News and Events | Dunfermlines first league title

In season 1925-1926 Dunfermline won the Second Division Championship and Bobby Skinner scored a club record of 53 goals.

Above: The team which took Dunfermline into the First Division as champions for the first time in 1926. Back Row: Thomas Burns, Robert Wylie, Edward Miller, George Turner. Middle Row: Eddie Dowie (Trainer), Jock Bain, Alex Mitchell, Andy Herd, Tommy Gibb, Jock Wilson, Jimmy Clark, Harry Masterton (Assistant Trainer). Front Row: Sandy Paterson (Manager), Alex Ritchie, Joe Sutton, Bobby Skinner, Jimmy Dickson, Jimmy Stein, John Fraser (Chairman), Jimmy Farrell (Linesman)

In season 1925-1926 Dunfermline won the Second Division Championship and Bobby Skinner scored a club record of 53 goals.

A special train conveyed fans to Bathgate on Saturday 10th April 1926 where a crowd approaching 3000 witnessed Dunfermline win 4-2 to register their 11th successive win and clinch the title.

Dunfermline Athletic`s first Scottish League title came in the club`s eighth season in the Scottish League. It was also unexpected as the club had struggled with financial difficulties and at best mid-table performances post-First World War. That changed when new manager Sandy Paterson produced an attacking team with striker Bobby Skinner at the heart of it. Athletic won the title comfortably, scoring a then Division 2 record of 109 goals in the process.

The new dawn was to be a spectacular one - promotion to Division One for the first time ever with a record-breaking performance in season 1925~26. John Hunter wrote in the 1885-1985 Centenary History:-

They began with a 4-1 home victory over Nithsdale Wanderers from Dumfriesshire, and never looked back for the rest of the season. Several factors accounted for this scintillating performance. The club appointed a new manager, Sandy Paterson, from Cowdenbeath FC whom he had just steered into Division One. To be fair, however, it was mostly the players signed by outgoing manager, Willie Knight, who played in the promotion winning side. One such player was Bobby Skinner who signed for the club in November 1924 for £75 and who made the football season. all his own. His speed, quick acceleration and lethal finishing brought him no less than 53 league goals in 38 games that season, a club record which still stands to this day and is unlikely to be broken.

Perhaps fortunately for Skinner, the League had just changed the offside rule to require two and not three defensive players between the advancing player and the goal. The team generally operated in top gear, scoring no less than 109 goals throughout their league campaign, surpassing the previous record held by Falkirk by four goals and beating every other club in Britain. Other prominent players were Jimmy Stein, the club`s left winger who ran up 21 goals; Jock Wilson, right back, who added strength and solidity to the defence; Andy Herd, half back; and Joe Sutton, inside forward.

Throughout the season, Dunfermline never lost at home and were undefeated in their last 15 games. Perhaps it was just as well they were knocked out of the Cup in the first round at Shawfield where they lost 3-0 to Clyde who, incidentally, were also promoted with Dunfermline. Raith were relegated from the First Division.