Jimmy Philip (1863 – 12 October 1930) was the first coach of Scottish football club
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...
He was in charge of the club virtually from its foundation in 1903 until his retirement in 1924.
Early life
Philip was the only son of four children.
His father James Philip (born 1833) and mother Jane Philip (born 1830) were both Brass Founders. Their daughters Jane Philip (1861) Eliza Philip (1864) were both Envelope Makers and the youngest Isabella (1872) was a scholar. Philip married Mary Ann Forsyth (1864–1937) and had five children: James, Dot, Lily, Mary and George John (1905–1972).
Philip was a native
Aberdonian
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 ...
, he had a wide range of sporting interests, and he had proposed to underwrite the first overseas tour by a Scottish international team. He was also a referee, although by profession he was a wood-turner.Managers Jimmy Philip AFC Heritage Trust
Aberdeen FC manager
Philip was appointed part-time manager for the first competitive game of the new club, a 1–1 draw with Stenhousemuir on 15 August 1903. In that first season, Aberdeen won the
Aberdeenshire Cup
The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire C ...
, and subsequently made a bid to be elected to the
Scottish Football League Division One
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
. Philip was despatched to
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 ...
to make the club's case, and returned with the promise of enough support. However, the final decision of the existing league members was to elect Aberdeen to the Second Division.
During that second season, the Qualifying Cup was won at
Dens Park
Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yard ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Celtic to expand Division One to 16 clubs meant that places were available for the 1905–06 season, and Aberdeen were duly elected.
Thereafter, progress was steady rather than spectacular, the club finishing in 12th position in the next two seasons, although there was a Scottish Cup semi-final in 1908, in which Celtic prevailed at
Pittodrie
Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...
. For the next few seasons, Aberdeen seem to have been genuine contenders for League honours, topping the table on more than one occasion, but never at season's end. In the 1910–11 season, both Rangers and Celtic were beaten at Pittodrie for the first time, and another Cup semi-final followed. That game, too, was lost to Celtic, but the strength of the side that season led to an invitation to a close season tour of Bohemia,
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
, and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
.
After the end of the 1911–12 season, Philip served as a referee at the Olympic Games in Stockholm.
In April 1920, Philip's position became full-time, in spite of the relative penury of the club at this time, but during wartime, the position reverted to part-time. The manager and players struggled on through the early years of the war, the team often made up of locally billeted servicemen, but by early 1917, the strain on finances, and the lack of public enthusiasm was too much, and the club withdrew from competition.
On the resumption of football in 1919, Philip was offered his old, full-time post at a salary of £350 per annum; a move which caused some controversy among the directors at the time. Philip accepted, and prepared to take the club forward into the new decade.
The early 1920s proved no more fruitful for Philip and his team than the prewar era, but one record was set which still stands as of 2020: Aberdeen's record victory of 13–0 over
Peterhead
Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...
in 1923. There were two further unsuccessful Cup semi-finals, in 1922 and 1924, but Philip's reign came to an end with no senior silverware to show for it.
Final years
Philip retired as Aberdeen manager at the end of the 1923–24 season, becoming a director, and was also involved with the
Clan MacGregor
Clan Gregor, also known as Clan MacGregor, () is a Highland Scottish clan that claims an origin in the early 9th century. The clan's most famous member is Rob Roy MacGregor of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Clan is also known to hav ...
. His death was unexpected. He met the Aberdeen reserve team on their return from Paisley on the Saturday evening, and on returning home had a fatal seizure shortly after midnight, believed to be related to a road accident he had been involved in three months earlier while in Ireland. There was a very large attendance on the 16 October 1930 for the funeral of Philip. The cortege was over three-quarters of a mile in length, passed through streets lined with spectators. The burial was at Trinity Cemetery.