John Fraser (10 November 1876 – 1 October 1952) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an

outside left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He was part of the

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

team who won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

, having earlier played for

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, St Mirren and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He also represented both

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and 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 ...

. In addition, while with

he earned a representative cap for Dumbartonshire against

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1897, and played for both sides in the

Home Scots v Anglo-Scots Home Scots v Anglo-Scots was an annual association football trial match organised by the Scottish Football Association between the 1890s and 1920s to examine the abilities of possible players for upcoming full British Home Championship internationa ...

trial matches. He later went on to coach Dundee and Chelsea.

Career

Jack Fraser started his football career at the late age of 18 with his local club

, where he appeared as part of the team that lost the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

. After then spending one season with

he decided to try his luck in England and joined First Division club

in January 1898. He remained at County for eighteen months before moving on to

where he remained for two seasons, until returning to Scotland with St Mirren for the 1901–02 season. Fraser represented the

in 1902. By the time he joined

in May 1902 he had clocked up eight years with five different clubs with no conspicuous success. He was signed by Southampton as a replacement for

Edgar Chadwick Edgar Wallace Chadwick (14 June 1869 – 14 February 1942) was a left-sided association football, footballer who had a long and distinguished career with Everton F.C., Everton during the 1890s. He was also the national coach for the Netherlan ...

who had moved on to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

after leading the Saints to the 1902 FA Cup final. In an effort to reclaim the Southern League title, Southampton recruited six new players, including fellow Scots, Tom Robertson from

and Mark Bell from Heart of Midlothian. Fraser scored 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 Wick ...

on his debut against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 6 September 1902 (with the other goals from fellow débutante Tom Barlow (2) and Harry Wood) and soon became a fixture in the side and missed only a handful of games in the 1902–03 season, including twice giving way to C. B. Fry for his final appearances for the club. On 13 December 1902 he scored four goals as Saints recorded their joint highest victory margin of 11–0 against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. When he joined the Saints he originally played at centre-forward, but he soon switched to inside-left where he had his best games and soon became a crowd favourite. Described in Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints" as "a bulky man" he "found the wing positions more to his liking and presented an awesome sight to defending goalkeepers when cutting inside and bearing down on them in full flight". Saints finished Fraser's first season by taking the Southern League championship for the fifth time in seven years with Fraser contributing 15 goals. This success was repeated in the following season, although in February 1903 he lost his place through injury to Fred Mouncher. He was restored to the starting line-up for the 1904–05 season where he continued to dovetail well on the left with George Hedley, but Saints finished the season in a disappointing third place. Fraser had planned on remaining in

as his intention was to purchase a tobacconist's business in the town, but the deal fell through and he then accepted excellent terms from

and returned to Scotland. The return to Scotland paid dividends as he was to gain an international cap for

on 16 March 1907 in a 1–0 victory over

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He went on to win the

, defeating Clyde 2–1 in a second replay. Fraser moved back to England in 1919 to work for Chelsea, firstly as a scout. He was later an assistant manager under

David Calderhead David Calderhead (19 June 1864 – 9 January 1938) was a Scottish football player and manager. Calderhead played for Queen of the South Wanderers, Notts County and Lincoln City. He won the FA Cup with Notts County in 1894 and was capped once f ...

and

Leslie Knighton Albert Leslie Knighton (15 March 1887 – 10 May 1959) was an English football manager. He managed Arsenal, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Birmingham, Chelsea and Shrewsbury Town. Management career Knighton was born in Church Gresley, Swa ...

Honours

Dumbarton *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

Southampton * Southern League championship: 1902–03; 1903–04 Dundee *

References

External links

Photo of Dundee F.C. Scottish Cup winning team of 1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, John 1876 births 1952 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Scotland men's international footballers Dumbarton F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Dumbarton Scottish Football League representative players Dundee F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football wingers