Jim Craig (Scottish footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Philip Craig | ||
| Date of birth | 30 April 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Playing position | Right Back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1972 | Celtic | 147 | (1) |
| 1972 | Hellenic FC | 16 | (1) |
| 1972–1974 | Sheffield Wednesday | 6 | (0) |
| 1974–1975 | Waterford | 1 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1967 | Scotland | 1 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1974 | Waterford United | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
James "Jim" Philip Craig (born 7 May 1943 in Glasgow) is a retired footballer who played as a fullback. Most closely associated with Celtic, he was a member of their Lisbon Lions side which won the 1967 European Cup.
A conscientious student at Glasgow's St Gerard's School, Craig's first senior side was the University of Glasgow representative side, which he played for while studying dentistry at the institution. He joined Celtic in 1963, on amateur terms, so as to allow him to complete his studies and having done so, signed as a full professional in January 1965.
Craig's abilities and style of play matched manager Jock Stein's tactical philosophy and he soon displaced Willie O'Neill and Ian Young as Celtic's regular right back. Stein encouraged his fullbacks to overlap the side's midfield to provide additional support to the forwards, in the style of the modern wing-back role, and in Craig and left back Tommy Gemmell he found willing protagonists.
During his tenure at Parkhead, Craig collected 14 domestic honours as well as a European Cup medal in 1967. He made 231 appearances for Celtic scoring 6 goals. He won one cap for the Scotland national side.
Craig left Celtic to live in South Africa in May 1972, where he played for Hellenic FC, however after 6 months he returned to Britain. He joined Sheffield Wednesday, with the South Yorkshire side paying Celtic £10,000 compensation, as they had retained his registration. He retired from football in 1973, to concentrate his efforts upon his dentistry career.
In July 1974 he succeeded Shay Brennan as player-manager of Waterford United.[1] However, in December, after one substitute appearance, Craig informed the club that he was unable to commit to the role due to a "domestic problem". In 2001 he was made Honorary President of the Belfast Shamrock Celtic Supporters Club, which subsequently changed its name to Jim Craig Celtic Supporters Club in 2011.[2][3]
Jim Craig is now actively part of the Celtic community, he currently hosts Channel67 an online streaming service which provides video streams and audio streams of every Celtic match. Jim regularly updates the Jim Craig Celtic Supporters Club blog site www.JimCraigCSC.com with topical articles and the odd walk down memory lane.
His son James Craig is a notable rugby player who was capped for the Scotland national rugby union team four times between 1997-2001.[4]
References
- ↑ "Irish Times archive". IRISH TIMES.COM. 20 July 1974. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ↑ "Irish Times Article". IRISHTIMES.COM. 11 December 1974. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ↑ "Belfast Shamrock Celtic Supporters Club". 29 April 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
- ↑ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1-905326-24-6), p140