Young, James ‘Sunny Jim’

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Note: There has been more than one player to have played for Celtic with the same name, so please check the other namesakes if need be.

Sunny Jim

Personal

Fullname: James Young
aka: Jim Young, Sunny Jim, Sunny Jim Young
Born: 10 January 1882
Died: 4 September 1922
Birthplace: Kilmarnock, Scotland
Signed: 1 May 1903 (released free by Bristol Rovers in 1903)
Left: 12 May 1917 (retired)
Position: Defender/Midfield
Debut: Celtic 0-0 Hibernian, Charity Cup, 16 May 1903
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League XI
International Caps: 1 / 6
International Goals: 0 / 0

Biog

James ‘Sunny Jim‘ Young is one of the greatest names in the rich history of Celtic, and one of the most successful players in the club’s history.

Born in Kilmarnock the dour faced but big hearted half-back joined Celtic in May 1903 on a free transfer from Bristol Rovers and began a love affair with the club which was to last 14 incredible, trophy-laden years. He is said to have not come from a Celtic background, so continues the curious irony of great Celts with a non-Celtic background (e.g. Alec McNair etc).

As for the nickname of ‘Sunny Jim’, it came from a cheesy advertisement for a breakfast cereal.

Prior to becoming a Bhoy, Sunny Jim Young had been a self-confessed football mercenary quite prepared to play for any club which paid him a decent wage. But from the moment of his arrival at Parkhead, Sunny Jim Young developed an amazing affinity with a club in which he previously had no links with. It was to be a relationship which Celtic supporters would treasure forever.

Sunny Jim Young made his debut in a goalless Charity Cup tie with Hibernian on 16th May 1903 and although originally played in defence he was soon moved to midfield from where he would orchestrate numerous wonderful Celtic successes for more than a decade.

Immensely hard working and tough tackling Sunny Jim Young was to forge the perfect link between defence and attack and he was both the heartbeat and lungs of the Celtic side. His tireless running and battling runs were simply the inspiration for success after success.

A natural born leader it was no surprise when Willie Maley appointed Sunny Jim Young captain in 1911. He would roar his team-mates on to victory and his pride in wearing the Hoops was obvious every second he was on the pitch. He also was the great man who helped to bring along many of the club’s future greats, such as Alec McNair.

With Jim Young in the side Celtic won an incredible ten league championships and five Scottish Cups and no player contributed more to that glory than Sunny Jim. He may not have possessed the skills of some of his contemporaries but there was no one in the game who offered the effort and commitment of Sunny Jim Young.

Surprisingly, he only received one international cap for a match in a 1-0 victory over Ireland. He did play in six Scottish League XI teams but the Scottish League XI did not win any of those matches. He deserved greater international recognition.

If anyone is to question his ability, then they should note that he was Celtic’s captain through the bulk of the games in the unbeaten 66 games run in the league from November 1915-April 1917. An incredible achievement.

After one incident at work where he injured his hand which put him out for three games, he lamented (likely with some humour): “Ye dinnae play fitba’ wi yer hand!”

He also reiterated his respect for the support and his duty to repay them when on-field. In the 1913-14 season, Celtic were to play Motherwell away in the Cup, and due to the then extortionate prices, many Celtic fans said that if they had to pay that ticket price then they couldn’t afford the train ticket so walked down from Glasgow to the game. Sunny Jim Young so impressed and humbled by this gesture by supporters would point out to his fellow players as they passed the supporters:

“Look at that! Walkin’ a the way fae Glesca! We’ve tae mak sure that they get guid performances fae us! They deserve it!”

As a stout defender, he scored few goals but in season 1906-07 he chipped in with six goals, which included a double v Clyde (his only double) in a 3-3 draw. He at least got to score a goal v Rangers, in a thumping 4-0 victory in the Ne’er day derby match on 1 January 1914.

During the war, as like many other Celts he remained at home and was working as an iron turner in an iron foundry (as he had done previously). This was a serious role, and heavy work plus he had family. Difficult for him was hearing of his old friends and Celtic colleagues who lost their lives in the fighting.

What must be added about Sunny Jim Young is also that regardless of being non-Irish or Catholic etc he was as loved by the club, support and management as he himself loved all of them back. There were a number of other pioneers prior to him but he set in stone from early on what the club preached. It was the man and not any creed that mattered, and likely his success at Celtic paved the way for others (such as Alec McNair) to never need to further question ever coming to Celtic. Socially, his impact on the Celtic support was greater than people in these different times can truly understand.

