Malcolm McPhail
Scottish footballer (1895-1975)
Malcolm McPhail (1895 – 1975) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside left, primarily for Kilmarnock, with whom he won the Scottish Cup in 1920. He was selected to play for Scotland in an unofficial 'Victory International' in 1919.
McPhail later served as a director of St Mirren. He was the older brother of Rangers and Scotland forward Bob McPhail.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Malcolm McPhail” is scottish footballer (1895-1975). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Malcolm, McPhail and Scottish, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “scottish footballer (1895-1975)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
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 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q95675532. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1975, 1920 and 1919.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Malcolm McPhail”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Malcolm McPhail primary sources, Malcolm McPhail archive and Malcolm research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Malcolm McPhail”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Malcolm McPhail” 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.