James Scotland Symon (9 May 1911 – 30 April 1985) 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 also played
cricket
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 ...
for Scotland.
Footballer
Symon started his professional career at
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
in 1930. He then spent three years with English team
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
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 ...
cap in 1938 against
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. He only played 37 Scottish League games for Rangers but helped the club win the league title in 1939.
His career was then interrupted by the onset of
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 ...
; during the conflict he continued to play for Rangers and made over 250 appearances in unofficial competitions (almost all of which the club won). Symon retired from playing in 1947, making his final appearance a few weeks before his 36th birthday and securing the official league championship again in his final season.
Cricketer
Symon played cricket 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 ...
in 1938, taking five
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
wicket
In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings:
* It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...
s for just 33 runs.
Manager
He returned to Rangers in 1954 as a manager, where he would steer the team to six League championships, five Scottish Cups, and four League Cups. He also took the club into European football for the first time, guiding them to two Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1961 and
1967
Events January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
, both ending in defeat.
Symon was the Rangers manager when they lost to Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup on 28 January 1967. When Symon was sensationally sacked by Rangers in November 1967 (in spite of the team leading the league table at that point), he was told of the decision by an accountant. Symon was the manager who signed Sir Alex Ferguson for Rangers.
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...