Aitken [i]
Aitken [i]
A. Player

probably born in Scotland

Aitken (forename unknown) was probably born in Scotland, although his place and date of birth remain unknown to us. *

The defender appeared as a guest for Thistle in September, 1884, having most recently been with Blackburn Rovers.

He made his only known appearance on Saturday, 20th September, 1884, in a 5-1 friendly defeat at home to Queen's Park.

There were no goals for Aitken in his only known appearance for Thistle.

His club-list included Blackburn Rovers and Partick Thistle.

We don't know where or when Aitken died. *

* If you can help us to improve any of these marked points on The Thistle Archive, then please do get in touch →

Bio Extra

EY/OH report that Aitken (Blackburn Rovers) was a guest full back for a game against Queen's Park on 20th September 1884. Strangely, we can find no such player in any Blackburn Rovers line-ups of the day, and his identity remains a mystery. It could well be 'Aitken' was a psudeonym.

Even more strangely, the GEN (19/9/1884) reports that the Suter (Blackburn Rovers) would appear at full-back for Thistle in that game, and they have no mention of an 'Aitken' in their (predicted) line-up. The mind immediately jumps to considering that this would be Fergus Suter, especially since he's a full back. Excitingly, an appearance for 'Suter' (no initial) at full back seems to be confirmed in the SPM line-up (22/9/1884). However, this can't be Fergus Suter as various English press reports specifically have Fergus Suter (F. Suter) playing (and scoring) for Blackburn Rovers in their visit to open the new ground of Witton on that same day, the 20th September.

In conclusion, if a second Suter (Jerry played up front) did play for Thistle (in defence) on 20th September 1884, it was probably Edward (who'd played the previous month) back on a visit from Darwen, and possibly the cause of the 'Blackburn Rovers' mix-up in the press. Edward & Fergus did play together at Darwen, which maybe added to the confusion. And, who knows, perhaps Edward appeared at a low level for Blackburn, maybe in the second eleven? This could be another explanation for Suter (Blackburn Rovers) having been listed as such in the GEN.

We shall keep our eyes open in search of the answer to these mysteries…

(WS/JK)



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