John Stuart McMillan (16 February 1871 – 4 November 1941) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He made nearly 400 appearances 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 ...

in the 1890s and 1900s, playing at

inside left 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 be ...

centre forward 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 be ...

Playing career

McMillan was born in

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow (, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recent census in 2011 s ...

. He began his career with home-town club Port Glasgow Athletic before joining

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

-based club St Bernard's. He moved to England to join

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in 1890. In 1896 he moved to

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

, before signing for

Small Heath Small Heath is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman t ...

in January 1901. He made his debut for the club in February 1901, and his 13 goals in the remaining 13 games of the 1900–01 season, which included the winning goal in four of those games, made a major contribution to Small Heath's securing runners-up spot in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and

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to the

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 ...

. Injury forced him to miss a part of the 1901–02 season, in which the club were relegated, and his contribution to their runners-up position in 1902–03 was severely curtailed by injury. In 1903 he moved once again to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, who were entering the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for the first time. McMillan was selected as captain by his fellow players for Bradford in the club's first ever league match, a 2–0 defeat to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

on 1 September 1903. He finished the 1903–04 season as the club's top scorer and played for two more seasons at City, scoring 24 goals in 82 league games, before moving to

Glossop North End Glossop North End Association Football Club is a football club in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, which competes in the . The club was founded in February 1886. Between 1899 and 1992 the club was officially known as Glossop. Their current home gr ...

Managerial career

McMillan returned to Birmingham as trainer in 1909. He went on to manage Gillingham from 1920 to 1922, and was the first man to take charge of the team in a

match, Gillingham having been elected to the league in 1920. This was his only professional managerial appointment, after which he left the game to run a

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Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. He died in Derby in 1941 at the age of 70. McMillan's son

Stuart Stuart may refer to: People *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) * Clan Stuart of Bute, a Scottish clan *House of Stuart, a royal house of Scotland and England Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, ...

was a footballer,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, and manager of Derby County from 1946 to 1953.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Johnny 1871 births 1941 deaths Footballers from Port Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Derby County F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Glossop North End A.F.C. players Scottish football managers Gillingham F.C. managers St Bernard's F.C. players Port Glasgow Athletic F.C. players