Thomas Allan Muirhead (24 January 1897 – 27 May 1979) 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 le ...

who played for Hibernian, Rangers and

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 ...

Playing career

Hibernian and Rangers

Muirhead, a forward who was occasionally deployed as a half-back, was signed by Rangers for £20 from Hibernian in May 1917. He made his debut against his former club in a 3–0 win at Ibrox on 15 September 1917, although he did not become a regular until the following season.

American Soccer League

Muirhead's Rangers career was interrupted by a brief stint in the US in 1925. Cash-rich American Soccer League club Boston Wonder Workers lured him across the Atlantic to assume the role of player-manager. However, despite the presence of several other Scots, including internationalists such as

Alex McNab Alexander McNab (27 December 1894 – 3 April 1960) was a Scottish-American soccer player and coach. He began his career in Scotland before moving to the United States. In the US, he won six consecutive National Challenge Cups with teams from b ...

and Barney Battles, he could not settle in Boston and returned to Glasgow after only 14 games.

Return to Scotland

Muirhead returned to Rangers where he played until 1930. He scored 46 goals in 349 overall appearances for Rangers and won eight

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

championship medals (he never won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

and

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, but not in the long-awaited win of

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

). He was also

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the club for a spell.Rangers player Muirhead, Tommy
FitbaStats

International

Muirhead was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

at international level, making eight appearances for Scotland. He captained Scotland in a 1–0 defeat against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on 25 February 1928.

Managerial career

After his playing career, Muirhead had further spells in management with

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 ...

(1931–36) and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

(1936–37) and he also worked as a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

.Hall of Fame , Tommy Muirhead
Rangers FC

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muirhead, Tommy 1897 births 1979 deaths Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Hearts of Beath F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Rangers F.C. players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Boston Soccer Club players American Soccer League (1921–1933) coaches Scottish football managers St Johnstone F.C. managers Preston North End F.C. managers King's Own Scottish Borderers officers British Army personnel of World War I People from Cowdenbeath Footballers from Fife Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Association football forwards Association football wing halves Association football player-managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish sportswriters