Jock Mulraney

Ambrose Aloysius "Jock" Mulraney (18 May 1916 – 8 December 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside right. He played for Ipswich Town in their first season in the Football League, for Birmingham City in wartime football and in the Football League Second Division, and for Aston Villa in the top flight.

Jock Mulraney
Personal information
Full name Ambrose Aloysius Mulraney[1]
Date of birth (1916-05-18)18 May 1916
Place of birth Wishaw, Scotland
Date of death 8 December 2001(2001-12-08) (aged 85)[1]
Place of death Kinver, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[2]
Playing position(s) Outside right
Youth career
Wishaw White Rose
Carluke Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1933–1935 Celtic 0 (0)
1935–1936 Dartford
1936–1945 Ipswich Town 60 (18)
1945–1947 Birmingham City 27 (8)
1947–1948 Shrewsbury Town
1948 Kidderminster Harriers (0)
1948–1949 Aston Villa 12 (2)
1949–1952 Cradley Heath
Teams managed
1949–1952 Cradley Heath (player-manager)
1952–1953 Brierley Hill Alliance
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Biography

Mulraney was born in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. He was a small man of slight build,[2] with considerable pace and trickery,[3] whose preferred position was outside right, but he was also capable of playing on the left wing. He began his football career with junior clubs Wishaw White Rose and Carluke Rovers, and had a trial for Scotland schoolboys, before joining Celtic in 1933. Unable to break into the first team at Celtic, he had trials at a variety of clubs both within Scotland and outside it[4] before moving to England to join Southern League Dartford in 1935.

A year later he moved to Ipswich Town, then also in the Southern League, and helped them win the 1936–37 championship. The following season Ipswich finished third in the Southern League and successfully applied for election to the Football League, where they were placed in the Third Division South. Mulraney was only able to play one full league season for Ipswich before the Second World War intervened. He scored their first ever away goal in the Football League, the only goal of the game at Walsall in August 1938, and their first ever Football League hat-trick, in the 4–0 win over Bristol City on 8 April 1939.[2]

Mulraney served in the Royal Air Force during the war as a PT Instructor, reaching the rank of Flight Sergeant.[3] His military service did not prevent him playing in the wartime football competitions, in which he made guest appearances for no fewer than twelve clubs.[5] From the 1943–44 season onwards he was able to play regularly for Birmingham City, for whom he scored 41 goals in 118 appearances in wartime football. On demobilisation from the RAF in October 1945, he joined the club permanently for a fee of £3,750.[3] That season he contributed to the club winning the championship of the Football League South and scored seven goals in their run to the semi-final of the first post-war FA Cup.[6]

In July 1947 he joined Shrewsbury Town, with whom he won a Midland League championship medal,[7] and a year later joined Southern League Kidderminster Harriers.[8] Two months later, in September 1948, he signed for First Division Aston Villa, where he ended his Football League career. He then tried his hand at management with Cradley Heath in the Birmingham & District League, where he had three years as player-manager, and in 1952 with Birmingham & District League champions Brierley Hill Alliance.

Mulraney suffered a heart attack in 1968 from which he recovered.[3] He settled in Kinver, Staffordshire,[5] where he died in December 2001.[1]

Honours
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References
  1. "Jock Mulraney". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  2. "Ambrose Mulraney". Pride of Anglia. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  3. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Breedon Books. p. 113. ISBN 1-85983-010-2.
  4. Kaufman, Neil (5 August 2003). "Morrell–Newey". LOFC Online. Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2007. Online information sourced from author's book:
    Kaufman, Neilson N.; assisted by Ravenhill, Alan E. (1 July 2002). The Men Who Made Leyton Orient Football Club. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-2412-5.
  5. "Mulraney, Ambrose (Jock) "Mull"". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  6. Matthews, p. 240.
  7. "Shrewsbury Town". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  8. "Kidderminster Harriers Results 1948–1949". St@tto's Kidderminster Harriers Site. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  • at Pride of Anglia
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