The Thistle Archive

The teenage John came through with his hometown team, Fauldhouse United, before signing professional terms at Thistle in the summer of 1931. An inside forward, he made an impressive impact in his first season for a 19-year-old, scoring 7 times in 35 appearances. A big highlight came in November when he headed Thistle two in front in a dominant Thistle League performance at Parkhead; Celtic 1 Partick Thistle 2. That's our kind of boy. His good form didn't go un-noticed, and he was snapped up by Everton, the English champions, in the 1932 close season. He made his League debut at Arsenal that September, and played in the FA Charity Shield final, a 5-3 victory over Cup winners Newcastle United. He scored twice in 15 appearances that season but didn’t play in any of the ties that led to Everton winning the 1933 FA Cup, and he played only once more for Everton at Sheffield Wednesday in January 1934, before returning north to join Hamilton Academical in the summer of 1934. However, it seems he struggled to live up to that early promise and struggled to get a regular start at Hamilton. Whilst still registered as an Accie, he was off on his southwardly travels again, landing at Ashford Town in 1935. From there, he had a spell in Irish football with Waterford, before joining Ipswich Town in the summer of 1938 for their first season of League football. However he only made one appearance against Cardiff in September 1938, whereafter his career was effectively finished by the Second World War’s onset a year later.