Patrick Travers (28 May 1883 – 5 February 1962) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager in the first half of the 20th century. He played for many clubs in his native Scotland and for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in England, before becoming involved in coaching, and later, management, winning the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Clyde on two occasions either side of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Playing career

Raised in Renfrew, Travers first played for his hometown team Renfrew Victoria around the turn of the century. In 1901 he played 13 games for

, before returning to Scotland to play for Thornliebank. He had a further spell at Barnsley, then went back to Thornliebank, followed by games for New Brompton and Renton before moving to Clyde. Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Litster / Scottish Football Historian magazine, October 2012 In 1910, Travers was signed by Jimmy Philip to play for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

,Paddy Travers
AFC Heritage Trust but only played one season for them before returning to

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 ...

, where he had business interests, to play for

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 ...

.Celtic player Patrick Travers
FitbaStats He had one season with the ''Bhoys'', playing regularly after coming in for the injured Jimmy McMenemy until he himself was injured and Patsy Gallacher took the place, resulting in him missing out on the latter stages of the 1911–12 Scottish Cup as the club won the competition. He then returned to Aberdeen, and this time stayed until the end of the 1913–14 season when he moved on to

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

.Paddy Travers
Sons Archive He spent the remainder of his playing career in the

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

area, also playing for

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

, Vale of Leven and Dumbarton Harp.

Managerial career

Aberdeen

Travers coached in Norway and was trainer then

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Dumbarton before being engaged to coach Aberdeen in 1922.Donald Colman
The Vale of Leven He remained in that position until the retirement of Philip in the summer of 1924. One of his first acts as manager was the signing of Alec Jackson, together with his brother George. Jackson went on to be one of the most renowned players of his generation. In spite of this, however, Travers' first season in charge ended with relegation only avoided on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. In the following seasons, many players came and went – Travers worked hard in the transfer market of the time, and his dealings are credited with improving the club's previously precarious financial situation. Travers' Aberdeen were the first Scottish club to tour

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1927. He also oversaw club tours of Norway in 1929,

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

in 1933, and South Africa again in 1937. In 1931, Travers mysteriously dropped three of the club's regular players before a match against

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. In all, five players never played for the club again, and it was reported in the 1970s that this was the result of an alleged plot to win fixed-odds bets on half-time and full-time scores. No police action was ever taken, and many of those involved protested their innocence for the remainder of their lives. The same year, he brought

Donald Colman Donald Cameron Cunningham (14 August 1878 – 4 October 1942), known as Donald Colman, was a Scottish football player and coach (or trainer) in the early years of the 20th century, most notably for Aberdeen. His career in senior football did n ...

to the club from Dumbarton to act as a coach. Between April and September 1936, the team set a club record seven consecutive away league game wins. In 1937, Travers took his team to the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Jackie Benyon died suddenly of

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

. Travers remained in charge for two more seasons, but feeling that he no longer had the full support of his directors, accepted an offer to manage Clyde in 1938; he was replaced at Aberdeen by Colman.

Clyde

The success which had eluded him at Pittodrie soon materialised at Shawfield, however, and the Scottish Cup was won by Travers' Clyde team in 1938–39. He was still manager of Clyde in 1954–55, when the ''Bully Wee'' beat Celtic in a replay to win their second Cup. He was also a runner up as manager with Clyde in the Scottish Cup in 1948–49 when Clyde lost 4–1 to Rangers in the final. Also notably in season 1951–52, Travers led Clyde to four trophies in a single season; the Scottish Division B league title, the B Division Supplementary Cup, the

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 ...

and the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup. His four Scottish Cup finals earned him a reputation as a "Cup specialist" when named as one of Scotland's 50 greatest managers by the '' Sunday Herald'' newspaper.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Sources

*
Since 1881: the searchable Premiership and Football League player database

Honours

Player

Thornliebank * Renfrewshire Victoria Cup: 1902–03, 1903–04 Renton * Dumbartonshire Cup: 1907–08 Aberdeen * Scottish Division One: Runners-up 1910–11 * North East Cup: 1913–14 Celtic *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1911–12 * Scottish Division One: Runners-up 1911–12 Dumbarton * Dumbartonshire Cup: 1914–15 * Dumbartonshire Charity Cup: 1916–17 Clydebank * Dunbartonshire Cup: 1917–18 * Clydebank Charity Cup: 1917–18

Manager

Dumbarton * Dumbartonshire Cup: 1921–22 * Dumbartonshire Charity Cup: 1921–22 Aberdeen *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1936–37 *

Aberdeenshire Cup The Aberdeenshire Cup is a Scottish football tournament for all senior clubs affiliated to the Aberdeenshire and District Football Association (ADFA), being clubs from the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. The Aberdeenshire ...

(10) : 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34 * Aberdeenshire League (4): 1925–26, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29 * Dewar Shield (8): 1926–27, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1936–37 Clyde *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1938–39, 1954–55 **Runner-up: 1948–49 * Scottish B Division: 1951–52 * Supplementary Cup: 1951–52 *

: 1946–47, 1951–52 * Glasgow Charity Cup: 1939–40, 1951–52 * Paisley Charity Cup: 1938–39, 1939–40

Sources

*
Since 1881: the searchable Premiership and Football League player database

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Paddy 1883 births 1962 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Renfrew Footballers from North Ayrshire Clydebank F.C. (1914) players Thornliebank F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Renton F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Vale of Leven F.C. players Dumbarton Harp F.C. players Scottish football managers Dumbarton F.C. managers Aberdeen F.C. managers Clyde F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Men's association football inside forwards Renfrew Victoria F.C. players Sportspeople from Beith