James Stein (7 November 1904 – 1979) was a Scottish professional association footballer who played as an

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Career

Stein signed as a youngster with West Lothian clubs

Bathgate Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...

and

Broxburn Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: �s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Etymology The name Broxburn is a corruption of ...

and Lanarkshire team Dykehead, playing at centre-forward; at which time he stayed locally in

East Whitburn East Whitburn is a small village in Scottish county of West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowsh ...

. He signed with West Lothian

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side Blackburn Rovers for the 1924–25 season; he scored twice in a league game against Bo'ness Juniors and shortly afterwards on 24th October 1924, at the age of 19, he signed terms with Second Division

Scottish Football League Division Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cult ...

side

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 ...

. Dunfermline were promoted as Champions in season 1925–26 and during the next four seasons Stein made 120 appearances, scoring 35 goals, before signing for Everton in 1928. He made his

English 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 Engl ...

debut against Bolton Wanderers that December but only played five times in his debut season, establishing himself in the team in the 1929–30 season, when despite him scoring 10 goals, they were relegated. He was part of The ''Toffees'' teams that won the Second Division Championship, First Division Championship and then the FA Cup in successive seasons between 1930–31 and 1932–33, and had the distinction of scoring Everton's first-ever goal at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

when he netted in the

1933 FA Cup Final The 1933 FA Cup Final was a football match between Everton and Manchester City on 29 April 1933 at Wembley Stadium in London. The deciding match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known ...

in the 3–0 win over Manchester City. He moved on to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

in October 1936 after 57 goals in 215 appearances for the ''Toffees'', adding 10 goals in 47 appearances for the ''Clarets'' over two seasons, before ending his career at New Brighton, joining them in June 1938 and scoring 6 goals in 46 appearances before the outbreak of The Second World War, and the end of peacetime football in September 1939.

References

* Footballers from Coatbridge Scottish footballers Men's association football outside forwards Bathgate F.C. players Dykehead F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Everton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players New Brighton A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players 1904 births 1979 deaths Date of death missing FA Cup final players {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1900s-stub