James Davidson Gibson (12 June 1901 – 1 January 1978) 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 lea ...

who played for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, Ashfield,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. His career spanned 19 years, from 1917 to 1936.

Career

Gibson played

right-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and was regarded as one of the best players in that position at that time. He played almost 200 games for Partick before a transfer to Aston Villa for a then-record fee of £7,500. He made 227 appearances for Aston Villa, during which time they were runners-up 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

twice ( 1930–31 and 1932–33) but were relegated in his final season with the club, 1935–36. He was capped eight times by

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 ...

; The highlight of his career was when he partnered

Jimmy McMullan James McMullan (26 March 1895 – 28 November 1964) was a Scottish football player and manager. He won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous ''" Wembley Wizards"'' side of 1928. Playing career Early life and T ...

(his former Partick Thistle teammate) in the dominant Scottish midfield of the "

Wembley Wizards The Wembley Wizards is the nickname for the Scotland national football team that defeated England 5–1 at Wembley in the 1928 British Home Championship. Background Scotland had failed to win either of their previous matches in the 1928 Brit ...

" that defeated

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

5–1 in 1928. He also played twice for the

Scottish Football 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 ...

Personal life

His father

Neilly Gibson Neil Gibson (23 February 1873 – January 1947) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Rangers, Partick Thistle and the Scotland national team. Career Adept at playing in either left or right wing half position, Gibson joined Rangers in 189 ...

was also a Scottish international, who too played for Partick Thistle though mainly for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, while brothers

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. As a surname ...

and

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

were also footballers.Neilly Gibson
ScottishLeague.net, 18 February 2007

References

External links

* 1901 births 1978 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Footballers from Larkhall Partick Thistle F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Ashfield F.C. players Scottish Football League representative players Men's association football wing halves Scottish Junior Football Association players Larkhall Thistle F.C. players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1900s-stub