Arthur Dixon (4 July 1892 – 25 December 1965) was an English

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 played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, primarily for Rangers where he played between 1917 and 1926. He later became trainer at the club and assistant to manager

Bill Struth William Struth (16 June 1875 – 21 September 1956) was a Scottish football manager. He was the second manager of Rangers Football Club, leading the club for 34 years between 1920 and 1954, as well as being the holder of a number of other posi ...

after his retirement from playing. He also featured for

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

in England, and for St Mirren and

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

in Scotland. He was the father of footballer Arthur Dixon.

Playing career

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

-born Dixon began his career at hometown club

, and was part of the squad that finished runners-up in the English Football League in 1914–15, one point behind champions Everton. The continuation of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

then caused the cancellations of official football in England, although the Scottish Football League continued; Dixon played for St Mirren (the move to Scotland possibly related to undertaking wartime work in the area), initially on loan from Oldham then as a permanent signing. He then joined Rangers on 11 July 1917, being signed by the then-manager William Wilton. He made his league debut in a 1–0 win away to Kilmarnock on 18 August 1917. Dixon was soon to establish himself as an influential player for the club. He scored his first goal on 8 March 1919 in a 3–0 league win 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 enjoyed a benefit match at

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

on 10 September 1923: A crowd of 10,000 watched Rangers draw 1–1 with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. The Rangers side was

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

(goalkeeper), Manderson, Meiklejohn, Dixon, McCandless,

Archibald Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements '' erchan'' (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious") and ''bald'' meaning "bold". Medieval forms include Old High German and Anglo-Saxon . Erkanbald, bishop of ...

, Muirhead,

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

, Hansen, Cairns. The goalscorer for Rangers was Hansen. In total Dixon made 393 appearances (including 326 league and 35

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

s and four Charity Cups.(Rangers player Dixon, Arthur)
FitbaStats At the end of the 1925–26 season he retired from playing, only to reverse his decision and play regularly for

, then also competing in Scotland's top tier, for two further seasons.

Coaching career

Dixon began his coaching career in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

with

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

as a player-manager in 1930. He would later become a coach at Rangers from July 1932.13 Rangers FC Autographs, Scottish League Champions 1936/37
Worthpoint In addition to his involvement in what was another successful era for the club, he was responsible for the signing of Alex Stevenson, an

Irish international The Irish Future Series or ''Irish International'' is an international badminton tournament held in Ireland. This tournament has been a BWF Future Series, Future Series level, another tournament for higher tournament level is Irish Open (badminton) ...

from his former club in

Playing career

Coaching career

References

Further reading