Back in those days, religion and politics were entwined, especially due to the Irish independence issue. Sunny Jim Young was though a Celtic man to the support first, and a Scots Protestant from Ayrshire somewhere after that. People like himself helped to make the club and ethos. World War One had really heightened tensions amongst communities in Scotland, and Sunny Jim Young is likely to have felt the impact too.

As a measure of the high-esteem he was held in by all at Celtic is the fact that his testimonial in 1918 at Celtic Park attracted a crowd of 25,000. There is strong evidence that he was being possibly primed to be the next manager by Willie Maley. His length of service, success, and on-field leadership skills were skills that can’t be bought and so marked him rightly for the future slot. Willie Maley had touted a role for Sunny Jim Young as a trainer once his time on the field was ended, which was likely a stepping stone in time for the daunting task of taking over as manager.

However, his playing career was ended early when he sustained a serious knee injury in September 1916 which he couldn’t shake off and so curtailed and ended his time at Celtic. A sad loss. His last match was a 1-0 victory over Hearts in the league on 30 September 1916. Celtic had won all five league games he had played in that season to date, plus also a 3-0 victory over Rangers in the Glasgow Cup semi-finals, and as Celtic were to win the league title by just 1pt over Rangers, his contribution in retrospect was as vital to the challenge as ever before.

He was to eventually retire in 1917 due to the injury but not before playing 443 league & Scottish Cup games for his beloved Celtic and scoring 13 goals.

During his time at Parkhead Celtic enjoyed a level of success they were not to witness again until the arrival of Jock Stein as manager. It was no coincidence that in time Sunny Jim Young’s departure would begin to see a slide in Celtic’s fortunes after 1917, as Celtic’s domestic hegemony was to come to an end.

Sadly, his commitment led to long term personal cost as the knee injury that ended his career led him requiring to use a walking stick. After seeing him in full flow, this was a sore point for all his admirers. He pushed himself hard for the club beyond what anyone could ever ask for.

After football, he took over the tenancy of the Royal Hotel in Kilmarnock along with fellow ex-Celt Bobby Templeton.

Passing Away
Tragically the magnificent James Young was to die prematurely on 4th September 1922 at the age of just 40 following a motorcycle accident involving a motorbike on which he was the passenger. It led to great despair and mourning at Celtic & beyond.

He was much loved, and a true Celt who loved the club possibly more than any other whilst on the field. His loss was to be well felt.

Willie Maley in particular was said to have been hit hard by Sunny Jim Young’s early passing.

His life will forever be cherished by the supporters of Celtic and in many ways he has a fair argument to be referred to as our greatest ever Celt. His place in the pantheon of Celtic greats must be referenced more often too.

James Young – an undisputed Celtic great.

Playing Career

Major Honours With Celtic

Scottish League

• 1904-05, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1907-08, 1908-09, 1909-10, (six in a row)
  
• 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17, (four in a row)
  

Scottish Cup

• 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912, 1914

Glasgow Cups

• 1905,1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1916

Glasgow Charity Cups

• 8 times

Quotes

“Look at that! Walkin’ a the way fae Glesca! We’ve tae mak sure that they get guid performances fae us! They deserve it!”
Sunny Jim Young

“I am only captain in carrying out the ball. When we get on the park they are all Captains!”
Sunny Jim Young

Pictures

• Player Pics

Links

• The KDS Greatest All Time Celt
• Grave & Memorials

Books

• Sunny Jim Young – Celtic Legend by David Potter (2013)
  

Articles

JIM YOUNG

By David Potter (from KeepTheFaith website)

“Oh, Sunny Jim

Oh, how I envy him”

“Vigour, Vim, Perfect Trim

That’s what made him – Sunny Jim”

Sadly, there is no-one left alive who saw Sunny Jim play. He was born in Kilmarnock in 1882, and like many an early Celt, had no Catholic or Irish connection. Like many an early (and later) Celt however, he ended up with his heart no place other than at Celtic Park , having imbibed the Maley ethos of the way that the game is to be played and the way that one’s life is to be led.

