David Ditchburn Meiklejohn (; 12 December 1900 – 22 August 1959) was a Scottish professional

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 Rangers and

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 ...

during the 1920s and 1930s. He later managed Partick Thistle for 12 years.

Career

Born in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Meiklejohn joined Rangers from junior club

Maryhill Maryhill () is an area in the north-west of Glasgow in Scotland. A former independent burgh and the heart of an eponymous local authority ward, its territory is bisected by Maryhill Road, part of the A81 road which runs for a distance of ro ...

in 1919 and spent the rest of his playing days with the Ibrox club.David Meiklejohn fought the odds to savour glory as Ranger great but remains defined by his compassion in one of football's darkest hours
Daily Record, 11 October 2014With 13 title wins in 16 years, was Meiklejohn greatest Rangers player of all?
Evening Times, 1 November 2014 He played 563 games, scoring 46 goals and winning 13 Scottish league championships, five

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

s. The first of the Scottish Cups, a 4–0 victory over

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 ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

(in which he scored a penalty) was perhaps the most important psychologically as it broke a sequence of 25 winless years in the competition for Rangers. Three years earlier he had escaped serious injury when involved in a bus crash on Copland Road near to Ibrox Park. On 5 September 1931, he captained the Rangers side in the

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

game which saw the Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson accidentally killed contesting for a ball with Rangers' Sam English. Meiklejohn was credited with having realised the seriousness of the situation and gestured to calm the home support whilst the injured Thomson was being attended to. He stepped in and performed a reading at Thomson's funeral when Celtic's Peter Wilson could not gain access to the church due to the crowd that had gathered outside. He was capped 15 times by

during an 11-year international career. He scored three times and captained the side six times. He made his debut against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Meiklejohn also represented the Scottish League XI six times. Meiklejohn retired from football in 1936 and took a job with the '' Daily Record'' newspaper. In 1947 he became manager of Partick Thistle, and was credited with maintaining a strong level of play while also introducing several young talents into the team. He collapsed and died, aged 58, in the director's box at

Broomfield Park Broomfield Park was a association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, home of Airdrieonians F.C. (1878), Airdrieonians from 1892 until it was closed after the 1993–94 in Scottish football, 1993–94 football season.It w ...

, home of Airdrieonians. On 15 November 2009 he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.Eight more Scots greats enter Hall of Fame
''The Scotsman'', 16 November 2009

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meiklejohn, David 1900 births 1959 deaths Scottish men's footballers Rangers F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football managers Partick Thistle F.C. managers People from Govan Footballers from Glasgow Scottish Football League players Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Maryhill F.C. players Men's association football central defenders Men's association football wing halves Scottish Junior Football Association players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen

Career

See also

References

External links