Bob Donaldson
Personal information
Full name Robert Donaldson
Date of birth (1868-08-27)27 August 1868
Place of birth Coatbridge, Scotland
Date of death 28 April 1947(1947-04-28) (aged 78)
Place of death Airdrie, Scotland
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
000?–1888 Cliftonhill Rovers ? (?)
1888–1891 Airdrieonians ? (?)
1891 Blackburn Rovers 0 (0)
1891–1897 Newton Heath 130 (56)
1897–1898 Luton Town 17 (10)
1898–1899 Glossop North End 32 (18)
1899–1900 Ashford United ? (?)
Total 179 (84)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robert Donaldson (27 August 1868 – 28 April 1947) was a Scottish footballer. He played as a forward.

Donaldson signed with Scottish Football League Second Division Airdrieonians from Cliftonhill Rovers in December 1888.[1] On leaving Airdrieonians in May 1891 he signed registration forms with both Blackburn Rovers and Newton Heath.[2] The ensuing dispute between the two clubs was settled when he declared that as Blackburn had failed to register their form within the specified time he was therefore a Newton Heath player.[3] The club were members of the Football Alliance for the 1891–92 season.

In the summer of 1892 Newton Heath were elected to the country's top league, the Football League First Division. He scored 66 goals in 147 Football League appearances for Newton Heath, the first of these goals scored against Blackburn Rovers on 3 September 1892 was the club's first ever Football League goal. Following Newton Heath's demotion to the Football League Second Division in 1894 he remained with the club for over three more seasons.[4] In November 1897 he was suspended by Newton Heath for a breaching training regulations and placed on the transfer list[5] and a month later for an £80 fee joined Football League Second Division club Luton Town.[6]

His stay at Luton lasted only five months as at the end of the 1897–1898 season they were reconstructing their team and Donaldson was transferred with three other team-mates to Glossop North End. The transfers were the subject of a dispute between the clubs: a Football League tribunal set the fee at the £200 offered by Glossop rather than the £500 requested by Luton.[7] In his single season with Glossop they were runners-up of the Football League Second Division and gained promotion to the First Division.

He left Glossop at the season's end before they played in their new league and signed-on at the start of the 1899–1900 season as a professional player with Kent League club Ashford United.[8] In January 1900 owing to cost-cutting measures he was released by Ashford[9] and in February was subject of negotiations between Glossop – who had continued to hold his Football League registration – and Newton Heath who were looking to appoint him as there reserve team coach.[10]

Career statistics: Newton Heath Football League

Club Season League FA Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Newton Heath[11] 1892–93 261610202916
1893–94 24733102810
1894–95 271510102915
1895–96 1773200209
1896–97 29985404114
1897–98 82000082
Total 1315616108015566

References

  1. ↑ "Sport And Pastime: Notes by "Athlete"". Coatbridge Express. 12 December 1888. p. 4.
  2. ↑ "En Passant (column 3)". Athletic News. 3 August 1891. p. 1.
  3. ↑ "Football Gossip". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 19 August 1891. p. 3.
  4. ↑ "Club History: Newton Heath 1877-1902". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
  5. ↑ "Football Notes". Sporting Life. 25 November 1897. p. 4.
  6. ↑ "Football Notes". The Manchester Evening News. 13 December 1897. p. 5.
  7. ↑ "The Football League". Sporting Life. 15 August 1898. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "Glossop". Lancashire Evening Post. 26 August 1899. p. 2.
  9. ↑ "Football". Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph. 20 January 1900. p. 3.
  10. ↑ "Glossop". Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter. 9 February 1900. p. 6.
  11. ↑ "THE WEBSITE OF DREAMS". stretfordend.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
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