| James Colgan |
 James Gerard Colgan was born on Wednesday, 27th August, 1924 in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. The forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Saturday, 12th February, 1944 (after a trial period), having most recently been with Coatbridge St Patrick's. Aged 19, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 15th January, 1944, in a 2-2 draw away to Dumbarton in the Southern League. James scored his first goal for Thistle on Saturday, 12th February, 1944, in a 2-2 draw at home to Motherwell in the Southern League. He scored the last of his 11 goals on Saturday, 25th November, 1944, in a 5-2 defeat away to Queen's Park in the Southern League. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 7th April, 1945, in a 3-0 defeat away to Celtic in the Southern League, having appeared as a Jag on 33 occasions. James's club-list included Coatbridge St Patrick's, Hibernian, St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Airdrieonians, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and Dundee United. James died on Thursday, 15th August, 1985, in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, aged 60. |
 James, an inside right, came through as a teenager with Coatbridge St Pats and was with them for a number of seasons, during which time he had brief arrangements in 1942-43 with Hibernian, in the North Eastern League, and St Mirren in the Southern League. He was invited for a trial with Thistle in January 1944 and did well in a 2-2 draw away to Dumbarton. He was invited for a second game a few weeks later and scored in a 4-2 Southern League win at home to Hamilton Academical. Donald Turner signed him to terms after the game. A great highlight for James came on Easter Monday 1945, as Thistle made the short journey to Govan to fulfil the 30th and final engagement of that season’s Southern League campaign. Rangers were runaway winners of the League, and were renowned for their "iron curtain" defence at the time. Willie Sharp had given Thistle a lead in the 17th minute and Bill Shankly doubled the advantage on the half hour mark. Just 5 minutes later, a low drive from James had Thistle 3 goals up; this was fantasy football! Rangers reduced the deficit to 2 within minutes and it was 3-3 before the second half was 20 minutes old. It was ding-dong 'til the end and Thistle could just as easily have won it as lost it. In the end, to secure a 3-3 draw at Ibrox was a very good result at that time, albeit it was tainted by the fact that a 3 goal lead was squandered. And to be in the goalscoring company of such Thistle legends surely made the day a very memorable one for James. James was a regular starter for the full calendar year, but appearances were on the decline as we turned into 1945 and he was completely out of the picture by season's end. He signed for Airdrie of the Southern League B Division in May 1945, just before Thistle's great Summer Cup glory run. After just over a full season's adventure with Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in 1948-49, James headed back North to sign for Willie MacFadyen's Dundee United in August 1949. He played in 2 League Cup section matches and made a scoring debut in a 5-1 win over Dumbarton. This was followed by a 4-2 win over Arbroath a few days later, but those proved to be his only first-team appearances at United, and he was released the following month. |
| (WS/JK) |
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