John Blair (27 June 1897 – 4 February 1971)John Blair
The Thistle Archive. Retrieved 30 April 2024 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 as an

outside right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

, mainly for

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 ...

where he spent six seasons, making 173 appearances for the ''Jags'' in all competitions and scoring 33 goals. Blair scored the only goal of the

1921 Scottish Cup Final The 1920–21 Scottish Cup was the 43rd staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won for the first time in their history by Partick Thistle who defeated Rangers in the final. Thistle played 11 matches i ...

when Partick defeated

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 ...

to claim the trophy for the only time in their history.10 Things About Partick Thistle

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

, 29 October 2014 Having gradually lost his regular place to David Ness who joined the club in 1923, two years later Blair left Thistle and made the unusual step of returning to his hometown team Saltcoats Victoria in the

junior leagues The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (Junior League or JL) is a private, nonprofit educational women's volunteer organization aimed at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society. With ...

, normally populated by promising teenagers (indeed Blair had also started his career at the same club), those who never reached professional status or veterans approaching retirement, rather than a player in his mid-20s with a proven reputation at a high level. It is likely the move was linked to a desire to remain close to home to support the

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

business he had established, and with no senior clubs in northern Ayrshire he willingly moved back down the grades. It is known that his play was still of a high enough standard to be selected for Scotland at Junior international level on four occasions.Blair, John
Partick Thistle History Archive

References

1897 births 1971 deaths Footballers from North Ayrshire Sportspeople from Saltcoats Scotland men's junior international footballers Scottish men's footballers Men's association football outside forwards Scottish Junior Football Association players Saltcoats Victoria F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Scottish Football League players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-forward-1890s-stub