Jimmy McDougall (footballer)

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James 'Jimmy' McDougal (born 23 January 1904 died July 1984) was a Scotland international footballer who played for Liverpool.

[edit] Life and playing career

Born in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland, McDougal played for Port Glasgow Athletic and Partick Thistle before George Patterson signed him for Liverpool in April 1928, he made his debut on the 25 August 1928 in a 1st Division match against Bury at Anfield, it was a good day all round for Jimmy as Liverpool won the match 3-0, he opened his account with a 7th minute goal against Aston Villa at Villa Park, unfortunately it turned out to be a consolation goal as Villa went on to win 3-1.

McDougall was originally signed as a forward, where he played in Scotland, but was moved back into a half-back role a short time after signing for the Reds, Patterson must have seen something in Jimmy's game as this is the position he made his name. He was a very calm and reassuring defender who never let his team-mates down, his game was based on playing everything as easy as possible making sure he didn't over play anything, sounds like his style of play was a 30's version of the Liverpool way of playing, 'pass and move, the Liverpool groove.'

He certainly made an impression upon signing or the Reds as he became a regular member of the side for the next decade averaging 35 matches per season, unfortunately for everyone involved with Liverpool, this was a time when the Anfield club were not amongst the title challengers (5th in his first season was the highest the club reached) or stringing together a descent cup run, infact the best run they achieved was a quarter final appearance in 1932 which Chelsea won 2-0.

McDougal fell in love with the Liverpool area and stayed on Merseyside after playing his last game at The Valley on the 15 January 1938, it wasn't one to remember for McDougal as Charlton Athletic ran out convincing 3-0 victors, Jimmy had racked up 356 appearances scoring 12 times only 4 of which came after he was moved back to half-back where he played 313 times. Before he finally hung his boots up he turned out for local side South Liverpool.

Scotland called upon McDougal's services for a European tour in 1931, he was given his debut in a friendly match at the Hohe Warte Stadium, Vienna against Austria on the 16 May, although the Scots were resoundingly beaten 5-0 Jimmy must have made an impression as he was given the honour of Captaining his country in his 2nd international, it was also to be his last, 4 days later in the Stadio Nazionale, Rome against Italy, this time the Scots lost 3-0.