| John Haddow |
 John Ballantyne Haddow was born on Monday, 22nd, August, 1921, in Armadale, West Lothian. The midfielder signed for David Meiklejohn's Thistle on Thursday, 24th June, 1948, having most recently been with Rangers. Aged 27, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 9th October, 1948, in a 3-2 defeat away to Queen of the South in the League Cup. There were no goals for John during his spell with Thistle. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 12th November, 1949, in a 3-1 defeat away to Aberdeen in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 5 occasions. His club-list included Armadale Thistle, Rangers, Leeds United, Partick Thistle and Montrose. John died on Wednesday, 17th January, 2001, in Armadale, West Lothian, aged 79.
|
 This Armadale native played with Rangers Reserves for several seasons from the early 1940s, and had a short spell at Leeds United in the autumm of 1941. When he was freed from Ibrox in the summer of 1948 there was considerable interest in him, with Thistle, East Fife and Queen of the South all angling for his signature. Notably, Davie Meiklejohn, Scot Symon and Dougie Gray were all former Rangers men connected with the chasing pack. John spent two seasons at Firhill but failed to break through into the strong Thistle first team of the day and was freed in the springtime of 1950. From there, he moved on to Montrose where he had 4 (personally) succesful seasons, albeit tainted by the club's record loss of 13-0 to Aberdeen 'A' in the Scottish Alliance in March 1951. Ouch. John moved down to the Scottish borders around 1954, where he continued to play at a lower level before a thigh injury forced his retiral from the game in 1955. |
| (WS) |
advertisement
Scottish referees have a rich history in international football, with the very best ranking amongst the world's greatest officials. Drew Herbertson's new book tells their long overdue story, providing biographies of all the Scots who have handled international matches. From the early pioneers when international football first started in 1872 through to the current FIFA list, “Scotland's International Football Referees” commemorates their careers and is a tribute to their achievements.
• World Cup appointments
Buy now: £13.57 (paperback) or £3.49 (kindle edition) from Amazon
• European Championship appointments
• International club and other country competitions
