| Jimmy Gourlay |
 James Gourlay was born on Wednesday, 11th January, 1888, in Annbank, South Ayrshire. The 5' 7 forward signed (short-term) for George Easton's Thistle on Tuesday, 4th May, 1915, having recently been with Morton. Aged 27, he made his only appearance on Wednesday, 5th May, 1915, in a 1-1 defeat (on corners) at home to Celtic in the Glasgow Charity Cup. That day, Jimmy became a member of our scoring debutant's club. His club-list included Annbank, Port Glasgow Athletic, Everton, Morton, Partick Thistle and Third Lanark. Jimmy died on Saturday, 12th September, 1970, aged 82. |
 Jimmy, as comfortable at inside right or right half, played for Port Glasgow Athletic, and for Everton in England between 1909 and 1913 before joining Morton as part of an exchange deal for John Fulton. He remained an important member of the Greenock club's strong team in the era spanning World War I when they finished in the top four of the Scottish Football League for six seasons running, and won the War Fund Shield in 1915. Jimmy guested once for Thistle in (what turned out to be) the last game of the season 1914-15. 10,000 were at Firhill for the Glasgow Charity Cup semi final against Celtic. Celtic took the lead (10) with a shot that cannoned off Bulloch. In a rousing second half Thistle (with 2 players playing their only games for the club) were more aggressive and equalised through one of them, Jimmy Gourlay doing the needful in 75 minutes. Alas, a 4th corner gained by Celtic (88) won them the tie by the narrowest of margins, the tie-breaker being lost by 4 corners to 3. Aged 34, Gourlay scored the only goal (with a free kick) in Morton's 1–0 win over Rangers in the 1922 Scottish Cup Final which is, to date, the club's only major trophy. He later had a short spell at Third Lanark. Gourlay played in the Home Scots v Anglo-Scots annual trial match in 1914 and was selected for the Scottish Football League XI either side of the war, but never gained a full international cap. His father James Gourlay played once for Scotland in 1888; they are related to the lawn bowls champions David Gourlay Sr. and David Gourlay Jr. |
| (WIK/AFK) |
