Jimmy Croal
Scottish footballer (1885-1939)
James Anderson Croal (27 July 1885 – 16 September 1939) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Falkirk, Rangers, Chelsea and Scotland. He was judged to be a clever inside left who when paired with Bob McNeil was very effective.
Career
Croal was a lively inside left, who joined Rangers in 1905 from junior football. However, he failed to make the breakthrough to the first team and went out on loan to Ayr Parkhouse, Alloa Athletic and Dunfermline Athletic, before finally leaving Ibrox to sign for Falkirk for a £10 fee in November 1910. At Brockville, his career blossomed, and he won the Scottish Cup in 1913, as well as three international caps for Scotland and five appearances for the Scottish League XI. Croal transferred to Chelsea from Falkirk in April 1914. Chelsea paid £2,000 for him and he remained at Stamford Bridge until 1922. He was a member of the Chelsea side that reached the 1915 FA Cup Final. He made a total of 130 appearances for Chelsea, scoring a total of 26 goals. Croal then spent two-and-a-half seasons with Fulham before retiring.
Personal life
Croal was a schoolmaster by profession.
The public source identifies “Jimmy Croal” as scottish footballer (1885-1939). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jimmy, Croal and Scottish.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6199915. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1939, 1905 and 1910.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jimmy Croal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.