'Mountain' McGraw

[Kushiro]

This is my first post here.

I've been researching the career of Gordon Milne and his father, Jimmy, who was briefly at Morecambe after the war as player-coach. That season, 1947/48, marked Jimmy's last ever game in the FA Cup, at the age of 36. It was a poignant moment for him, as the FA Cup was the source of heartbreak throughout the careers of both Jimmy and Gordon.

While looking into that story, I discovered the existence of another Jimmy - Jimmy 'Mountain' McGraw, and it's that fascinating character that I'd like to introduce here.

That last FA Cup game for Jimmy Milne came in the Second Qualifying round in October 1947, away at Fleetwood. The legendary cartoonist from the Lancashire Evening Post, 'Furnival', was at the game, and his wonderful piece appeared in the paper on the Monday, after Morecambe had lost 2-0:



Here's a close up of the frame with Milne and the Mountain:



I wanted to find out more about McGraw. Though he was usually a centre-half, he was often switched to centre forward, especially if Morecambe were chasing the game, when the cry at Christie Park would be 'Give it to McGraw!'

Here's a report from the Lancaster Guardian, December 30th 1949, after Jimmy Milne had moved on:




This is what he looked like:



It seems that McGraw was transferred in the early 50s to Ingleborough FC, which is appropriate, as the club was named after the mountain at the foot of which their ground was located:



I'll post more about Jimmy Milne below, but if you have any additional information about Mountain McGraw I'd love to hear it.

[Kushiro]

More on Jimmy Milne:

I spent several weeks looking into the careers of him and his son Gordon, who's still doing fine at 86. It was so fascinating that I was thinking of contacting him and suggesting we write a book together. It came as quite a surprise when I found out that he'd already written one. It was published last month, and it's well worth getting hold of. It's called 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'.

Time for a bit more about Jimmy's career before he joined Morecambe.

Here he is in the colours of Dundee United (black and white, before they switched to tangerine) and Preston:



He was signed by Preston in 1932, and soon joined by another Scot, Bill Shankly. They played together in the club's half-back line, and lived opposite each other in club-owned houses, just yards from Deepdale. Here's a map from the 1940s with the Milne house arrowed:



There's a great passage in Gordon's book where he recalls Shankly playing football with him in the street when he was a young boy.

In 1937, Preston lost 3-1 to Sunderland in the Cup Final. A year later they made up for it by beating Huddersfield 1-0, but Jimmy wasn't playing. He was injured just before the final and missed the big day. Incredibly, Gordon would suffer the same heartbreak three decades later when Liverpool beat Leeds.

After the war, Morecambe wanted Jimmy as player-coach, but Wigan Athletic stepped in and signed him instead. Morecambe found out what they were missing when the two clubs were drawn against each other in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. The result was Morecambe 0 Wigan 3, with Milne outstanding, according to press reports.

At the end of that season, Morecambe finally got their man, and Jimmy switched to Christie Park. Soon after came the Cup tie v Fleetwood featured in the cartoon above.

Morecambe were playing in the Lancashire Combination that season, and they finished 4th. The champions were - Wigan.

After just a year in the job, Jimmy Milne moved on again. On June 26th 1948 the Morecambe Guardian quoted club secretary Mr. R.C. Quick as saying that Milne had handed in his resignation. He took the trainer's position at Doncaster Rovers, hanging up his boots as a player.

He moved on yet again in 1949 - back to Preston as trainer. Here he is with the side that reached the Cup Final in 1954, losing to West Brom, Jimmy is front left, next to Tom Finney, with Tommy Docherty in the back row:

[Seasider9601]

Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.

Really love those old cartoons from way back when.

I don't think he's on SV, but esteemed Club Historian, Lawrence Bland, would - I am certain - be interested in reading and seeing this information above and would most definitely be able to provide more information about him as Lawrence also keeps stats etc etc for Preston North End FC.

[Seasider9601]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Milne

[Kushiro]

Thanks a lot for the tip about Lawrence. I contacted him via Les Taylor at the former players' association. He sent me these details of McGraw's career: