30 Facts About Hughie Gallacher

Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s.

In 624 senior games, Hughie Gallacher scored 463 goals, playing senior league football for Airdrieonians, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Derby County, Notts County, Grimsby Town and Gateshead.

Hughie Gallacher is one of the Scotland national football team's most prolific goalscorers with 24 goals from his 20 internationals, a strike rate of more than a goal a game.

Hughie Gallacher started "biffing a twopenny ball" almost as soon as he could walk.

Hughie Gallacher began a long friendship with Alex James when both were students at Bellshill Academy.

Hughie Gallacher soon settled and married a local woman, raising a family with a strict Protestant upbringing.

Hughie Gallacher had been down the Hattonrig Pit at the age of 15, working 10-hour shifts.

Bellshill were a man short and Hughie Gallacher was asked to play.

Hughie Gallacher was barely 17 when he met and married Annie McIlvaney, a girl who worked at the pit where he worked as a miner.

In December 1920, Hughie Gallacher was picked for the Scottish junior side to play against Ireland at Shawfield.

Hughie Gallacher is only a young player but knows all that is required of him in the centre.

Airdrie offered a contract and Hughie Gallacher signed without a second thought.

Hughie Gallacher however returned to Palmerston Park many times to play in and referee charity matches.

Hughie Gallacher moved back to North Lanarkshire with the transfer to Airdrieonians.

Hughie Gallacher was selected for the first team 15 times that season and hit seven goals.

Hughie Gallacher helped Airdrie reserves to the Second XI Cup.

Hughie Gallacher ended the season with 23 league goals in 19 games, ending up as the club's top scorer despite signing halfway through the season.

One teammate described how Hughie Gallacher would sit in the dressing room, with pieces of flesh hanging from his legs and his socks and boots soaked in blood.

Hughie Gallacher scored 36 league goals in 38 appearances, still the highest number of league goals in one season by a Newcastle player.

Hughie Gallacher scored 81 goals in 144 games and was Chelsea's top scorer in each of his four seasons in west London.

Hughie Gallacher was taken under the wing of fellow Scotsmen Dally Duncan and an old Newcastle United friend, Jimmy Boyd, and was said to have been as good as gold during his Baseball Ground days.

Hughie Gallacher hit 18 league goals for the club before retiring from football with the outbreak of World War II.

Only two players, Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish with 30 each, have scored more goals for the full Scotland team than Hughie Gallacher, who averaged 1.2 goals per game from his 20 caps.

Hughie Gallacher continued to live in Gateshead, trying a number of careers, one of them being a sports journalist, a role that led to him being banned from St James' Park for his outspoken remarks about Newcastle United.

Hughie Gallacher turned out in charity matches even at the age of 52.

For weeks after the alleged assault, Hughie Gallacher began wandering the streets.

Hughie Gallacher then wandered aimlessly through the streets ignoring the greetings of several people.

Hughie Gallacher was openly weeping, talking to himself and occasionally pounding the bridge rail with his fists.

Hughie Gallacher stepped down from the bridge and killed himself by walking in front of an oncoming express train.

On 22 February 2023, his grandson, Andy Hughie Gallacher, was on hand to unveil a plaque tribute to the legendary frontman at Gateshead Redheugh FC.