| Jimmy Rae |
 James Clarkson Rae was born on Friday, 22nd November, 1907, in Skinflats, Stirlingshire. The defender signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Friday, 16th August, 1929, having most recently been with King's Park. Aged 21, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 14th September, 1929, in a 2-0 win away to Cowdenbeath in the SFL First Division. Jimmy scored his first goal for Thistle on Saturday, 19th April, 1930, in a 3-2 win at home to St Mirren in the SFL First Division. He scored the last of his 3 goals on Saturday, 17th January, 1931, in a 16-0 win at home to Royal Albert in the Scottish Cup. He played his last game for the club on Tuesday, 19th April, 1932, in a 5-0 friendly win away to Cornwall County, having clocked up 122 appearances as a Jag. His club-list included King's Park, Partick Thistle and Plymouth Argyle. Jimmy died in July, 1958, in Solihull, West Midlands, aged 50. *
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 Skinflats-born Jimmy Rae was a full back who came to Thistle from the ill-fated Stirling club King’s Park, a club he joined as a teenager, playing for them for 4 years. He made his debut in September 1929 in an SFL match against Cowdenbeath. When he left in April 1932, he had made 122 appearances for the Jags. The Jags had good League performances for those seasons, finishing 6th; 4th and 6th in what was at the time a 20 team league. Having said that, they were continuing a run for 6th place, having previously finished in the same position for seasons 1927-28 and 28-29! The Scottish Cup seemed to be Jimmy’s cup of tea, as in Thistle’s Cup Final run for the year 1929-30 Jimmy appeared in all 7 matches, including the final, where the Jags were beaten 2-1 by Rangers after a 0-0 draw. Immense gatherings totalling 211,163 watched those two matches! The 1930-31 season was one where the Jags had some high scoring matches. Jimmy played in the 8-0 home drubbing of East Fife on 5 September 1930 where he scored the final goal. He also played in the 5-1 consecutive home wins against Queen’s Park and Ayr United in October of that year. But January 1931 saw Thistle win 16-0 – their record score. Jimmy scored in this match, but was eclipsed by Johnny Simpson who scored 9 goals! What Joy! In April 1932 Thistle played in a benefit match for Plymouth Argyle player Alec Hardie. The Jags won 3-1, with Johnny Simpson scoring the 3rd goal. In the summer of that year Argyle came calling for Johnny Simpson and Jimmy Rae. Between 1932 and 1939 Jimmy made 249 League and 10 FA Cup appearances for the club. He did play for the club occasionally during World War 2, and clocked up a final total of 283 appearances for Argyle. The Greens on Screen Argyle fans website describes Jimmy as a left back ahead of his time who “always preferred to pass the ball away from danger rather than take the safety first option of a hefty clearance.” When the war ended, Jimmy was appointed as assistant to Argyle manager Jack Tresadern. He became manager in November 1947. He took Argyle to the Third Division South title in 1952, and 4th in the Second Division the following year. He left Argyle midway through the 1954-55 season. He moved to Solihull in the West Midlands where he ran a pub, and it was there he passed away in July 1958, aged 50. |
| (DMAC) |
