James Scrymagour Crapnell (4 June 1903 – 24 December 1991) was a Scottish

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

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

at club level, and represented both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Career

Crapnell, who was born in Paisley, began his club career in the junior leagues with Cambuslang Rangers. He was already 23 when he moved to Airdrie in 1926 as a replacement for

Alex Dick Alexander Russell "Sanny" Dick (1894 – 1958) was a Scottish footballer who played as a right back for Airdrieonians. Installed as a first team regular in defence in his second season (he initially played as a forward after joining from Arm ...

who had been advised to stop playing,Greatest XI - 2. Right Back
Airdrieonians FC, 6 February 2016 but within three years he had become the ''Diamonds'' club captain and achieved international recognition, receiving all of his

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

while with Airdrie.

signed him in January 1933 for a fee of £2,000. He helped them reach the 1933 Scottish Cup Final, but they lost 1–0 to

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 ...

. He retired in 1934 to try a career in insurance. After a brief comeback in the Motherwell

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, he retired again. Crapnell was 5 feet 5 inches tall, which was small for a defender. He had a "reputation for tenacity", however, and won nine Scotland caps between 1929 and 1933, only finishing on the losing side once and captaining the team in four of those appearances. He is the most capped player in Airdrieonians' history. Crapnell also represented the

five times (all victories) between 1929 and 1932. Crapnell became a

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, working for

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

and then

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 ...

. He died in December 1991, aged 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crapnell, Jimmy 1903 births 1991 deaths Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Cambuslang Rangers F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Motherwell F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. managers Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Scottish Football League managers

Career

See also

References