Player Profile: Jim McCalliog

Jim McCal­liog

A Glas­gow nat­ive, Jim McCal­liog star­ted out with Chelsea where he made his first team debut in a 3–0 tri­umph over Birm­ing­ham City at St Andrews in Septem­ber 1964. He then played for Shef­field Wed­nes­day and Wol­ver­hamp­ton Wan­der­ers before he was bought by releg­a­tion strug­gling Manchester United for a fee of £60,000 in March 1974.

Jim McCal­liog went on to col­lect a Second Divi­sion Cham­pi­on­ship medal the fol­low­ing sea­son as Manchester United won pro­mo­tion to the First Divi­sion at the first attempt. An exper­i­enced play­maker with a supreme touch and an eye for goal too, the Scot­land player gave Tommy Docherty´s young and prom­ising Manchester United side the sta­bil­ity and inspir­a­tion in mid­field they needed to suc­ceed in the Second Divi­sion. At the end of the day, the cre­at­ive mid­field dynamo was trans­ferred to ambi­tious Southamp­ton where the much trav­elled soc­cer player gained an FA Cup winner´s medal as a mem­ber of the now legendary team which man­aged to beat over­whelm­ing favour­ites Manchester United by 1–0 at Wemb­ley Sta­dium in May 1976. With as little as seven minutes remain­ing on the referee´s clock, a mag­ni­fi­cent through ball from Jim McCal­liog allowed Southamp­ton goal poacher Bobby Stokes to ham­mer the ball behind com­pletely help­less Manchester United stop­per Alex Stepney and into the back of the net to hit a sen­sa­tional win­ning goal for The Saints. Tommy Docherty: “We weren’t over­con­fid­ent but we were very con­fid­ent we would win. I had let Jim McCal­liog, who made Southampton’s goal, leave Manchester United and old play­ers, by and large, come back to haunt you. When we got back to Manchester town hall I told the sup­port­ers that would we would be back the next year to win the Cup but it was a bit of wish­ful think­ing.” Jim McCal­liog Career Details: Jim McCal­liog was released by Southamp­ton man­ager Lawrie McMe­nemy at the end of the 1976–77 cam­paign and the adven­tur­ous player sub­sequently moved to the United States to appear for Chicago Sting. The Glaswe­gian later played for Nor­we­gian team Lyn Oslo before the seasoned cam­paigner fin­ished his foot­ball career at Lin­coln City. After a com­par­at­ively short spell as player coach, he finally made his retire­ment from the game in 1979 to run a pub­lic house. Jim McCal­liog Play­ing Career: Chelsea, Shef­field Wed­nes­day, Wol­ver­hamp­ton Wan­der­ers, Manchester United, Southamp­ton, Chicago Sting, Lyn Oslo, Lin­coln City.

Manchester United History