George McTurk - The Thistle Archive

George McTurk

• George McTurk, c1911 (SR)

George Sloss McTurk was born on Saturday, 24th March, 1883, in Auchinleck, East Ayrshire.

The goalkeeper signed for George Easton's Thistle in May, 1911, having most recently been with Clyde.

Aged 28, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 23rd September, 1911, in a 0-0 draw away to Third Lanark in the Glasgow Cup.

In doing so, George joined the goalies' clean-sheet debutant's club.

He registered the last of his 9 clean-sheets on Monday, 7th April, 1913, in a 2-0 win away to Raith Rovers in the SFL First Division.

He played his last game for the club on Tuesday, 22nd April, 1913, in a 1-0 defeat away to Clyde in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 37 occasions.

His club-list included Lugar Boswell, Clydebank Juniors, Heart of Midlothian, Clyde, Renton, Partick Thistle, St Mirren, Rangers and Clydebank FC.

George died on Friday, 4th August, 1967, in Ayr, South Ayrshire, aged 84.

Played for Clyde in all 3 games of an epic Scottish Cup final in 1910, and kept a clean-sheet in the 1st replay. Dundee eventually prevailed by 2 to 1 in the 2nd replay. The Evening Times (Sat-19-Aug-1967) reported his death:

OLD GOALIE DIES. George McTurk, one of Scotland's top goalkeepers over 50 years ago, died last weekend and was buried in Clydebank where he lived most of his days. Starting with Clydebank Juniors he joined Clyde after a short spell with Hearts around 1907-08. Went on to play with the first Clydebank senior club, formed in 1914, and finished with them in the early 1920s. Highly popular as a player, he retained many friends as "mine host" in the Clydebank area, until he retired and went to live with his daughter in Ayr, where he died, aged 84.

(WS)

#
1	28y, 5m, 30d	23.09.1911 Third Lanark [a] D0-0 (Glasgow Cup Semi Final)
2	28y, 6m, 3d	27.09.1911 Third Lanark [h] W2-0 (Glasgow Cup Semi Final replay)
3	29y, 6m, 4d	28.09.1912 Rangers [h] D0-0 (Glasgow Cup Semi Final)
4	29y, 6m, 25d	19.10.1912 Dundee [h] W2-0 (SFL First Division - game 9)
5	29y, 7m, 2d	26.10.1912 Raith Rovers [h] W2-0 (SFL First Division - game 10)
6	29y, 7m, 12d	05.11.1912 Morton [h] W2-0 (Glasgow & District Mid-Week League - game 2)
7	29y, 8m, 27d	21.12.1912 Queen's Park [h] W1-0 (SFL First Division - game 18)
8	29y, 10m, 8d	01.02.1913 Queen's Park [a] D0-0 (SFL First Division - game 26)
9	30y, 0m, 14d	07.04.1913 Raith Rovers [a] W2-0 (SFL First Division - game 32)

George McTurk's clean-sheet ratio
9/37 ← success rate → 24.3%

Thistle's clean-sheet ratio
1610/6864 ← success rate → 23.5%
@ 20-Dec-2025

#	v.
1	James Gemmell v. George McTurk	14.09.1912 Third Lanark [h] W3-1 (Glasgow Cup Quarter Final)	2-1, pen 2nd half
2	Bobby Hannah v. George McTurk	16.11.1912 Aberdeen [a] L1-3 (SFL First Division - game 13)	0-2, pen 60 mins
3	Robert Speirs v. George McTurk	01.01.1913 Third Lanark [h] W3-1 (SFL First Division - game 20)	0-1, pen 1st half
4	William Dickie v. George McTurk	04.03.1913 Kilmarnock [h] L1-3 (Glasgow & District Mid-Week League - game 3)	saved @ 0-1, 1st half

George McTurk's penalty goal prevention
1/4 ← success rate → 25.0%

Thistle's penalty goal prevention
250/848 ← success rate → 29.4%
@ 28-Dec-2025

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