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| Davie Mathers |
 David Cochrane Mathers was born on Sunday, 25th October, 1931, in Glasgow. The 5' 11 (12st 0lbs) midfielder signed for David Meiklejohn's Thistle on Thursday, 11th August, 1949, having most recently been with Govan Secondary School. Aged 18, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 25th February, 1950, in a 2-0 win away to St Mirren in the SFL First Division. Davie scored his first goal for Thistle on Thursday, 28th June, 1951, in a 4-0 friendly win away to Peterhead. He scored the last of his 12 goals on Saturday, 6th December, 1958, in a 3-1 win at home to St Mirren in the SFL First Division. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 15th August, 1959, in a 2-0 defeat away to Raith Rovers in the League Cup, having clocked up an impressive 281 appearances as a Jag. His club-list included Partick Thistle, Headington United, Oxford United and East Stirlingshire. Davie died on Saturday, 23rd August, 2014, in Southport, Merseyside, aged 82. |
 Mathers, an intelligent and athletic left-half, joined Partick Thistle from Govan High School in 1947 and turned professional two years later, aged 17. He remained at Firhill until September 1959, having contributed hugely to Davie Meiklejohn's highly succesful sides in the 1950s. Mathers playing career at Thistle almost perfectly matches the time-span of the great manager. Indeed, it was only a few weeks after Meiklejohn's tragic death when Davie joined Headington United of the Southern League. That club changed its name to Oxford United the following summer. Mathers returned to Firhill in December 1960, but did not make any more first team appearances for the club. He signed for East Stirlingshire in the summer of 1961 and retired after one season there. Mathers played once for Scotland, against Finland in what was their final preparation match before the 1954 FIFA World Cup finals. Although named in Scotland's 22-man squad for Switzerland, Scotland decided to take only 13 of the 22 to the finals. Mathers stayed at home on reserve, along with the likes of Bobby Combe and Jimmy Binning. Inside forward George Hamilton was also on reserve, but travelled after Bobby Johnstone withdrew through injury. Mathers also represented the Scottish League once, in 1956. |
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