John Fraser (footballer born 1876)

Infobox Football biography
playername = John Fraser


fullname = John Fraser
dateofbirth = birth date|1876|11|10
cityofbirth = Dumbarton
countryofbirth = Scotland
dateofdeath = death date and age|1952|10|1|1876|11|10
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height = height|ft=5|in=11
position = Winger
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1894-1897
1897-1898
1898-1899
1899-1901
1901-1902
1902-1905
1905- ??
clubs = Dumbarton
Motherwell
Notts County
Newcastle United
St Mirren
Southampton
Dundee
caps(goals) =

41 0(5)
49 0(9)

73 (25)
manageryears = ?? - ??
managerclubs = Dundee
nationalyears = 1907
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 01 0(0)

John (Jack) Fraser (born Dumbarton 10 November 1876, died 1 October 1952) was a Scottish professional footballer who was part of the Dundee team who won the Scottish Cup in 1910. He later went on to manage Dundee and was assistant manager at Chelsea.

Playing career

Early career

Jack Fraser started his football career at the late age of 18 with his local club Dumbarton, where he appeared as part of the team that lost the Scottish Cup final 5-1 to Rangers in 1897. After then spending one season with Motherwell he decided to try his luck in England and joined First Division club Notts County in January 1898. He remained at County for eighteen months before moving on to Newcastle United where he remained for two seasons, until returning to Scotland with St Mirren for the 1901-02 season.

outhampton

By the time he joined Southampton in May 1902 he had clocked up eight years with five different clubs with no conspicuous success. He was signed by Southampton as a replacement for Edgar Chadwick who had moved on to Liverpool after leading the Saints to the 1902 FA Cup final. Fraser scored a hat-trick on his debut against Brentford on 6 September 1902 and soon became a fixture in the side and missed only a handful of games in the 1902-03 season, including twice giving way to C. B. Fry for his final appearances for the club. On 13 December 1902 he scored four goals as Saints recorded their joint highest victory margin of 11-0 against Northampton Town.

When he joined the Saints he originally played at centre-forward, but he soon switched to inside-left where he had his best games and soon became a crowd favourite. Described in Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints" as "a bulky man" he "found the wing positions more to his liking and presented an awesome sight to defending goalkeepers when cutting inside and bearing down on them in full flight". [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992|pages=pp129-130| id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3] Saints finished Fraser's first season by taking the Southern League championship for the fifth time in seven years with Fraser contributing 15 goals.

This success was repeated in the following season, although in February 1903 he lost his place through injury to Fred Mouncher. He was restored to the starting line-up for the 1904-05 season where he continued to dovetail well on the left with George Hedley, but Saints finished the season in a disappointing third place.

Fraser had planned on remaining in Southampton as his intention was to purchase a tobacconist's business in the town, but the deal fell through [cite book | author=Gary Chalk & Duncan Holley | title=Saints - A complete record| publisher= Breedon Books| year=1987|pages=pp.240-241| id=ISBN 0-907969-22-4 ] and he then accepted excellent terms from Dundee and returned to Scotland.

Dundee

The return to Scotland paid dividends as he was to gain an international cap for Scotland on 16 March 1907 in a 1-0 victory over Ireland. He went on to win the Scottish Cup in 1910, defeating Clyde 2-1 in a second replay.

He later graduated to the position of player-manager for Dundee before moving back to England in 1919 to work for Chelsea, firstly as a scout and later as an assistant manager under David Calderhead and Leslie Knighton until the late 1930s.

Honours

Dumbarton
*Scottish Cup: finalist 1897

Southampton
*Southern League championship: 1902-03 and 1903-04

Dundee
*Scottish Cup: winner 1910

References

External links

* [http://www.dundee-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=EDZ4&id=92397 Photo of Dundee F.C. Scottish Cup winning team of 1910]