James Adamson Mathieson (10 May 1904 – 13 April 1950) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

. He made over 500 professional appearances in the English and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

leagues. Mathieson is the only player to win three English

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship medals, as an ever-present in each season.

Career

Early years

, Mathieson began his career in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

with junior clubs Dubbleside Hearts and Colinsburgh United. He got his break when he signed for

Scottish League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

club

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

in 1922. Mathieson moved to fellow top flight club

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

the following year and made 92 league appearances in three seasons before departing after Rovers' relegation to the

was confirmed at the end of the 1925–26 season.

Middlesbrough

Mathieson moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to join

club

in June 1926. He was an ever-present in the Boro team which was promoted to the First Division as Second Division champions in the 1926–27 season, giving Mathieson his first taste of top flight football in England. Middlesbrough were relegated straight back to the Second Division, but with Mathieson again an ever-present in goal, the club won promotion straight back as Division Two champions in the 1928–29 season. He made 264 appearances for the club before departing in 1934.

Brentford

Mathieson dropped to the Second Division to sign for

during the 1934 off-season. He was one of a number of former Middlesbrough players recruited by Bees manager Harry Curtis in the early 1930s and he linked up with former teammates

Jack Holliday John William Holliday (19 December 1908 – 1987) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Brentford and Middlesbrough. In 2013, Holliday was voted by the Brentford supporters as the club's fourt ...

, Billy Scott, Herbert Watson and Ernie Muttitt at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

. Mathieson went straight into the team and was an ever-present during the 1934–35 season, helping Brentford to the Second Division title and promotion to the top-flight for the first time in the club's history. He missed just one league game during the 1935–36 season, as the Bees finished in their highest-ever league placing of fifth in the First Division. Mathieson lost his place in goal to another Scot,

Joe Crozier Joseph Richard Crozier (February 19, 1929 – October 11, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and head coach who played and coached primarily in the minor leagues. After playing the better part of 12 seasons in the minor lea ...

, during the 1937–38 season and departed the club at the end of the campaign. He made 129 appearances during his four years with Brentford.

Queen of the South

Mathieson returned to Scotland in 1938 and joined Dumfries club Queen of the South, then in Scotland's top tier. Things went well for Mathieson during the 1938–39 season at Queens, with the club finishing in sixth position and reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. He made 38 league appearances before the breakout of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

ended his career in 1939.

Personal life

Before becoming a professional footballer, Mathieson worked as a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...

Career statistics

Honours

Middlesbrough *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 1926–27, 1928–29 Brentford * Football League Second Division: 1934–35

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieson, Jimmy Date of death unknown People from Methil Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players 1904 births Partick Thistle F.C. players Scottish Football League players Raith Rovers F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players 1950 deaths Dundee F.C. wartime guest players St Bernard's F.C. wartime guest players