James McMillan Simpson (29 October 1908 – 15 March 1972) 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 lea ...
who played as a
centre half
In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Defenders fall into four main categ ...
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
in 1925 and made his debut at the age of 17 as a
wing half
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
. A regular during the club's first two years at the top level, United could not retain him following
relegation
Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...
in 1927 and he was transferred to Rangers for the then sizable fee of £1,000.Hall of Fame: Jimmy Simpson Rangers F.C.
At Ibrox he was initially a reserve, but was converted into a centre half and became an integral part of the team which dominated the Scottish game during the 1930s.Rangers player Jimmy Simpson FitbaStats Simpson won six League championships and four
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League XI caps and 14 full international caps to his collection. He also qualified as an
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
, which became his vocation after he had finished playing.
Simpson left Rangers in 1941, making wartime appearances for Dundee United, and would also play in unofficial competitions for St Mirren before retiring from playing. In 1946 he took up a player–coach role with Highland League club Buckie Thistle. He was appointed manager of Alloa Athletic on 19 December 1947, but left the club by mutual agreement on 19 February 1949.
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
, also played for Scotland and was part of the
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 Foot ...
Glasgow Cup
The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...
List of Scotland national football team captains
This article lists all the captain (association football), captains of the men's Scotland national football team. As of 9 June 2025, Scotland have played 842 officially recognised international matches and have had 156 different team captains. An ...
*
List of Scottish football families
This is a list of Scottish football (soccer) families.
;Families included on the list must have:
# at least, one member of the family is capped by a national team on the senior level or an important person in the game of football (e.g., notable ...