James Callaghan "Chic" Charnley (born 11 June 1963 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. Charnley's playing career lasted nearly 20 years, with spells at

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, St Mirren, Hibernian and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, however he is perhaps best known for his numerous spells at

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

. He also was a coach at Thistle for a short time and was briefly assistant manager of

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

. Throughout his career, Charnley had a reputation as being a hot-head; he was sent off 17 times in a senior career which lasted for nearly 20 years.

Club career

Charnley played for a number of clubs:

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

Hamilton Accies Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

, St Mirren,

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

(on loan),

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, Hibernian and

Cork City F.C. Cork City Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chathair Chorcaí) is an Irish association football club based in Cork. The club was founded and elected to the League of Ireland in 1984. It was one of the first clubs in Ireland (and the first in ...

He also played for ''non-league'' clubs

Rutherglen Glencairn Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). G ...

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

, Tarff Rovers and

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

. Charnley acquired his nickname in his youth when he would sell poultry door-to-door in the

Possilpark Possilpark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow, situated north of the River Clyde and centred around Saracen Street. The area developed around Saracen Foundry of Walter MacFarlane & Co., which was the main employer. In the wake of th ...

district of northern

, where he was brought up as a supporter of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

.Just for kicks
The Guardian, 17 February 1996, via Partick Thistle History ArchiveChic Charnley
Hibernian Historical Trust In 1994, he had a trial for Celtic playing one game for them in a friendly against Manchester Utd at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. Many rated him as the best player in the game and it was rumoured that he had done enough to win a contract. However, Celtic's manager

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenny ...

was sacked not long after this friendly game and rumours of a move to Celtic came to nothing.

Partick Thistle

It is as a player with

that he will be best remembered. He played for the club on a few different occasions and is considered something of a cult hero at

Firhill Firhill Stadium is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909. The stadium is commonly referred to as simp ...

, as well as a member of their Hall of Fame. He initially left Partick for St Mirren in June 1991 in a swap deal that saw he and David Elliot exchange for Mark McWalter and

George Shaw George Shaw may refer to: * George Shaw (biologist) (1751–1813), English botanist and zoologist * George B. Shaw (1854–1894), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin * George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright * George C. Shaw (1866–196 ...

. Charnley was an inconsistent performer with displays ranging from poor to outstanding and occasional outbursts of indiscipline and violence. At many points in his career, it seemed that top-flight football was beyond him. He was freed by Partick Thistle when the Glasgow club was in the Premier Division. During his time at Thistle, he and two other players were approached by two teenage boys during a training session in a Glasgow Park. Despite suffering a stab wound to his hand when one of the boys brandished a

Samurai sword A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

, Charnley was able to disable his attacker with a punch.

Hibernian

He made his Hibernian debut in August 1997 against Celtic, where late on in the second half he latched on to a misplaced pass from fellow debutant

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...

and struck the winning goal from 25 yards. During his first few months at Hibs, many called for his inclusion in the Scotland squad, though this did not materialise. Despite a good start to the league campaign, Hibs' form soon faltered and they ended up being relegated at the end of the season. By this stage Alex McLeish had already replaced Jim Duffy as manager at Hibernian, and had dropped Charnley from the side.

Back to Thistle

His final season as a player was with Partick Thistle in the

2002–03 Scottish Premier League The 2002–03 Scottish Premier League (known as the 2002–03 Bank of Scotland Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Scottish Premier League (SPL), the top level of football in Scotland. It began on 3 August 2002 and ...

season. Chic was approaching the age of 40, and made just two more appearances for Thistle after their promotion. His final match was perhaps fittingly against Hibernian at

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...

. He came on as a substitute in a 3–2 victory for Thistle.

Coaching career

The next season ( 2003–04) he was appointed coach at Thistle under manager Gerry Collins, but when Collins was sacked by the Thistle board he resigned in protest at their decision. Chic returned to Firhill during the 2006/2007 pre-season for ex-teammate Kenny Arthur's testimonial match versus a Celtic XI. With the game in injury time and Thistle losing 2–1, Chic rifled home a 25-yard strike to draw level. Charnley was appointed assistant manager of

in February 2011 by Jim Duffy.

Honours

; St Mirren *

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

: 1982–83 ; Partick Thistle *

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

: 1988–89Cup joy night for Thistle
Glasgow Herald, 16 May 1989, via Partick Thistle History Archive ; Portadown *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

: 1998–99

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charnley, Chic 1963 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers St Mirren F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Dumbarton F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Portadown F.C. players Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Cork City F.C. players League of Ireland players Clyde F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Scottish Junior Football Association players Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Ettan Fotboll players People from Possilpark