Alexander Downie Dawson (21 February 1940 – 17 July 2020) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a forward. He was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in Scotland, but began his professional career with Manchester United, where he spent four years before joining nearby Preston North End in 1961. In six seasons there, he made almost 200 league appearances and scored 114 goals. He then spent a year with fellow Lancashire side Bury, before moving to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. In 1970, he went on loan to Brentford, but his league career ended the following year. He spent two more seasons playing for

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team ...

before retiring in 1973.

Career

Born in

, Dawson started his career as a trainee with Manchester United under Matt Busby in the mid 1950s. He was given his First Division debut as a 17-year-old on 22 April 1957, when he scored in a 2–0 home win over

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

in the First Division. He also found the net in United's next two league games against Cardiff City and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

. These games came after United had sealed the First Division title for a second successive season. In 1957–58, he made just one appearance during the first six months of the season, but then came the Munich air disaster in which eight Manchester United players died, including forwards

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster. Career Taylor was born in Smithies, ...

and Liam Whelan, while

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World ...

and

Dennis Viollet Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disa ...

were unavailable for several weeks as they recovered from their injuries. He was on the scoresheet in United's first game after the crash, scoring one of United's goals in a 3–0 victory over

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

in the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He remained a regular player in the team until the season's end, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Fulham in the FA Cup semi-final replay at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. He remains the most recent player to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup semi-final. He was in the team for the

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

final against Bolton Wanderers, but United lost 2–0. He faced competition for a first-team place from new signing Albert Quixall, which restricted him to 11 appearances in 1958–59. The subsequent two seasons saw Dawson enjoy more regular first team action, and in the 1960–61 season he scored 20 goals in all competitions. Dawson's first team chances were limited in 1961–62 following the arrival of David Herd. He left United for Preston North End in 1961 after scoring 54 goals in all competitions for the Red Devils. At Preston, he became known as the "Black Prince of Deepdale" and featured in their

1964 FA Cup Final The 1964 FA Cup Final was the 83rd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 2 May 1964 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Ham United and Preston North End. West Ham, captained by Bobby Moore and managed by Ron Greenwood, won the mat ...

team. He scored in the final as Preston lost 3–2 to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He later played for Bury, Brighton and Brentford. Dawson died on 17 July 2020, aged 80.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Alex 1940 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Aberdeen Scottish footballers Association football forwards Manchester United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Bury F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Corby Town F.C. players Outfield association footballers who played in goal FA Cup Final players