James Bett (born 25 November 1959) is a Scottish former professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er who played in central or left midfield. He played with

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

for nine seasons and had shorter spells at other clubs in Belgium, Iceland and Scotland. He earned 26

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 the Scottish national team over eight years.

Playing career

A Scottish Schoolboy international born in

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nort ...

, Bett started his club career with Gartcosh United,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

before moving to Icelandic side

Valur Valur may refer to: People * Birkir Valur Jónsson (born 1998), Icelandic football player * Björn Valur Gíslason (born 1959), Icelandic politician * Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 1979), Icelandic handball player * Guðni Valur Guðnason (born ...

in 1978. A year later he joined

K.S.C. Lokeren Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (; often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren) was a Belgium, Belgian professional association football, football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The clu ...

(282) in Belgium. Rangers manager

John Greig John Greig (born 11 September 1942) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers, as a player, manager and director. Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the ...

paid £150,000 to sign Bett for the

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 ...

club in 1980. In three seasons at Ibrox he won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1980–81) and a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

( 1981–82). He left Rangers in 1983 for a second spell with Lokeren. Bett returned to his native land, joining

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

's Aberdeen in 1985 for £300,000. During his time with the ''Dons'', he collected winner's medals in the Scottish Cup in 1985–86, and both the League Cup and Scottish Cup in 1989–90, He also played in three other League Cup finals – all ending in defeat to Rangers, and was in squads which finished runners-up behind his former club in the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

on five occasions. He left

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

in 1994, after making over 300 first-team appearances. In 2003, Bett was inducted into the Aberdeen FC

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

as one of the founding members. He next moved to

KR Reykjavík KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickoff ...

and won the Icelandic Cup with the club, but left KR at the end of the 1994 Icelandic season. Bett returned to Scotland again to join Hearts with whom he played the 1994–95 Scottish season. After a final season with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

, he retired.

International

During his spell with Rangers, Bett earned his first selection for the Scotland national side, making the first of 26 appearances in 1982. While playing for Aberdeen at club level, he was a member of the Scottish World Cup squads in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, where he did not play, and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, where his only appearance was in the opening 1–0 defeat to

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, which turned out to be the final cap of his career.

Personal life

Bett met his Icelandic wife during his time playing for Valur and has maintained a close connection with Iceland since. His sons

Baldur Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was k ...

and Calum, also both professional footballers, were born there and have represented the country at Under-19 level. Coincidentally, Bett's only goal for Scotland occurred in a 1–0 win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

in 1985.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Rangers *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1980–81 **Runner-up 1981–82, 1982–83 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 1981–82 **Runner-up 1982–83 Aberdeen *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1985–86, 1989–90 **Runner-up 1992–93 *

: 1989–90 **Runner-up 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93

References

External links

*
Scotland appearances
at londonhearts.com
Profile and stats
– Lokeren
Profile
at ''AFC Heritage Trust'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bett, Jim 1959 births Living people Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Association football midfielders 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Aberdeen F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Iceland Heart of Midlothian F.C. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Belgian Pro League players Rangers F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish Football League players Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur players Valur (men's football) players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Scotland under-21 international footballers Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players