James Charles McQuilken (born 3 October 1974) is a retired Scottish professional
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 le ...
who last played for
Scottish First Division side
Queen of the South. He was born in Glasgow and started his career with Celtic. He then moved to
Dundee United where he played from November 1995 until October 1996. He joined Hibernian in January 1997 and then moved to Falkirk. He moved from there to Aberdeen and then to St Johnstone. At the beginning of the 2004-5 season he moved to Gretna on a six-month loan that became permanent. He had a heart scare in 2006 and moved to Dumfries Club in January 2007. He then agreed to a one-year contract with The Doonhamers before saying in December 2009 that he was leaving his career for the police. He was back, however, in the 2011/12 season, joining the Cambuslang Rangers.
Career
Born 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 ...
, McQuilken began his career with
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 ...
and made five league appearances for the club. He moved to
Dundee United in November 1995, making his début as a substitute in the
1995 Scottish Challenge Cup Final
The 1995 Scottish Challenge Cup Final was an association football match between Stenhousemuir and Dundee United on 5 November 1995 at McDiarmid Park in Perth. It was the sixth final of the Scottish Challenge Cup since it was first organised in 19 ...
defeat to
Stenhousemuir
Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...
. The following month, McQuilken made his first start as United recorded their biggest win of the season, beating
Dumbarton 8–0 at
Tannadice
Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1 ...
. Used as both a left-back and left midfielder, McQuilken featured fourteen times that season, including both legs of the playoff win over
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. ...
. The following season, McQuilken was deployed as a left-back for the first six matches before being confined mainly to the bench. Featuring a handful of times more, he played his last game in October 1996 before joining
Hibernian in January 1997. Featuring in ten of Hibs' remaining matches that season, McQuilken moved to
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
at the start of the
1997–98 season.
At Falkirk, McQuilken became a regular, playing in the majority of matches each season and playing most of the club's title-winning season in
2002–03. McQuilken moved on to
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
in June 2003 but was made available for transfer in January 2004 and within days, McQuilken moved to
St Johnstone
St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...
. At the start of the
2004–05 season, he moved to
Gretna on a six-month
loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...
deal which was subsequently made permanent.
After suffering a heart scare in September 2006,
McQuilken moved to
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
club
Queen of the South in January 2007. He played in the club's first ever run to
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,[UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...](_blank)
games in the following season. Shortly afterwards, McQuilken agreed a new one-year contract with ''The Doonhamers''. On 8 December 2009 Queens announced McQuilken would be leaving the club in January to start a new career in the Police.
Before the 2011–12 season, McQuilken joined
junior club
Cambuslang Rangers.
Career statistics
Honours
;Dundee United
*