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| John Curran |
 John Curran was born on Saturday, 14th October, 1882, in Rothesay, Argyll and Bute. The forward signed for George Easton's Thistle on Monday, 25th July, 1904, having most recently been with Hamilton Academical. Aged 21, he made his debut appearance on Monday, 15th August, 1904, in a 2-1 friendly defeat at home to Port Glasgow Athletic. John scored his first goal for Thistle on Wednesday, 17th August, 1904, in a 2-0 friendly win at home to Motherwell. He scored the last of his 3 goals on Saturday, 17th September, 1904, in a 3-1 win at home to Morton in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 1st October, 1904, in a 1-0 win away to Heart of Midlothian in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 10 occasions. His club-list included Wishaw Thistle, Rothesay St Blane's, Celtic, Hamilton Academical, Royal Albert, Partick Thistle and Abercorn. John died on Thursday, 14th September, 1916, in Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, aged 33. |
 This outside left was a big player in the Scottish game (mainly in the second tier) for the opening decade and a half of the 20th century, clocking up more than 250 first class appearances, scoring over 80 goals in the process. His first experience in the mens game came with Wishaw Thistle and Rothesay St Blanes (his native island team), before signing with Celtic at the tail end of 1900, just as he turned 18. 10 months passed without a hint of first team football at that level, and John moved on to Second Division Hamilton Accies in September 1901, where his career really took off. In the Lanarkshire Cup competition he appeared in consecutive Finals for the club in 1902, 1903 and 1904, the first one being the only time he was on the winning side, against Albion Rovers, the others being versus Airdrieonians. In-between then - on 16th September 1903 - John married Mary Shankly in their spiritual home of Rothesay. At that particular time, John was enjoying a short loan spell with Royal Albert. Back at Douglas Park, John played in the side which clinched the Second Division Championship at Shawfield on 6th February 1904, scoring the first of the three goals in a 3-0 win. George Easton brought John to Firhill in the close season of 1904, the idea being that he would form a left-wing partnership with Jimmy Drummond, a big name acquisition from Manchester City. It never really worked out for either of them and, by November 1904, John was back at Hamilton. A year later, a fateful loan deal was made with Abercorn and this move soon became permanent. He played with the Abbies for ten seasons and was part of the side which won the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1913. John and Mary were settled in Paisley and, away from the football, he worked as an iron dresser. For some unknown reason, John was back in Rothesay in September 1916, for this is where he prematurely died, acute lobar pneumonia being given as the official cause. The poor man was only 33 years of age at the time, and his grieving widow had to face the ghastly task of signing the death register entry. |
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