James McFarlane McArthur (born 7 October 1987) is a 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, rugb ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. McArthur started his career at

Hamilton Academical 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 Scotti ...

and was part of the team that won the

2007–08 Scottish First Division The 2007–08 First Division season was the 13th season of the First Division in its current format of ten teams. The team which finished first were automatically promoted to the Scottish Premier League. The team which finished bottom were auto ...

title. He made over 190 appearances for Hamilton before joining

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

in July 2010. McArthur helped Wigan win the

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 compet ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. He was transferred to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2014. McArthur made 32 international appearances for the Scotland national team between 2010 and 2017.

Club career

Hamilton Academical

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 popu ...

and raised in the city's

Barrowfield Barrowfield is a neighbourhood of Glasgow, Scotland, close to Celtic Park, home of Celtic F.C., which lies immediately to the east. It is bounded by the A89 road (Gallowgate) to the north and the A74 (London Road) to the south. History Being ...

district, McArthur attended

Whitehill Secondary School Whitehill Secondary School (formerly Whitehill Senior Secondary School) is a Scottish non-denominational comprehensive secondary school located in the suburb of Dennistoun in Glasgow. The school is a part of the Whitehill Campus, along with Go ...

and supported Rangers in his youth; he played for Rangers South BC (alongside future international colleagues

Robert Snodgrass Robert Snodgrass (born 7 September 1987) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Heart of Midlothian. Snodgrass started his senior career with Livingston. He also had a loan spell at Stirling Albion before moving to ...

and

Graham Dorrans Graham Dorrans (born 5 May 1987) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He began his football career at Scottish club Livingston, before joining English club West Bromwich Albion in 2008. In the 2009–10 season, he ...

), St Johnstone pro youth, Rangers SABC and

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 ...

before moving to

as a youth in 2003. He made his professional debut in January 2005 against Ross County. He established himself in the Hamilton team the following season and scored his first goal in April 2006 against St Johnstone. Such was his progress that he was given the captaincy for Hamilton against

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), a ...

in February 2008 for a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2007–08 season. In May 2008 after helping his side to the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

, McArthur was awarded with a new three-year contract. By the time he departed from

New Douglas Park New Douglas Park, currently known as the ZLX Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, which serves as the home of Scottish Championship side Hamilton Academical and Scottish League One si ...

aged 22, he had played in nearly 200 matches for ''Accies''.

Wigan Athletic

In the 2009–10 season, several English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

clubs, including

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, showed an interest in McArthur. On 5 April 2010, McArthur went on a three-day visit to

club

with a view to a permanent move in the summer. He signed a four-year contract at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

on 23 July for a fee of around £500,000. The move reunited him with former Hamilton teammate James McCarthy, who had made the same move at the beginning of the 2009–10 season. On 31 January 2012, McArthur scored his first goal for Wigan in a 3–1 loss to

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

, and followed it up two games later with a winning goal over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

at the

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming ri ...

in a game which finished 2–1 to Wigan. McArthur extended his contract with Wigan in May 2012, with the new deal due to run until 2016. On 11 May 2013 McArthur won the

, playing the whole game in a 1–0 upset win against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. However, only three days later, Wigan were relegated from the Premier League following a 4–1 defeat against Arsenal. Wigan rejected a first offer of £5 million from

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

for McArthur in August 2014, but then accepted a proposed valuation of nearly £7 million. A payment schedule was not agreed and the proposed transfer collapsed, with Leicester signing Esteban Cambiasso instead. On the last day of the summer 2014 transfer window, Wigan accepted a £7 million offer from

for McArthur.

Crystal Palace

On 1 September 2014, McArthur signed a three-year contract with

after joining from Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee; due to a clause in his Wigan contract, his former club Hamilton received a sell-on fee from the Crystal Palace transfer, which they used to invest in the youth system through which the player had emerged. McArthur scored his first goal for Palace on 13 December, in a 1–1 draw against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. In February 2016, McArthur tore ankle ligaments in a 2–1 loss to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a r ...

. He returned in time to take part in the

2016 FA Cup Final The 2016 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Crystal Palace and Manchester United on 21 May 2016 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, organised by the Football Association (FA). It marked the 135th final of the Footbal ...

, which Crystal Palace lost 2–1 to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

after extra time. In May 2018, having helped his club to maintain top division status for the fifth consecutive season of his spell at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international fo ...

, McArthur was recognised by the Premier League for reaching 200 appearances in the competition. In June 2022, McArthur signed a contract extension keeping him at the club until 2023.

International career

He was first called up to the Scotland under-21 squad in February 2008, and he made his debut at that level against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

later that month. On 16 November 2010, McArthur made his senior international debut as a second-half substitute for

Charlie Adam Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Adam started his senior career with Rangers. He spent much of his early senior career on loan to Ross County and St Mirren. ...

against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. He scored his first international goal on 9 February 2011, in a Nations Cup match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. As of August 2018, McArthur had made 32 international appearances and scored four goals. At this time he advised Scotland manager

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

that he wished to be excused from international games while he managed ongoing back problems. Later that year, he announced his retirement from international football.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 7 October 2017. Scotland score listed first, score column indicates score after each McArthur goal.''

Honours

Hamilton Academical *

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

: 2007–08 Wigan Athletic *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Crystal Palace *FA Cup runner-up: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, James 1987 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Hamilton Academical F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Premier League players English Football League players Scotland international footballers People educated at Whitehill Secondary School Crystal Palace F.C. players FA Cup Final players