Thomas "Tully" Craig (1897 – 30 January 1963) was a Scottish footballer who is best known for his time with Rangers, and also played for Celtic earlier in his career. He was a versatile player who could play up front, in midfield or defence.Struth: The Story of an Ibrox Legend
David Leggat; Black & White Publishing, 2013;

Playing career

Born in Laurieston and with links to the small town of

Tullibody Tullibody ( gd, Tulach Bòide), is a town set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies north of the River Forth near to the foot of the Ochil Hills within the Forth Valley. The town is south-west of Alva, north-west of Alloa and east-nor ...

from which his nickname derived, Craig was signed by Celtic from Junior side Grange Rovers in June 1919 and made his first team debut for the club in a 3–2 league win at Kilmarnock on 17 January 1920. The left-half impressed on his debut, scoring two goals, but he was deemed to be too lightweight by manager

Willie Maley William Patrick Maley (25 April 1868 – 2 April 1958) was an Irish-born Scottish international football player and manager. He was the first manager of Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a ...

and consequently spent most of his time at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

in the reserves. Maley was only too pleased to offload the player to Alloa Athletic in an exchange deal which saw Craig and two other Celts swapped for Willie Crilley. While Crilley would disappoint in the Hoops, Craig was a huge success at Alloa, so much so that after only one season Rangers bought him for a fee of seven hundred and fifty pounds. In eleven years at Ibrox Craig played a significant role in seven Scottish League title-winning campaigns and was involved in three more to a smaller degree, won two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

and

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

(also playing in the 1929 final, in which he became the first player to fail from the penalty spot in the event's history), two

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 rul ...

s and four Charity Cups. He retired from playing in 1935. Craig won eight

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

caps between 1927 and 1930. He also represented the Scottish Football League XI.

Managerial career

After his retirement he went on to manage both

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large 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 ...

from 1935 to 1950Falkirk FC Managers
Falkirk Football Historian and Linfield for a season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Tully 1897 births 1963 deaths Scotland men's international footballers Rangers F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Falkirk F.C. managers Linfield F.C. managers Scottish Junior Football Association players Men's association football wing halves Men's association football utility players Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers NIFL Premiership managers

Playing career

Managerial career

See also

References

External links