William Alexander Dickson (27 August 1866 – 1 June 1910) 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

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 ...

and

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 ...

and also the Scotland national team.

Career

Dickson was born in

Crail Crail (); gd, Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018). Etymology The name ''C ...

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 ...

and played for Dundee club Strathmore before joining English club

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. Sunderland had been unable to gain a place in the inaugural season of the Football League and played friendly matches in the 1888–89 season, Dickson scoring four goals in nine appearances. In 1889 he joined

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 ...

side

and did well for the Birmingham-based club scoring 34 goals in 64 matches and earned a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runners-up medal in the

1892 FA Cup Final The 1892 FA Cup Final was contested by West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa at the Kennington Oval. This was the last FA Cup Final to be played at Kennington Oval due to the Surrey Cricket authorities becoming increasingly alarmed at the large cr ...

. He joined fellow Midlands based club

in time for the 1892–93 season where he scored 11 goals as Stoke enjoyed their best season in the league up to that point. He scored 13 in 1893–94 including five in six in the short lived United Counties League. As well as playing up front Dickson also played at full-back and would often swap positions on a regular basis. He retired from playing football in 1896 after scoring 48 goals in 135 matches for the "Potters".

Post-retirement

After his retirement Dickson remained in the Stoke area where he was engaged in the licensing business. He was mine host of the Prince of Wales Inn on Liverpool Street. Dickson went on to become a director of the club following financial difficulties in 1908 after it was liquidated and in danger of disappearing completely. However, local feeling was roused at the eleventh hour and monies were raised by 12 local businessmen and a new board was formed, of which Dickson was a member. Dickson was in Dundee in March 1910 for the silver wedding celebrations of his brother-in-law John Robertson. It was observed that he was not looking at all well and he was practically confined to his house after returning to Stoke. He died of

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...

on 1 June 1910 and left a widow and six children. Dickson left £2,092 to his widow Jessie when he died.

International career

Dickson won his only Scotland

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 ...

while with Strathmore on 24 March 1888 where he scored four times in a 10–2 win over

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Despite this, he was never selected again for his country. He is one of just two players to have scored four goals in their only Scotland appearance, the other being

Charles Heggie Charles Winton Heggie (26 September 1862 – 15 July 1925) was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers, St Bernard's and the Scotland national team. He is one of just two players to have scored four goals in their only Scotland appearance ...

two years previously.

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

1893–94 United Counties League The 1894 United Counties League was a competition between West Midland, East Midland and Sheffield Clubs.It was won by Derby County. Format The competition was organised as two separate leagues with the winner of each league playing each other ...

and the 1894–95 Test Match.

International

Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, William 1866 births 1910 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Sunderland A.F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Fife Men's association football forwards