David Ditchburn Meiklejohn (; 12 December 1900 – 22 August 1959) was 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 played for Rangers and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

during the 1920s and 1930s. He later managed Partick Thistle for 12 years.

Career

Born in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Meiklejohn joined Rangers from

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

club

Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, ...

in 1919 and spent the rest of his playing days with the Ibrox club.David Meiklejohn fought the odds to savour glory as Ranger great but remains defined by his compassion in one of football's darkest hours
Daily Record, 11 October 2014With 13 title wins in 16 years, was Meiklejohn greatest Rangers player of all?
Evening Times, 1 November 2014 He played 563 games, scoring 46 goals and winning 13 Scottish league championships, five

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. The first of the Scottish Cups, a 4–0 victory over Celtic in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

(in which he scored a penalty) was perhaps the most important psychologically as it broke a sequence of 25 winless years in the competition for Rangers. Three years earlier he had escaped serious injury when involved in a bus crash on Copland Road near to Ibrox Park. On 5 September 1931, he captained the Rangers side in the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

game which saw the Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson accidentally killed contesting for a ball with Rangers'

Sam English Samuel English (18 August 1908 – 12 April 1967) was a Northern Irish footballer who played for several clubs during the 1930s, but is mainly remembered for his time with Rangers. English also won two international caps for Ireland. His care ...

. Meiklejohn was credited with having realised the seriousness of the situation and gestured to calm the home support whilst the injured Thomson was being attended to. He stepped in and performed a reading at Thomson's funeral when Celtic's Peter Wilson could not gain access to the church due to the crowd that had gathered outside. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

15 times by

during an 11-year international career. He scored three times and captained the side six times. He made his debut against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Meiklejohn also represented the

Scottish 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 ...

six times. Meiklejohn retired from football in 1936 and took a job with the '' Daily Record'' newspaper. In 1947 he became manager of Partick Thistle, and was credited with maintaining a strong level of play while also introducing several young talents into the team. He collapsed and died, aged 58, in the director's box at

Broomfield Park Broomfield Park was a association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, home of Airdrieonians F.C. (1878), Airdrieonians from 1892 until it was closed after the 1993–94 in Scottish football, 1993–94 football season. Aird ...

, home of Airdrieonians. On 15 November 2009 he was inducted into the

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Pa ...

.Eight more Scots greats enter Hall of Fame
''The Scotsman'', 16 November 2009

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meiklejohn, David 1900 births 1959 deaths Scottish footballers Rangers F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish football managers Partick Thistle F.C. managers People from Govan Footballers from Glasgow Scottish Football League players Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Maryhill F.C. players Association football central defenders Association football wing halves Scottish Junior Football Association players

Career

See also

References

External links