- Jimmy Blair (footballer born 1918)
Football player infobox
playername= Jimmy Blair
fullname = James Alfred Blair
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date|1918|1|6
cityofbirth =Whiteinch
countryofbirth =Scotland
dateofdeath = 1983
height =
position = Forward
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = -1937
1937-1947
1947-1949
1949-1953
clubs = Cardiff City
Blackpool
Bournemouth & Bomscombe Athletic
Leyton Orient
Career
caps(goals) = 000 0(0)
050 0(8)
080 0(8)
104 (26)
234 (42)
manageryears =
managerclubs = Ramsgate (player-manager)
nationalyears =
1946
nationalteam = Wales schoolboys
Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 00? 0(?)
001 0(0)
pcupdate =James Alfred "Jimmy" Blair (January 6, 1918 — 1983) was a Scottish professional football player. A forward, he was the son of Scottish international James Blair.
Blair began his professional career with Cardiff City in the 1930s, but after failing to break into "the Bluebirds"' first team, he was transferred to Joe Smith's Blackpool in 1937. He made his debut for "the Tangerines" in the third league game of the 1937–38 season, in a single-goal victory over Everton at
Bloomfield Road on September 4, 1937. His strike partner,Bobby Finan , scored the goal. Blair went on to make a further twenty appearances in the league that campaign, scoring four goals in the process: two in a 4–2 victory at Brentford on September 16, one in a 4–2 defeat in the following game at home to Leicester City two days later, and one in a 2–1 victory at Portsmouth on October 23.In 1938–39, Blair managed just four league appearances as Joe Smith tried out several partners for Bobby Finan. In the first full season after
World War II , 1946–47, Blair made twenty-five league appearances and scored four goals as Blackpool achieved a fifth-placed finish in Division One. One of his goals gave Blackpool both points against Chelsea at Bloomfield Road on November 2, 1946, while another helped them to a 3–2 victory over Liverpool, also at home, at the end of the month.Blair's final appearance for Blackpool occurred on April 12, 1947, in a 2–0 loss at home to Stoke City. It was his fiftieth league appearance for the club.
Blair joined Bournemouth & Bomscombe Athletic in 1947, and in two years with the south-coast club he made eighty league appearances and scored eight goals.
In 1949, Blair joined Leyton Orient, with whom he made the most appearances and scored the most goals of his career: 104 league games and twenty-six goals.
Blair's final two clubs were
non-League outfits Ramsgate Athletic and Canterbury City.International career
Blair won one cap for Scotland, on October 19, 1946, in a 3–1 defeat to Wales, for whom he played as a schoolboy.
Death
Blair died in 1983 at the age of 65.
References
* [http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/player_details.cfm?playerid=113208 Profile at the Scottish FA's website]
* [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player2/jimmyblair.htm Profile at Neil Brown's statistics site]
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