James Delaney (3 September 1914 – 26 September 1989) 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 an outside right. He had a 24-year playing career interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, his longest spells at club level were spent with

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 ...

in Scotland and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in England. He was capped 15 times for the Scotland national team, scoring six goals.

Career

Club

Celtic

Delaney joined

on provisional forms in 1933 from Stoneyburn Juniors, signing a permanent contract the following year. Delaney suffered the misfortune of a badly broken arm in a home game against

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

in April 1939. The injury sustained being further exacerbated by the opposition player Attilio Becchi (who was apparently a Celtic fan) accidentally stepping on Delaney's arm. Delaney's torn football shirt was sold at auction for £564 in 2002. He spent 13 years with the

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

club, making 327 appearances in all competitions including wartime tournaments.

Manchester United

Delaney was held in high regard as a player by

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an E ...

who, when the war ended in 1946, signed him for

in a £4,000 deal. Delaney helped United win the

1948 FA Cup Final The 1948 FA Cup final was contested by Manchester United and Blackpool at Wembley Stadium on 24 April 1948. United, who had not appeared in an FA Cup Final for 39 years, won 4–2, with two goals from Jack Rowley and one apiece from Stan Pearso ...

and finished his United career with 28 goals from 184 total appearances.

Late career in Scotland and Ireland

He moved back to Scotland at the age of 36, joining

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in November 1950 and made his ''Dons'' debut in a 5–1 defeat of

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. A year later he joined the ''Bairns'', where he spent three seasons. In January 1954, Derry City paid £1,500 to sign him, a record fee for the

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

, remarkable in that he was by this stage 39 years old. Two years later he joined Cork Athletic as player-manager before eventually retiring after a season with Highland League Elgin City in 1957. Delaney has the distinction of having won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

with Manchester United in 1948, and the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

with Derry City in 1954. He also came close to a fourth different national trophy in the Republic of Ireland, earning a

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

runners-up medal with Cork Athletic in 1956.

International

Delaney won 15

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and scored six goals. He also represented the Scottish League XI six times. On 15 November 2009, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Son of Patrick Delaney and Bridget Nash from Crettyard, Queen's County (now

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

) in Ireland, Jimmy was born in

Cleland, North Lanarkshire Cleland is a village near Motherwell and Wishaw in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, . As of 2018, it has a population of about 3,000. The village has a strong coal mining heritage, and is a typical example of a working class village in North Lanark ...

. His son Pat Delaney was also a footballer whose longest spell was with

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

, and his grandson John Kennedy played as a defender for Celtic,

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and Scotland. Delaney died in September 1989.

Honours

Celtic
* Scottish Division One: 1935–36, 1937–38 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1936–37 * Empire Exhibition Trophy: 1938 *

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 ...

: 1938–39 Manchester United *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1947–48 Falkirk * Scottish Division Two promotion: 1951–52 Derry City * IFA Cup: 1953–54 * North West Senior Cup: 1953–54 Scotland *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

: 1935–36, 1938–39 (shared) Individual *Ulster Footballer of the Year: 1953–54 * Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2009

References

;Sources *

External links

* *
Jimmy Delaney
at the AFC Heritage {{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, James 1914 births 1989 deaths Aberdeen F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Cork Athletic F.C. players Derry City F.C. players League of Ireland players Elgin City F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players People from Cleland, North Lanarkshire Scottish people of Irish descent Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers NIFL Premiership players Ulster Footballers of the Year Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Men's association football wingers Footballers from North Lanarkshire Stoneyburn F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Highland Football League players English Football League players Men's association football player-managers