George White Dick (12 June 1921 – 7 September 1960) was a Scottish

Guardsman Guardsman is a rank used instead of private in some military units that serve as the official bodyguard of a sovereign or head of state. It is also used as a generic term for any member of a guards unit of any rank. Canada In the Canadian Force ...

, B.A.O.R. cruiserweight

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion, and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. After leaving the army, while making up his mind whether to take a letter of recommendation to a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

club, Dick worked as a waiter in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. He asked Joe Smith,

Blackpool F.C. Blackpool Football Club is a professional association football club based in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, th ...

manager, for a trial in August 1946, and within ten minutes was signed on. He played in the

1948 FA Cup Final The 1948 FA Cup Final was contested by Manchester United and Blackpool at Wembley Stadium on 24 April 1948. United, who had not appeared in an FA Cup Final for 39 years, won 4–2, with two goals from Jack Rowley and one apiece from Stan Pearson ...

for Blackpool against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He also wrote training manuals and was one of the first qualified FA coaches. He managed

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on two occasions. His life was cut short when he was killed in a road accident in 1960.

Football career

Playing

Dick began his professional career in 1946 with

. He made his debut for the club in their tenth league game of the 1946–47 campaign, against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...

on 5 October 1946. Calley, Roy (1992). '' Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport Wearing the number 8 shirt, he scored the hosts' second goal (

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...

scored the first). Dick went on to make a further 30 league and one

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 ...

appearances that season. He scored eleven goals in the league, and finished second-top scorer behind Mortensen. Aside from his debut goal, his other strikes came against

(home, 3–1, 19 October);

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

(away, 1–4, 7 December);

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

(home, 2–1, 28 December);

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

(home, 2–1, 1 February 1947);

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

(two goals) (home, 4–0, 15 February);

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

(two goals) (away, 4–1, 8 March); and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

(two goals) (home, 4–2, 15 March). In the 1947–48 season, Dick made sixteen league appearances, scoring two goals. Both goals came in a 5–0 victory over Everton at the seaside on 3 January 1948, which was

George Farrow George Henry Farrow (4 October 1913 – 1980) was an English professional footballer. He played for six clubs in a seventeen-year professional career. In the years before, during and after World War II, Blackpool were one of the most powerfu ...

's last game for Blackpool. He also played in each of Blackpool's six FA Cup ties, including their unsuccessful appearance in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Manchester United, in what proved to be his final game for the club. He scored one of their goals in the 4–0 victory over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

in the third round. In August 1948, Dick was sold to

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

for £7,000. He remained with ''the Hammers'' for a season, at the end of which he moved north to sign for

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. Two years later, in October 1951, he joined

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

for a short spell. In late 1951 he signed for

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

. He retired, as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, from the playing side of the game two years later.

Coaching

Ghent (Belgium), U.S. Army (Germany), Galatasaray, B.1909 (Denmark) 1953–55 July 1953 Royal Racing Club de Ghent (Belgium) 1956 U.S. army coach based in Germany, 5 August travelled for interview for position with Galatasaray 1957 Boldklubben.1909 Denmark 1958–59 Galatasaray 1959–60 Boldklubben 1909 Denmark, won championship Danish Champions 1959

References

External links

George Dick – West Ham career stats
*
Blackpool 1948 F.A. Cup Final line-up programme image
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, George 1921 births 1960 deaths Scottish footballers Scottish male boxers Blackpool F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Galatasaray S.K. (football) managers Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom Scots Guards soldiers Boldklubben 1909 managers Footballers from West Lothian English Football League players Scottish football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Turkey Scottish expatriate football managers Association football forwards FA Cup Final players K.R.C. Gent managers