| George Sutherland |
 George Sutherland was born on Monday, 5th October, 1914, in Musselburgh, East Lothian. The defender signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Wednesday, 11th September, 1935 (after a previous trial period), having most recently been with East Fife. Aged 20, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 11th May, 1935, in a 2-1 win away to Queen's Park in the Glasgow Charity Cup. George scored his first goal for Thistle on Tuesday, 22nd April, 1941, in a 5-3 defeat away to Clyde in the Southern League. He scored his second and final goal for the club on Saturday, 29th August, 1942, in a 3-2 win away to Queen's Park in the Southern League. He played his last game for Thistle on Saturday, 13th February, 1943, in a 5-1 win away to Albion Rovers in the Southern League, having clocked up an impressive 249 appearances as a Jag. His club-list included Linlithgow Rose, East Fife, Partick Thistle, Dundee United and Heart of Midlothian. George died in 1969, aged 54 or 55. *
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 George joined the Jags as a centre half, initially on trial, but put pen to paper on 11th September 1935. His 1st match during his trial period was in a 2-1 win over Queen’s Park in the Glasgow Charity Cup Final at Hampden in front of 16,500 spectators on 11th May 1935. Not for the faint-hearted! George took Bob Donnelly’s place in the side, Bob having recently been transferred joined Manchester City. The centre half started his football career with Linlithgow Rose in 1932, going on to East Stirlingshire in 1933 and then East Fife in 1934. Miner George was well suited to the centre half position, renowned for his heading ability. He remained a Jag until 1943, playing his final fixture in a Thistle jersey in February 1943. In 1941, however, George joined the Army, and was soon playing Army football for the Royal Corps of Signals and Scottish Command. He represented Army sides on 16 occasions, and played in the Army in Scotland side’s 8-0 victory over the Dutch Army at Cappielow on 7th November 1942. He also played for Scotland v England in the Army international on 20th February 1943 at Hampden. We’ll gloss over the 7-0 loss. The Army’s gain was Thistle’s loss, although he was allowed to play for Thistle where possible. George represented Glasgow v Sheffield in 1937. The Glasgow side lost 2-1 in the fixture at Doncaster’s Belle Vue stadium. All in all George played for the Jags on a massive 249 occasions scoring twice. He left for Heart of Midlothian in August 1943, and played 34 times for Hearts reserves. He passed away in 1969 in his mid-50s. On account of his service during WWII, George is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle Returned →. |
| (DMAC) |
