146 Jock McGee

Biography

Scottish centre half Jock McGee joined the Tigers in March 1922 and made his first team debut six months later. City were struggling at the start of the 1922/23 season and when manager Percy Lewis resigned in January 1923 Jock returned to the Reserves as new boss Bill McCracken looked to rebuild the squad. After a wait of 13 months McGee came back into the side in February 1924 and showed versatility in a run of 23 starts at centre half and both full back positions. Jock was now regarded as a utility reserve defender and he fulfilled that role for the next three years, deputising for absent colleagues in both full back positions. In December 1926 he was handed the right back position and played throughout City’s fine FA Cup run in January and February 1927 that saw the Tigers eliminate First Division sides West Bromwich Albion (2-1 at Anlaby Road) and Everton (3-2 in a second replay at Villa Park) before facing Division Two rivals Wolves in the Fifth Round. City lost that tie 0-1 and Jock suffered a badly broken leg that he was not able to recover from despite the City board showing him much patience during an 18 month period of convalescence. He left the Tigers in the 1928 close season.

John “Jock” McGee was born in Rothesay, the principal settlement on the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. During Jock’s youth his father was a gamekeeper and an early pioneer bus driver and the teenage Jock assisted his father on the buses until joining the Territorial Force in 1915. He served in World War One until 1919, after which he had a short spell playing local football for Bute Comrades. Jock and his family moved to the Ripon area of North Yorkshire early in 1920 after his father took work on a local agricultural estate and Jock was soon playing as an amateur for both Ripon City and Leeds United’s reserves. He made his only senior appearance for Leeds United in September 1920 in an FA Cup tie that required a reserve team to turn out due to a clash with a Football League fixture. McGee served Leeds and Ripon for the remainder of the 1920/21 season, then played for Harrogate Town in the 1921/22 season. In March 1922 Jock had a trial with City’s Reserves and was duly signed.

After his retirement from playing McGee opened a bakery and confectionery shop on Queen Street near the Humber Ferry landing while also coaching the Yorkshire League select XI. By 1939 he was a sub-postmaster on Cumberland Street, then a row of residential terraced houses to the west of the Rover Hull near Wincolmlee, now an access road in an industrial area. After World War Two McGee returned to Rothesay and worked as a library caretaker until his death in September 1962.

Details

Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 13 July 1896, Rothesay
Hull City First Game: 23 September 1922, Fulham H (Division Two), 26 years, 72 days old
Hull City Final Game: 19 February 1927, Wolverhampton Wanderers A (FA Cup Fifth Round), 30 years, 221 days old

Clubs

Bute Comrades (1919-1920), Ripon City (1920-1921), Leeds United (1920-1921), Harrogate Town (1921-1922), Hull City (1922-1928)

Hull City Record

Career: 80 apps, 0 goals

Jock McGee
SeasonLGE
App
LGE
Gls
FAC
App
FAC
Gls
FLC
App
FLC
Gls
EUR
App
EUR
Gls
OTH
App
OTH
Gls
1922/23130--------
1923/24160--------
1924/2518040------
1925/2610010------
1926/2713050------
1927/28----------

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