 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Edward McGrory | ||
| Date of birth | 26 April 1904 | ||
| Place of birth | Garngad, Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 20 October 1982 (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1918–1921 | St Roch's Boys Guild | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1921–1922 | St Roch's | ||
| 1922–1937 | Celtic | 378 | (395) |
| 1923–1924 | → Clydebank (loan) | 30 | (13) |
| Total | 408 | (409) | |
| International career | |||
| 1928–1933 | Scotland | 7 | (6) |
| 1926–1935 | Scottish League XI | 6 | (6) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1937–1945 | Kilmarnock | ||
| 1945–1965 | Celtic | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
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. 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.
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. 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."