James Rankin McNaught (8 June 1870 – March 1919) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a half back.

Career

McNaught began his career with his local club,

Dumbarton F.C. Dumbarton Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Dumbarton, Scotland. Founded on 23 December 1872, they are one of the oldest football clubs in Scotland. The club plays home games at the Dumbarton Football Stadium next to Dumbar ...

After a brief spell in Northern Ireland with Linfield, he joined English club

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial R ...

in February 1893. Upon signing, he was given a job as a boilermaker at the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

depot at Newton Heath, and paid £4 per week during the season and £2 per week in summer.Dykes (1994), pp. 250–1. After signing, he made three friendly appearances as an

inside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

in March 1893, before suffering a dislocated elbow in the third game against Ardwick. He finally made his competitive debut for Newton Heath in the first game of the

1893–94 Football League The 1893– 94 season was the sixth season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at thRec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in ''Rothmans Book of Foo ...

season on 2 September 1893, starting at inside right in a 3–2 win over

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. 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 Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

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". 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. He retired from football in 1909, but died 10 years later.

Honours

Dumbarton * Scottish League: 1890–91, 1891–92 *

Dumbartonshire Cup The Dumbartonshire Cup was the championship trophy of the Dumbartonshire FA from its inception in 1884 until the organization disbanded in 1938. There was however an 'extra' playing of the competition in 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the ...

: 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93 * League Charity Cup: 1890–91 Tottenham Hotspur * Southern League: 1899–1900 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winner:

1901 Events January * January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Minist ...

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnaught, James 1870 births 1919 deaths Footballers from Dumbarton Scottish men's footballers Dumbarton F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Men's association football midfielders Scottish Football League players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Southern Football League players