Ambrose Aloysius "Jock" Mulraney (18 May 1916 – 8 December 2001) was a Scottish professional

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 In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

. He played for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

in their first season in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in wartime football and in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

, and for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in the top flight.

Biography

Mulraney was born in

Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

. He was a small man of slight build, with considerable pace and trickery, whose preferred position was

, but he was also capable of playing on the left wing. He began his football career with junior clubs Wishaw White Rose and Carluke Rovers, and had a trial for Scotland schoolboys, before joining

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 1933. Unable to break into the first team at Celtic, he had trials at a variety of clubs both within Scotland and outside it before moving to England to join Southern League

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

in 1935. A year later he moved to

, then also in the Southern League, and helped them win the 1936–37 championship. The following season Ipswich finished third in the Southern League and successfully applied for election to

, where they were placed in the Third Division South. Mulraney was only able to play one full league season for Ipswich before the Second World War intervened. He scored their first ever away goal in the Football League, the only goal of the game at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in August 1938, and their first ever Football League

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, in the 4–0 win over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on 8 April 1939. Mulraney served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during the war as a PT Instructor, reaching the rank of

Flight Sergeant Flight sergeant (commonly abbreviated to Flt Sgt, F/Sgt, FSGT or, currently correctly in the RAF, FS) is a senior non-commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structur ...

. His military service did not prevent him playing in the wartime football competitions, in which he made guest appearances for no fewer than twelve clubs. From the 1943–44 season onwards he was able to play regularly for

, for whom he scored 41 goals in 118 appearances in wartime football. On

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

from the RAF in October 1945, he joined the club permanently for a fee of £3,750. That season he contributed to the club winning the championship of the Football League South and scored seven goals in their run to the semi-final of the first post-war

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 ...

. In July 1947 he joined

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, with whom he won a

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

championship medal, and a year later joined Southern League

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

. Two months later, in September 1948, he signed for

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

, where he ended his Football League career. He then tried his hand at management with

Cradley Heath Cradley Heath is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, west of Birmingham. The town was known for the manufacture of chains in the first half of the twentiet ...

in the Birmingham & District League, where he had three years as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, and in 1952 with Birmingham & District League champions Brierley Hill Alliance. Mulraney suffered a heart attack in 1968 from which he recovered. He settled in

Kinver Kinver is a large village in the District of South Staffordshire in Staffordshire, England. It is in the far south-west of the county, at the end of the narrow finger of land surrounded by the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and the ...

, Staffordshire, where he died in December 2001.

Honours

* with Ipswich Town ** Southern League champions 1937. ** Election to

1938. * with Birmingham City ** Football League South champions 1946. * with Shrewsbury Town **

champions 1948.

References

External links

at Pride of Anglia {{DEFAULTSORT:Mulraney, Jock 1916 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Wishaw Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Carluke Rovers F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Cradley Heath F.C. players English Football League players Midland Football League players Scottish football managers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century Scottish sportsmen