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Jimmy Dickson
Date of Birth: 10-05-1896
Position: Midfielder
Joined: 25-10-1923
Appearances: 194
Substitute Appearances:
Goals: 56
Nationality:
Previous Clubs: Parkhead Juniors
Subsequent Clubs: Fordson’s (Cork), Derry City

Died: 26-02-1956

Jimmy Dickson came to the attention of senior clubs while playing for Parkhead Juniors and was given a game as a trialist for Dunfermline Athletic in a Scottish League Second Division match at East Fife on 20th October 1923. Lining up at centre-forward, he scored both of Dunfermline`s goals in a 2-1 win and was offered a contract, his home debut coming a week later in a defeat by Armadale.

A team-mate from Parkhead, Joe Sutton, was also signed by Dunfermline at this time but their former club did not take too kindly to this and the pair ended up in court! On Thursday, 20th March 1924, an action by Parkhead Juniors, Helenslea Park, against the two players was heard by Sheriff Thomson at Glasgow`s Small Debt Court. The court heard that they had entered into a contract to play for Parkhead throughout season 1923/24 and had each received a sum of money as part of the deal. As they had subsequently joined Dunfermline and had been registered with both the SFA and the SFL, the club argued that they had committed a breach of contract. As they had basically disqualified themselves from playing for Parkhead, the club demanded the return of £8 (Sutton) and £10 (Dickson, whose address was given as 5 Norman Street, Bridgeton). The Sheriff found that they were liable for the sums sued for and also awarded the pursuers three guineas expenses in each case.

After playing as a centre-forward in his first nine matches for Dunfermline, Dickson was then switched to inside-left (No. 10), where he spent the remainder of his Dunfermline career apart from the odd game at other positions in the forward line. His career record at East End Park is as follows:

1923/24 – 28 appearances, 13 goals
1924/25 – 38 appearances, 15 goals
1925/26 – 37 appearances, 9 goals
1926/27 – 24 appearances, 2 goals
1927/28 – 35 appearances, 11 goals
1928/29 – 32 appearances, 6 goals

Total – 194 appearances, 56 goals (this includes the trialist appearance in 1923)
NB: League and Scottish Cup matches only, no local cup competitions or friendlies included.

This makes him the fifth highest pre-war scorer for the club and in the top forty of all-time. In the Scottish League, his 54 goals put him the top twenty highest scorers in Dunfermline`s history – not bad going. He scored two hat-tricks, the first in a 3-2 home win over King`s Park on 19th January 1924 and then on 18th October 1924 in a 4-1 win over Arbroath, also at East End Park.

By now an integral part of the Dunfermline side, Dickson was the orchestrator of the team that scored a record number of goals on its way to the 1925/26 Second Division title and his intuitive style brought the best out of fellow forwards Bobby Skinner (who netted what was then a Scottish record and still a club record 53 league goals that season) and Jimmy Stein. For his part, Stein played on the left wing from January 1924 to April 1928 alongside Dickson and with his help, was transferred to Everton where he had a sterling career.

Jimmy Dickson scored twice in Dunfermline`s first ever home win in the top flight, a 4-2 win over Hibernian on 18 September 1926, his only goals that season, as it turned out. He also played in the infamous (for Pars supporters!) 9-0 defeat by Celtic on 14th January 1928 in which Jimmy McGrory scored eight goals. The club was relegated that season after a lot of heavy defeats.

In March 1927 there were rumours that Stoke City had offered £750 for him but nothing came of it. It was common knowledge, however, that he hadn`t been happy at the club for some time and, at his own request, was placed on the open-to-transfer list. In the struggle to avoid relegation he was dropped for the last eleven matches. Either way, he wasn`t re-signed at the end of 1926/27, the club having signed a few new players after only just avoiding the drop. However, the opening match of 1927/28 saw Dunfermline lose 4-0 at Motherwell and the player in the No. 10 jersey, Moffat, suffered a bad injury. The manager, Sandy Paterson, then heard that Jimmy Dickson was about to sail for America to take up an offer to play for the Indiana Flooring Club (clubs in the USA back then often adopted company names and signed many players from Scotland – it was a really thriving scene) along with another couple of players. Paterson immediately set off for Dickson`s house in Glasgow and talked him into postponing his journey to the USA to re-join Dunfermline Athletic.

One of the local papers reported that the support would have mixed feelings about this, as Jimmy had his detractors at East End but also had a big following. It went on to say that ‘there is no mistaking his worth as a football player and it is to be hoped that this season his shooting will be on a par with his clever footwork`. It emerged that a couple of the club`s most prominent players were responsible for Jimmy being fixed up again and, the paper said, ‘they should know better than the g



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