James Davidson Gibson (12 June 1901 – 1 January 1978) 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 for

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

Ashfield Ashfield may refer to: People * Ashfield (surname) Places Australia * Ashfield, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Municipality of Ashfield, a former local government area in Sydney ** Electoral district of Ashfield, a former electoral dist ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. His career spanned 19 years, from 1917 to 1936.

Career

Gibson played

right-half A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

and was regarded as one of the best players in that position at that time. He played almost 200 games for Partick before a transfer to Aston Villa for a then-record fee of £7,500. He made 227 appearances for Aston Villa, during which time they were runners-up 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 ...

twice ( 1930–31 and 1932–33) but were relegated in his final season with the club, 1935–36. He was capped eight times by

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

; The highlight of his career was when he partnered

Jimmy McMullan James McMullan (26 March 1895 – 28 November 1964) was a Scottish football player and manager. He won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous ''"Wembley Wizards"'' side of 1928. Playing career Early life and Th ...

(his former Partick Thistle teammate) in the dominant Scottish midfield of the "

Wembley Wizards The Wembley Wizards is the nickname for the Scotland national football team that crushed England 5–1 at Wembley in the 1928 British Home Championship. Background Scotland had failed to win either of their previous matches in the 1928 British ...

" that defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

5–1 in 1928. He also played twice for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Personal life

His father

Neilly Gibson Neil Gibson (23 February 1873 – January 1947) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Rangers, Partick Thistle and the Scotland national team. Career Adept at playing in either left or right wing half position, Gibson joined Rangers in 18 ...

was also a Scottish international, who too played for Partick Thistle though mainly for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, while brothers

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

and

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

were also footballers.Neilly Gibson
ScottishLeague.net, 18 February 2007

References

External links

* 1901 births 1978 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Footballers from Larkhall Partick Thistle F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Ashfield F.C. players Scottish Football League representative players Men's association football wing halves Scottish Junior Football Association players Larkhall Thistle F.C. players {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1900s-stub