James Rankin McNaught (8 June 1870 – March 1919) was a Scottish footballer who played as a half back.

James McNaught
Personal information
Full name James Rankin McNaught
Date of birth (1870-06-08)8 June 1870
Place of birth Dumbarton, Scotland
Date of death March 1919 (aged 48)
Place of death West Ham, London, England
Position(s) Half back
Inside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1890–1893 Dumbarton[1][2] 49 (10)
1893 Linfield ? (?)
1893–1898 Newton Heath 140 (12)
1898–1907 Tottenham Hotspur 109 (0)
1907–1909 Maidstone United ? (?)
Total 297 (24)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career edit

McNaught began his career with his local club, Dumbarton F.C.[3]

After a brief spell in Northern Ireland with Linfield, he joined English club Newton Heath in February 1893. Upon signing, he was given a job as a boilermaker at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath, and paid £4 per week during the season and £2 per week in summer.[4] After signing, he made three friendly appearances as an inside right in March 1893,[5] before suffering a dislocated elbow in the third game against Ardwick.[4] He finally made his competitive debut for Newton Heath in the first game of the 1893–94 Football League season on 2 September 1893, starting at inside right in a 3–2 win over Burnley. He played as a forward for most of the season, but was moved into the half-backs for his last four appearances of 1893–94, becoming the club's regular centre-half for the next four years.

After scoring 12 goals in 162 games for Newton Heath, he left for Tottenham Hotspur in May 1898. His contract with Tottenham drew criticism from The Cricket & Football Field, which referred to his weekly wage of £4.10s (with a signing bonus of £50 up front) as "ridiculously high".[4] Nevertheless, while there, he helped Tottenham win the 1899–1900 Southern Football League. Towards the end of his nine-year spell with the London side, he joined their coaching staff, before moving to Maidstone United in 1907.[6] He retired from football in 1909, but died 10 years later.[4]

Honours edit

Dumbarton[7]

Tottenham Hotspur

References edit

General
  • Dykes, Garth (1994). The United Alphabet: A Complete Who's Who of Manchester United F.C. Leicester: ACL & Polar Publishing (UK). ISBN 0-9514862-6-8.
  • Shury, Alan; Landamore, Brian (2005). The Definitive Newton Heath F.C. SoccerData. ISBN 1899468161.
Specific
  1. ^ McAllister, Jim (2002). The Sons of the Rock - The Official History of Dumbarton Football Club. Dumbarton: J&J Robertson Printers.
  2. ^ "James McNaught - Player Statistics (The Sons Archive - Dumbarton Football Club History)". sonsarchive.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. ^ Emms, Steve; Wells, Richard (2007). Scottish League Players' Records Division One 1890/91 to 1938/39. Beeston, Nottingham: Tony Brown. ISBN 978-1-899468-66-9.
  4. ^ a b c d Dykes (1994), pp. 250–1.
  5. ^ Shury & Landamore (2005), p. 54.
  6. ^ Shury & Landamore (2005), p. 68.
  7. ^ Litster, John. Record of Pre-War Scottish League Players. Norwich: PM Publications.

External links edit

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Unknown
Newton Heath captain
1894–1896
Succeeded by