Muirhead Tommy Image 3 Glasgow Rangers 1923

Description

Cowdenbeath, Fife born inside forward Tommy Muirhead had spent his early career with Cowdenbeath and then Hibernian having joined them in 1915, although he didn’t make his Scottish League debut for Hibernian until April 1916 when he played in a defeat at St Mirren. After 3 goals in 29 appearances, he was signed by Glasgow Rangers for £20 in May 1917. Ironically he made his Rangers debut against his former club Hibs in a 3-0 win at Ibrox on 15th September 1917. His first spell at Ibrox lasted seven years before American Soccer League club Boston Wonder Workers lured him across the Atlantic to assume the role of player-manager, however after 14 games Stateside he returned to Glasgow Rangers and resumed his Ibrox career.

He first won representative honours when picked to play for The Scottish League against The Irish League in a 3-0 victory at Shawfield in October 1921. He went on to play for The Scottish League 6 times, scoring once, over the next eight years. His first full Scottish cap came when he played in a 2-1 victory over Ireland at Parkhead in March 1922 and he won a total of 8 caps through to his final cap against Wales in October 1929. He captained Scotland in a 1-0 defeat against Ireland on 25th February 1928.

He went on to score 44 goals in 327 League and Cup appearances for Rangers and won 8 Scottish Championship medals. He was also captain of the club for a spell. He played his last match for Rangers in April 1930 before retiring.

In 1931 he became manager of St Johnstone, holding the position for five years before moving south to take over as manager of First Division Preston North End in April 1936, where amongst others he had a certain Bill Shankly on his playing staff! He led Preston to the 1937 FA Cup Final where they were beaten by Sunderland at Wembley in May 1937 and later the same month he resigned, finishing his involvement with football management.