1939–40 Dumbarton F.C. season

Dumbarton

1939–1940 season
Manager	Jimmy Smith
Stadium	Boghead Park, Dumbarton
Scottish Western Division	16th
War Emergency Cup	Second Round
Top goalscorer	League: Alex Stewart (7) All: Alex Stewart (7)
← 1937–38 1940–41 →

Season 1939–40 was the 63rd Scottish football season in which Dumbarton competed at national level. Due to the outbreak of WW2, the Scottish Football League and the Scottish Cup were suspended for the duration, with 'emergency' competitions arranged by the clubs themselves.

Overview

Four games into the new season, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany and all official Scottish football competition would be suspended for its duration. However, in October 1939, while the Scottish football authorities had decided that official league and cup football should be suspended, the clubs themselves wanted competitive football to continue in some form and arranged for two regional leagues of 16 teams each to be played, with Dumbarton playing in the Western Division – along with the likes of Celtic, Rangers etc. – teams they had not played since being relegated in 1922. Players registrations were effectively cancelled and wages fixed at £2 per week which meant that players were free to sign for clubs local to their war work as 'guest players'. However, as most of the First Division players were already contracted to play for their opponents it was no surprise that in this first season Dumbarton finished bottom (16th out of 16) with 18 points – 30 behind champions Rangers.

In place of the Scottish Cup, a War Emergency Cup was established, to be played for by all the teams competing in the regional leagues. Dumbarton reached the second round before losing to Airdrie.

Elsewhere, while the Dumbartonshire Cup competition had been discontinued some years earlier, during the weeks between the suspension of the Scottish League and the start of the regional leagues, Dumbarton played Vale of Leven (now a junior football side) for custody of the trophy, and the senior team duly won the day.

In addition, following the demise of the Dumbartonshire Association, Dumbarton had been accepted as members of the Stirlingshire Association, and took part for the first time in the Stirlingshire Cup. Dumbarton were knocked out at the semi final stage by Falkirk, although the competition was never completed.

Note that Jimmy Smith was appointed manager in January 1939, but gave up the position in May 1940 to join the club board.

In addition, the number of goals conceded in all games during the season was 101, the seventh time the unwanted 'century' had been broken.

Results

Win

Draw

Loss

All results are written with Dumbarton's score first.

Scottish Western Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
21 October 1939	Queen's Park	H	1–3	Cowan	4,000
28 October 1939	Kilmarnock	A	0–5		3,000
4 November 1939	Albion Rovers	H	4–1	Browning;Murray;Mills;Speedie	5,000
11 November 1939	Clyde	A	3–3	Murray(2);Mills	4,000
18 November 1939	Hamilton	H	1–2	Lang	6,000
25 November 1939	Rangers	A	1–2	Murray
2 December 1939	Airdrie	A	2–3	Dunn;Mills
9 December 1939	Ayr United	H	2–1	Dunn;Mills	1,500
16 December 1939	Motherwell	A	1–5	Mathers	2,500
23 December 1939	Celtic	H	1–5	Mathers	7,000
30 December 1939	Partick Thistle	A	4–0	Collins(2);Nichol;Dunn	4,000
1 January 1940	Morton	H	3–2	Milne(2);Speedie
2 January 1940	Queen of the South	A	1–3	Milne
6 January 1940	St Mirren	H	3–2	Mathers;Speedie;Milne	3,500
10 February 1940	Clyde	H	1–2	Browning	3,000
17 February 1940	Hamilton	A	2–4	Collins;Milne
16 March 1940	Motherwell	H	0–1		2,000
23 March 1940	Celtic	A	0–4
27 March 1940	Third Lanark	A	2–3	Lang;Speedie
30 March 1940	Partick Thistle	H	0–0		2,000
2 April 1940	Queen's Park	A	1–4	McLean	4,000
6 April 1940	Morton	A	0–5
10 April 1940	Kilmarnock	H	2–2	Mathers;Dunn
13 April 1940	Queen of the South	H	1–3	Stewart,A	2,000
17 April 1940	Albion Rovers	A	1–3	Stewart,A
20 April 1940	St Mirren	A	2–1	Casey;Sheilds
24 April 1940	Rangers	H	2–3	Stewart,A(2)	2,500
27 April 1940	Third Lanark	H	3–2	Shields(2);Stewart,A	2,000
4 May 1940	Airdrie	H	0–1		1,800
11 May 1940	Ayr United	A	4–4	Shields(2);Stewart,A(2)	7,000

Scottish War Emergency Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
24 February 1940	1(1)	Arbroath	H	4–3	Lang(2);Dunn;Milne	4,500
2 March 1940	1(2)	Arbroath	A	2–0	Dunn(2)	2,150
9 March 1940	2	Airdrie	H	0–2		5,500

Dumbartonshire Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
30 September 1939	F	Vale of Leven	H	4–2	McBride(2);Nichol;OG

Stirlingshire Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
16 August 1939	1	Falkirk Amateurs	H	9–1	Cowan(3);Nichol(2);Getty(2);Nesbit;unknown	2,000
7 October 1939	SF	Falkirk	A	2–3	Nichol;McLean	4,000

Other Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
12 August 1939	Leith Athletic	A	2–1	Nichol;Getty
19 August 1939	East Fife	H	3–3	Cowan;McBride;Nichol	5,500
26 August 1939	Dundee	A	1–3	McBride
2 September 1939	Edinburgh City	H	3–2	Cowan(3)	3,000
14 October 1939	Rangers	H	4–3	Nichol(2);Lang;Speedie	3,000

• Note – the matches against Leith Athletic, East Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh City were all Second Division fixtures prior to the suspension of the Scottish League.

Appearances

Dumbarton used 27 players for the 33 League and Emergency Cup matches, as detailed below. Johnny Soutar was the only player to feature in all of these matches. Note that an unnamed trialist played in one match.

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
James Brown	DF	4
John Browning	MF	28	2
John Casey	MF	19	1
David Collins	FW	24	3
David Cowan	FW	2	1
Willie Dunn	FW	18	7
Robert Fraser	MF	6
John Getty	FW	5
John Hill	GK	6
John Lang	FW	14	4
John Mathers	MF	26	4
John McBride	FW	1
David McLean	MF	18	2
Willie Mills	FW	7	4
Jackie Milne	FW	15	6
William Morrison	GK	1
Stephen Murray	MF	9	4
William Nichol	FW	27	2
James Shields	FW	6	5
Smith	FW	1
Johnny Soutar	DF	33
Bobbie Speedie	FW	19	4
Willie Steel	DF	19
Alex Stewart	FW	11	7
Kenneth Stewart	DF	2
T Fulton Wilson	MF	15
Duncan Yuill	GK	26

See also

• 1939–40 in Scottish football

External links

• Scottish Football Historical Archive