John Watson Bell (6 October 1868 – 12 April 1956) was a Scottish football player and manager.

Career

A winger or inside-forward born in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, Bell played with Dumbarton Union,

, Everton,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, Celtic,

New Brighton Tower New Brighton Tower was a steel lattice observation tower at New Brighton in the town of Wallasey, Cheshire (now in the Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside), England. It stood high, and was the tallest building in Great Britain when it opened ...

and Preston North End. During his time with Everton, he was one of a group of five men who were the first to be selected for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

while playing for an English club (although Bell had been

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

already at Dumbarton), in the process becoming the club's first international for that nation. As well as playing for one season alongside his younger brother Laurie, previously also a Dumbarton teammate, he also helped organise the

Association Footballers' Union The Association Footballers' Union (the AFU), formed in England in 1898, was the first attempt by football players in the United Kingdom to organize themselves into a union. The AFU was formed in response to the introduction by the Football L ...

and later served as its president; his activities in this area caused Everton to end his contract, and he switched to non-league Tottenham for a short period before returning to Scotland with Celtic, though he later returned to

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

. In 1909, Bell was appointed manager/coach of former club Preston. He later spent some time in Canada, but settled in the

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

area. His great-grandson Tom Smith was a Scottish international in

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Honours

;Dumbarton *

Scottish 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 sout ...

: Champions 1890–91, 1891–92 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1890–91 *

Dumbartonshire Cup The Dumbartonshire Cup was the championship trophy of the Dumbartonshire FA from its inception in 1884 until the organization disbanded in 1938. There was however an 'extra' playing of the competition in 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the ...

: Winners 1888–89, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93 * League Charity Cup: Winners 1890–91 * Greenock Charity Cup: Winners 1889–90 - Runner-up 1888–89 * 2

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for Scotland between 1889 and 1892, scoring one goal * 1

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the

in 1892, scoring one goal * 1 representative cap for Scotland against Canada XI in 1891, scoring two goals * 7 representative caps for Dumbartonshire between 1888 and 1890, scoring three goals * 2 international trial games for Scotland between 1890 and 1892 * top Scottish League goalscorer: 1890–91 (20 goals); 1891–92 (19 goals).

References

External links

*
London Hearts Profile - Scotland
1868 births Celtic F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Everton F.C. players New Brighton Tower F.C. players Footballers from Dumbarton Preston North End F.C. managers Preston North End F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers 1956 deaths Scottish league football top scorers Scottish expatriates in Canada Men's association football outside forwards Scottish sports executives and administrators British trade union leaders {{Scotland-footy-forward-1860s-stub