McHugh Jock Image 1 Dundee United 1930

Description

Hamilton, Lanarkshire born goalkeeper Jock  McHugh started his junior career with Strathclyde in 1925 joining Burnbank Athletic in 1926, from whom he was signed by Dundee United in February 1928. He made his debut at Dundee in a Scottish Cup 2nd replay, United lost the match 1-0 to their fierce rivals. He shared the keeper’s position towards the end of 1927-28. In the following campaign he was the understudy and spent some time on loan at Montrose.

McHugh broke into the Dundee United side in November 1929 to become first choice for much of the remainder of his time at Tannadice, making 55 League appearances in total. In November 1930 he was transferred to Portsmouth for a fee of around £400, where he was understudy to Jock Gilfillan for three seasons and had to wait until December 1932 to make his Football League debut for Pompey at Leicester City.

He made only 4 appearances in total before joining Watford, initially on loan in July 1933, making the move a permanent one the following summer. He had a spell on loan at Southend United in April 1936 without making a first team appearance and returned to Cassio Road. Having waited ages to supersede Jim McLaren as Watford’s first choice keeper, McHugh was denied the chance of a good Football League career by the outbreak of The Second World War that September, having finally taken over as first choice in January 1939. He made 47 appearances for Watford over his six years at the club, and subsequently made 67 appearances during wartime competitions for The Hornets before his retirement.