Thomas "Tam" Scobbie (born 31 March 1988 in Falkirk) is a Scottish professional

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 ...

who plays for

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

. He has previously played for Falkirk, St Johnstone.

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

. Partick Thistle,

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

, and

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

. Scobbie was a regular squad member for the Scotland under-21 national team.

Youth career

Scobbie played most of his football as a boy with Grangemouth Boys Club, whilst attending

Graeme High School Graeme High School is a non-denominational State school, public secondary school located in Falkirk, Scotland. The school is operated by Falkirk Council on behalf of the Education Department of the Scottish Government. The catchment area, from wh ...

. An intelligent student (sic), he mixed his studies well with football but left in fourth-year to pursue a career in the game. At age twelve, Scobbie joined Falkirk's academy team becoming the youngest player to sign a schoolboy form for the club.

Club career

Falkirk

Scobbie made his debut for Falkirk on 30 April 2005 against

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

. He made his Scottish Premier League (SPL) debut against

in a 2–1 victory. Scobbie made seventeen appearances in his first season. On 18 February 2007, Scobbie received a red card for the first time in his career after he was caught in a late with Chris Burke, resulting a straight red card for Scobbie. In 2007–08 season, Scobbie made a good start for the club in the opening game of the season after he provided an assist for

Michael Higdon Michael Higdon (born 2 September 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He began his career with Crewe Alexandra where he came through the youth team before making the break into their first eleven in 2003 ...

, as Falkirk beat Gretna 4–0. However, Scobbie was criticized during a performance against Hearts and this resulted him being dropped. He later make up his mistake when Hearts and Falkirk meet again and scored his first goal for the club and then provided an assist for

Carl Finnigan Carl Finnigan (born 1 October 1986) is an English Association football, footballer and plays for Dunston UTS F.C., Dunston UTS. He has played for teams in Botswana, England, Scotland and South Africa during his career. Career Finnigan was born ...

, in a 2–1 win over Hearts on 5 May 2008. The 2007–08 season proved to be Scobbie's breakthrough season, as he made thirty-three appearances and scored once. In February 2008, Scobbie signed a five-year contract with the club. In 2008–09 season, Scobbie was diagnosed with a pelvic injury. After two months out, Scobbie made his return on the bench, as Falkirk lost 2–1 to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

, but didn't play. Scobbie made his return to playing, as Falkirk beat Hearts 2–1 on 13 September 2008. Later in the end of September, Manager John Hughes commented that Scobbie's progression could see him being captain and could be a manager. On 26 April 2009, he scored in a 2–0 win against

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers 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 con ...

. Ahead of the Scottish Cup final, Scobbie scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Motherwell on 2 May 2009. Following the loss, Scobbie said the defeat left him "heartbroken". Ahead of the 2009–10 season, Scobbie was among three players to be linked a move away from Falkirk, as he was keen to sit down with the club's board to discuss the fresh terms. Scobbie made his European debut for the club against

FC Vaduz FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

of Liechtenstein, but lost 2–1 in a

two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...

. The season started without the manager, John Hughes, who left for Hibernian. In October, Scobbie sustained a recurrence of his pelvic problems, which caused him to be pulled out of Scotland's Under-21 squad. Scobbie revealed he had taken 12 injections and unsuccessfully had a hernia operations twice. In late January, Scobbie recovered from injuries. Following his return, Scobbie was unable to help the club survive relegation and was relegated to Division One. The 2010–11 season was proved to be unsuccessful for Scobbie, as he made thirty-six appearances in all competitions and scored once against

on 15 February 2011, in a 1–1 draw. After the season, Scobbie was linked with SPL clubs Kilmarnock and St Mirren. On 1 April 2012, Scobbie played as Falkirk beat Hamilton Academical 1–0 to win the Challenge Cup. In May 2012, Scobbie announced he is to leave the club this summer and says his departure was ''"inevitable"''. In his last appearance against

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

in the last game of the season, Scobbie was given the captaincy and scored the opening goal from the penalty, as Falkirk won 3–2.

St Johnstone

Scobbie left Falkirk under freedom of contract in May 2012 and signed a two-year contract with St Johnstone. Scobbie made his debut for the club, where he made his first start, in a 2–1 loss against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 18 August 2012. However, Scobbie was unable to regain his first team place at St Johnstone, as he spent on the bench and had his own injury concerns. At the beginning of the 2013–14 season, Scobbie played four Europa League matches, including the 1–0 win against Norwegian side Rosenberg in the second round of the Europa League first leg. St Johnstone would later be eliminated by

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

in the drawing 1–1 in the second leg of Europa League after it went on penalties. In the league, Scobbie would be often used in first team ins and out in his second season at the club. Despite this, on 14 January 2014, Scobbie signed a contract with the club, which see Scobbie stay until the end of the 2014-15 season. A week after signing a new deal, Scobbie was an involved in the incident during the match against Hearts after Scottish Football Association issued a notice on Scobbie and was considering banning him for two games. In conclusion, Scobbie would miss two games after the club decided against appeal. During the match against

, which they lost 1–0 on 22 February 2014, Scobbie sustained ligament damage, though he came on for

Frazer Wright Frazer Wright (born 23 December 1979) is a Scottish former professional footballer and current assistant manager of club Stenhousemuir. Wright, who started his career with Stranraer played for Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Dumbarton and Stirlin ...

. After an operation, it was announced that Scobbie would be out for the remainder of the season. Scobbie was part of the successful side that went on to win the 2013-14 Scottish Cup. At the start of the 2014–15 season, Scobbie played three out of the four Europa League matches for St Johnstone. Scobbie helped St Johnstone progress to the next round after he converted the winning penalty shoot-out, putting St Johnstone through to the next round. Having featured for the first five matches, Scobbie suffered medial ligament damage that requires repairment, resulting him out for three months. Though making his return, Scobbie remained on the substitute bench until he made his return on the pitch, coming on as a substitute for Brian Easton in the 82nd minute, in a 2–0 win over Partick Thistle on 17 January 2015. On 13 April 2015, Scobbie signed a new two-year contract with St Johnstone, keeping him at the club until 2017. Scobbie later made twenty appearances for the club.

Dundee United

After leaving St Johnstone Scobbie signed for

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

club

on 13 June 2017. However, just six games into the new campaign, a torn groin muscle in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie with Dundee saw him ruled out of action for nearly two months. He returned at the end of October, and featured regularly at full-back and the centre of defence as United qualified for a Play-off spot. Scobbie joined Partick Thistle on loan in August 2018, being given the number 37 kit. He returned to Dundee United in January 2019 after making 8 appearances for Thistle. Scobbie then joined

on loan on deadline day in January 2019, for the rest of the 2018–19 season. He was released by United at the end of the season.

Kelty Hearts

Scobbie signed for

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

club

in September 2019. He left Kelty at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Berwick Rangers

announced the signing of Scobbie on a short term deal on 30 August 2021.

International career

In 2006, Scobbie was called up to represent Scotland U19 team. In 2008, Scobbie stated that he hoped he makes it to the senior team under the new management of

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

. The same year, Scobbie was called by the Scotland U21 team.

Career statistics

Honours

Falkirk * Scottish Challenge Cup: 2011–12 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2008–09 St Johnstone *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2013–14 Kelty Hearts *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scobbie, Thomas Living people 1988 births Scottish men's footballers Scottish Premier League players Footballers from Falkirk Falkirk F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers People educated at Graeme High School Scottish Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Brechin City F.C. players Kelty Hearts F.C. players Lowland Football League players Berwick Rangers F.C. players