George Birrell Gibb Paterson (29 June 1904 – 1949) 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 le ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

Career

Born in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Paterson played for local side Lochgelly United, then spent a year with junior club Kelty Rangers before returning to Lochgelly United, where he was a prolific goalscorer in his second spell (albeit in the third tier of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

), prompting English club

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 ...

to sign him in 1925. He made an impressive start, 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 ...

on his debut in a 4–0 win against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. After playing seven matches scoring four goals during the 1925–26 season,Joyce, Michael: "The Football League player records 1888 to 1939" Paterson become seriously homesick and returned to Lochgelly, who had by then dropped out of the SFL into the Scottish Alliance. He later went on to play for East Fife (featuring on the losing side in the

1927 Scottish Cup Final Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

), spent a season with Rhyl Athletic, then had a productive five seasons at Dunfermline Athletic which culminated in a promotion as runners-up in

1933–34 Scottish Division Two The 1933–34 Scottish Second Division was the second tier football league of Scotland that was won by Albion Rovers who, along with second placed Dunfermline Athletic, were promoted to the First Division. Edinburgh City finished bottom. Table ...

. Rather than going up to the top level for what would have been the first time in his career, he signed for

Leith Athletic Leith Athletic Football Club is a football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. They compete in the East of Scotland Football League, Conference A. First team matches are played at Peffermill 3G. The present club considers itse ...

, but was released after six months.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, George Scottish men's footballers Lochgelly United F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players 1904 births Footballers from Lochgelly 1949 deaths East Fife F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Leith Athletic F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Men's association football forwards