His career was foundering at Bristol Rovers after he had gone south from Ayrshire, and it was by pure chance that he joined Celtic. Scout Mick Dunbar was in Bristol in 1903, on Maley’s instructions, trying to lure Bobby Muir, an outside right, to join Celtic, and Young “happened to be nearby and overheard” and volunteered his services as well. Muir said that Young was good, Dunbar took him at his word and the result was that the two of them played in the 1904 Scottish Cup Final where Celtic beat Rangers 3-2 and launched the greatest team yet seen on earth.

Jim, Jimmy, Jamie or Sunny (so called because of an advertisement for a breakfast cereal) started off as a centre half. He was the first centre half to wear the Hoops on August 15th 1903, but by spring of 1904, the mighty half-back line of Young, Loney and Hay assembled. There were no equals to that stranglehold of a half back line then, and one doubts where there have been since.

Six consecutive League titles followed between 1905 and 1910, and in two of these years (1907 and 1908) the Scottish Cup was won as well. Only the Hampden riot of 1909 prevented another. The Glasgow Cup, much sought after in Edwardian times – indeed older and possibly more prestigious than the Scottish Cup itself – was annexed five times, and the Charity Cup twice.

Sunny’s contribution was immense in the vital area of right half. Those of us who saw Bobby Murdoch in his prime may perhaps have some idea of how vital Sunny Jim was to that team of all the talents.

If there was a down side to Sunny’s play it was perhaps that he dished out the raw meat rather too freely and could lose his temper. This was particularly true of the 1905-06 season when he was suspended for kicking a Partick Thistle player, but such was his relationship with Manager Willie Maley (who convinced him that he was far too good a player to be sitting in the stand) that Sunny very soon learned to keep on the right side of the law.

It was probably his abrasive nature that prevented him being capped for Scotland as often as he should have been – only once against Ireland in Dublin in 1906 – but this gave him more time to dedicate himself to the cause that he now loved to distraction – that of the green and white.

After 1910, the Club re-grouped as Maley’s first brilliant side aged simultaneously, but Sunny was still there winning Scottish Cup medals in 1911 and 1912 and nourishing and developing the precocious talent of the young Patsy Gallacher.

By 1911, when Jim Hay went to Newcastle United, Sunny Jim was made captain and what an inspiration he turned out to be! By 1914 another great team had emerged with the Double winning team of 1914 possibly set to equal the achievements of the previous one – but for the beginning of the First World War. This meant that the 1914 Scottish Cup was Sunny’s last, even though the League and the Glasgow Cup continued.

Celtic won the League in 1915, 1916 and 1917, but the 1917 Championship was won without Sunny, who had injured his knee in a game against Hearts on September 30th 1916, was in hospital for a long time after that and was never able to don the green and white Hoops again.

Pictures of the great man show a rugged, determined look with short fair hair – something that made him instantly recognisable – until 1914 when there is a picture of him with the team holding the Scottish Cup. The determination is still there, but the hair has turned blacker! It was the fair hair that was the attraction on Celtic’s many European tours of that era. Germans and Norwegians claimed him for their own. Perhaps it was the fear of looking German that made Sunny dye his hair in 1914? Or perhaps it turned that way naturally.

As with Stein’s team of the late 1960’s, it is often invidious and unfair to single anyone out, but Sunny Jim was a permanent fixture at a time of unparalleled and sustained success in which even the bad years were good ones. In fact there was only one season – 1913 – when no national tournament was won, and even then the Glasgow Charity Cup was annexed in the last game of the season. Jimmy Young could not let his beloved Celtic not win anything!

Some Celtic historians, notably the venerable Eugene MacBride in his ‘Alphabet Of The Celtic’, have no hesitation in naming him as the greatest Celt of them all. That is an ambitious claim, but 10 League Championships and 5 Scottish Cup medals are cogent arguments. And which supporter has not heard of Young, Loney and Hay?

On a personal note, pupils at a Fife school one day must have been puzzled when their Latin teacher (not normally prone to eccentricity and normally not bothered where his pupils sat) insisted that Carol Loney had to sit between Ian Young and Jennifer Hay! The said Ian Young was even more puzzled to hear his teacher call him “Sunny”!

Like many great Celts, Sunny’s end came suddenly only a few years after injury had forced him out of the game. He died on September 4th 1922 in a motorcycle accident at Wellington Bridge between Hurlford and Kilmarnock, not far from his home in Ayrshire. He had only turned 40, and newspapers described him as “Sunny Jim of the Celtic”. He would have loved that!

Newspaper Articles

Yorkshire Evening Post – Saturday 30 September 1922