One group of people connected with the club saw to it that McGrory would receive the appropriate appreciation for a service to Celtic Football Club, which few could argue ranked him as the greatest Celt of all time. The Celtic Supporter’s Association dedicated their 34 th annual Rally to his honour, inviting him to be special guest for the evening on Sunday 4 March 1979 at Kelvin Hall. This reconstructed grandstand was opened by Jimmy McGrory on 1st September 1971 and on this date Celtic played Nacional of Uruguay, the Champions of South America. Lawton's Task". Coventry Evening Telegraph, Thursday 1 February 1945, p.6. Via British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 1 October 2021. (Subscription required.) While Celtic relinquished the Scottish League title in 1926–27 title, finishing in 3rd place, McGrory had his best goalscoring season. He started the season well, twice scoring four goals and twice scoring five, and by New Year had only one less goal League goal (34) than the previous season's final tally of 35. [18] He was just as prolific in the 1926–27 Scottish Cup, where he scored nine goals in only six outings, [19] although in a cruel twist of fate he missed out on playing in the final, which Celtic won against East Fife 3–1, due to breaking two ribs in an April league defeat to Falkirk. [20]

a b "McGrory Statistics: Career Total In First-Class Matches. Compiled by Pat Woods". In Cairney, John (2007). Heroes Are Forever: The Life and Times of Celtic Legend Jimmy McGrory. Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh) Ltd. Accessed via Google Books. Retrieved 30 September 2021. In 1954 Celtic won their first league and cup double for forty years, [75] and their first league title since 1938. [76] Celtic finished five points ahead of Hearts in the league and had the best defensive record in the division (only 29 goals conceded). [77] The Scottish Cup Final was contested between Celtic and Aberdeen. A keenly contested match was won by a Sean Fallon goal after excellent play from Willie Fernie. [58] [78] Players - Bobby Collins - Part 2 - Home grown hero" (PDF). The Mighty Mighty Whites. p.5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016 . Retrieved 14 February 2014. Why can’t Celtic play away from home in Europe? This question is frequently asked but never more so than tonight when they cannot even get a draw against Rosenborg, a team who are in no way Celtic’s superiors? It is a truly awful performance and things are not helped by the realisation that both Rosenborg goals were scored by Harald Brattbakk, a man who had his moments when he was with Celtic, but was scarcely in the category of Jimmy McGrory! Sat 19 Mar 1927 English Football League 2 SFL 2". London Hearts Supporters Club . Retrieved 20 October 2015.a b Craig, Jim (23 October 2011). "24th October 1962 Celtic 2 Valencia 2 Fairs Cup | Jim Craig Celtic Supporter's Club". Jimcraigcsc.wordpress.com . Retrieved 5 August 2013. The problem was a man called Hughie Gallagher, a superb centre-forward for Airdrie and Newcastle United. It was difficult to unseat him, as he was such a prolific scorer, but McGrory’s chance came on 25 February 1928 when he was chosen to play for Scotland against Northern Ireland at Firhill. It was felt that he could hardly be ignored, as six weeks previously he had set up a record by scoring eight goals in a single game against Dunfermline Athletic. In that gracious and dignified manner which was McGrory’s trademark he said of this foul injustice: “Sure it was worth it just to pull on that Hooped jersey so many times.” McGrory gave the Celtic fans what they wanted _ the scoring of goals. The song which begins “They gave us James McGrory and Paul McStay” ends up with “to play football in the good old Celtic way.” He was what Celtic fans needed. He was the icon of the team. He was the man who scored the goals that sent the crowd home happy and helped them to forget the miseries of what might have been a fairly pointless existence.

Now alone with his prey Chapman set about his task of convincing McGrory to swap his native Glasgow for life in London. But his promises of riches and a life of luxury failed to seduce the humble man from the Garngad. Like all those brought up in the dark streets of this Irish enclave of Victorian Glasgow McGrory was no stranger to poverty. Football had made him comfortable that is for sure. But it was not a love of money that fuelled the fire within this goal-scoring machine. It was something much more than that. Something that Chapman and London could never offer him – the pure pleasure of wearing the famous Hoops of his beloved Celtic. So sang the Celtic fans throughout the 1920s and 1930s. There may have been unemployment and depression, there may have been the dismal sight of the war wounded and the fear of another conflict as the funny man with the moustache rose to power in Germany, there may have been some dreadful performances on the field from Celtic . . . but there was always Jimmy McGrory. The year after the momentous Scottish Cup triumph saw the winning of the Scottish League. Patsy Gallacher had now gone, but in his place had returned the great Tommy McInally. The football played in that year was absolutely superb, McGrory scored 52 goals and the supporters were perpetually in raptures. The creative among the support made up songs for every member of the side, but the chorus was always: ARFTS - Jimmy McGrory 1935-1936 Scottish First Division". Archived from the original on 21 October 2017.While Maley was not the orchestrator of this whole debacle his willingness to assist so readily in the sale of McGrory does him no credit. He once attempted to play down the whole affair saying: “Arsenal wanted him very much. We left him to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. ‘No’ it was.” Chapman would have needed little introduction to any football follower. He had already established himself as one of the foremost figures in the English game by taking Huddersfield Town to two league titles. A master tactician and football pioneer, Chapman was tempted away from his native Yorkshire in the summer of 1925 by the ambitious Gunners. Thanks to David Potter for his knowledge and assistance in answering Gerard McGonigle’s question. In his book Celtic How the League was won 49 Times, David describes the climax to the 1935-36 season with Celtic striving to with their first title win since 1926 with the need to win all the games in the run-in an absolute necessity. Here’s how David told the story of what happened… Who better to ask than David Potter? “I seem to recall my father singing to the tune of the revivalist hymn “Tell Me the Old, Old Story,” David replied.”As I said, it went to the tune of the revivalist hymn much sung by the Salvation Army in the 1930s,” David explained. Here are the words… This reconstructed grandstand was opened by Jimmy McGrory on 1 st September 1971 and on this date Celtic played Nacional of Uruguay, the Champions of South America.