John Watson Bell (6 October 1868 – 12 April 1956) was a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and manager.
Career
A winger or inside-forward born in
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...
, Bell played with Dumbarton Union,
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
,
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
, New Brighton Tower and Preston North End. During his time with Everton, he was one of a group of five men who were the first to be selected for
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
while playing for an English club (although Bell had been capped already at Dumbarton), in the process becoming the club's first international for that nation. As well as playing for one season alongside his younger brother Laurie, previously also a Dumbarton teammate, he also helped organise the Association Footballers' Union and later served as its president; his activities in this area caused Everton to end his contract, and he switched to non-league Tottenham for a short period before returning to Scotland with Celtic, though he later returned to
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...
.
In 1909, Bell was appointed manager/coach of former club Preston. He later spent some time in Canada, but settled in the
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
.
International goals
:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''
caps
Caps are flat headgear.
Caps or CAPS may also refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters
* Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...
for Scotland between 1889 and 1892, scoring one goal
* 1
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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...
for the Scottish League in 1892, scoring one goal
* 1 representative cap for Scotland against Canada XI in 1891, scoring two goals
* 7 representative caps for Dumbartonshire between 1888 and 1890, scoring three goals
* 2 international trial games for Scotland between 1890 and 1892
* top Scottish League goalscorer: 1890–91 (20 goals); 1891–92 (19 goals).