2-1 Celtic, League, 11 Sep 1909
Internationals: none

BiogMcIntosh, James - Pic

Defender James McIntosh signed for Celtic in May 1909 from Aberdeen where he had forged a reputation as a fine centre-half over the previous two seasons. Celtic stalwart Jimmy McMenemy rated him as “one of the finest centre-half backs in Scotland“.

His debut with the Bhoys came in a 2-1 league defeat at Morton on 11th September 1909. Unable to force his way into the Celtic side in his favoured position Jimmy McIntosh was used mostly as a full back whenever he was selected for first team action.

He was mostly a reserve for Sunny Jim Young and Jimmy Weir in his time at Celtic, both of whom were great players, so a difficult challenge to overtake them for a first team place.

It was said of his time at Celtic:

He was as a man lost at Parkhead… a really serviceable half-back but as a full-back a failure“.

However, in action Jimmy McIntosh had a good record, with Celtic winning nine out of the eleven matches he played in, with four clean sheets out of eight league games as Celtic went on to win the league title that season. The two defeats were his debut match for Celtic v Morton and a Scottish Cup semi-final v Clyde.

The Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Clyde was notable, as it backfired badly for the Celtic team management. Celtic were stuck for a goalkeeper and were lucky to secure Sunderland’s famous amateur, Leigh Richmond Roose, who, the previous Saturday, had played for Wales against Scotland at Kilmarnock. Apparently, Leigh Roose ran the length of the pitch to congratulate and shook the hand of the Clyde player who had scored the third goal and ousted Celtic out of the Cup. We can only wonder how that might have been taken by some of the exasperated Celtic support & some of his colleagues at the match.

Jimmy McIntosh’s last match appearance was a 1-0 league victory over Queens’ Park. Celtic were without Loney, Hay & Quinn who were playing for Scotland in a 1-0 defeat to Ireland, regarded as a national disgrace. However it was to be the end of the run for Celtic of six league titles in a row.

He moved on to Hull City in May 1910 after 11 league & Scottish Cup appearances for Celtic. He was to be a regular player with Hull City for four seasons.

As the First World War started he was with the Scots Guards, but carried on playing football with periods at Hearts (1916) & Hibs (1918) as a wartime guest player, and played for Dumbarton for a season after the war.

During the war, he was seconded to the USA by the army in June 1917 to train Doughboys preparing for France. Doughboy was a widely popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I.

He passed away in 1963 back home in Bridgeton (Glasgow).

Playing Career

APPEARANCES LEAGUE SCOTTISH CUP LEAGUE CUP EUROPE TOTAL
1909-10 8 3 n/a n/a 11
Goals: 0 0 0

Honours with Celtic

(Honours below are attributed for those campaigns in which the player has played in at least one match in the campaign)

Scottish League

Pictures

Links

External Links


Notes

  • Date of Passing: Aberdeen & Hull FC sites say 1963, but Wikipedia used to says 1959. However the change on Wikipedia may have been copying over the date from other sites, so possibly still needs confirmed.