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| Douglas Stockdale |
 Douglas John Stockdale was born on Friday, 3rd September, 1926, in Sunderland. The forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle in February, 1945, having most recently been with Rosyth Victoria Secondary Juveniles. Aged 18, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 10th February, 1945, in a 2-1 defeat at home to Airdrieonians in the Southern League. That day, Douglas became a member of our scoring debutant's club. He scored the last of his 8 goals on Saturday, 11th August, 1945, in a 1-0 win away to Hamilton Academical in the Southern League. He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 8th September, 1945, in a 2-0 win away to Clyde in the Southern League, having appeared as a Jag on 12 occasions. Douglas's club-list included Partick Thistle, Raith Rovers, Lincoln City, Ayr United, Forfar Athletic, Cowdenbeath and Montrose. Douglas died on Sunday, 23rd December, 2012, in Edinburgh, aged 86. |
 This Sunderland-born teenager landed at Rosyth sometime in the mid 1940s, as we know he played with Rosyth Secondary Juveniles. Perhaps his father was a serviceman stationed at the naval base there? We also believe that he lived in Nigeria for a while! In February 1945, the 18-year-old centre forward got his footballing start in the Southern League with Thistle, and what an explosive start it was, with 7 goals in his first 5 games. In May/June of that year, Douglas featured in 5 of our 6 Summer Cup games (missing the final) as Thistle secured a national trophy for only the second time. There were only 3 appearances in 1945-46 and the player eventually moved on to Raith Rovers in May, 1948. He spent some time at Lincoln City in the early 1950s and got married to Jean Thomley, in Hyde, Cheshire, in 1951. As a first-teamer, he eventually found his level at Forfar, Cowdenbeath and Montrose, where he racked up almost 100 competitive appearances in 4 seasons from 1952-53 onwards. |
| (WS/JK) |
