1939–40 Dumbarton F.C. season

Four games into the season, Britain was at war with Nazi Germany and all official Scottish football competition was suspended for its duration.

Leith Athletic v Dumbarton

12 August 1939 League	Leith Athletic	1-2 [1] VOID	Dumbarton	Old Meadowbank
	O'Rawe  80'		Nichol  60' Getty  85'	Referee: J Rennie

Dumbarton v East Fife

19 August 1939 League	Dumbarton	3-3 VOID	East Fife	Boghead Park
	Cowan  32' McBride  37' Nichol  50'		McKerrel  19' Adams  58' Wilkie  84'	Attendance: 5,500 Referee: J Mackay

Dundee v Dumbarton

26 August 1939 League	Dundee	3-1 [2] VOID	Dumbarton	Dens Park
	Warnock  23' Coats  36' Adam		McBride  51'	Referee: J Smillie

Dumbarton v Edinburgh City

2 September 1939 League	Dumbarton	3-2[3] VOID	Edinburgh City	Boghead Park
	Cowan  63', 70', 82'		Brown  30', 57'	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: W Hendry

In October 1939, in the absence of official competition, the clubs themselves wanted competitive football to continue in some form and arranged for two regional leagues of 16 teams each to be played, with Dumbarton playing in the Western Division – along with the likes of Celtic, Rangers etc. – teams they had not played since being relegated in 1922. Most of the First Division players were already contracted to play for their league opponents and it was no surprise that in this first season of the 'wartime' league, Dumbarton finished bottom (16th out of 16) with 18 points – 30 behind champions Rangers.

Dumbarton v Queen's Park

21 October 1939 League	Dumbarton	1-3[4][5]	Queen's Park	Boghead Park
	Cowan  (pen)		Kyle	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: R Carruthers

Kilmarnock v Dumbarton

28 October 1939 League	Kilmarnock	5-0[6][7]	Dumbarton	Rugby Park
	Collins  21', 38', 47' Thomson  71'			Attendance: 3,000

Dumbarton v Albion Rovers

4 November 1939 League	Dumbarton	4-1[8][9]	Albion Rovers	Boghead Park
	Browning  3' Speedie  27' Murray  63' Mills  70'		Sharp  85'	Attendance: 5,000 Referee: J Mackay

Clyde v Dumbarton

11 November 1939 League	Clyde	3-3[10][11]	Dumbarton	Rugby Park
	Wallace  40', 58' Mills  63'		Mills  1' Murray  5', 50'	Attendance: 3,000

Dumbarton v Hamilton

18 November 1939 League	Dumbarton	2-1[12][13]	Hamilton	Boghead Park
	McCulloch Harrison		Lang	Attendance: 6,000 Referee: R Scott

Rangers v Dumbarton

25 November 1939 League	Rangers	2-1[14][15]	Dumbarton	Ibrox Park
	Thornton  70' Venters  75'		Murray  19'	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: W Webb

Airdrie v Dumbarton

2 December 1939 League	Airdrie	3-2[16][17]	Dumbarton	Broomfield Park
	Mooney  2', 52', 88'		Dunn  31' Mills  71' (pen)	Referee: R Scott

Dumbarton v Ayr United

9 December 1939 League	Dumbarton	2-1[18][19]	Ayr United	Boghead Park
	Mills  4' Dunn  51'		Clark	Attendance: 1,500 Referee: J Thomson

Motherwell v Dumbarton

16 December 1939 League	Motherwell	5-1[20][21]	Dumbarton	Fir Park
	Ogilvie  30', 41', 56' Wood  63' Wales  65'		Mathers  88' (pen)	Attendance: 2,500 Referee: J Mackay

Dumbarton v Celtic

23 December 1939 League	Dumbarton	1-5[22][23]	Celtic	Boghead Park
	Mathers  15' (pen)		Divers  16', 80' Gould  44', 82' McDonald  55'	Attendance: 7.000

Partick Thistle v Dumbarton

30 December 1939 League	Partick Thistle	0-4[24][25]	Dumbarton	Firhill Park
			Collins  27', 83' Nichol Dunn  60'	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: R Carruthers

Dumbarton v Morton

1 January 1940 League	Dumbarton	3-2[26][27]	Morton	Boghead Park
	Milne Speedie		Milne Calder

Queen of the South v Dumbarton

2 January 1940 League	Queen of the South	3-1[28][29]	Dumbarton	Palmerston Park
	Lang Fitzsimmons Connor		Milne

Dumbarton v St Mirren

6 January 1940 League	Dumbarton	3-2[30][31]	St Mirren	Boghead Park
	Milne Speedie Mathers		Brady	Attendance: 3,500

Dumbarton v Clyde

10 February 1940 League	Dumbarton	1-2[32][33]	Clyde	Boghead Park
	Browning		McLaren Agnew	Attendance: 3,000 Referee: W Webb

Hamilton v Dumbarton

17 February 1940 League	Hamilton	4-2[34][35]	Dumbarton	Douglas Park
	Wilson McAloon McIntyre McKerracher		Collins Milne

Dumbarton v Motherwell

16 March 1940 League	Dumbarton	0-1[36][37]	Motherwell	Boghead Park
			Ogilvie  44'	Attendance: 2,000 Referee: R Carruthers

Celtic v Dumbarton

23 March 1940 League	Celtic	4-0[38][39]	Dumbarton	Celtic Park
	McDonald Geatons Divers Kelly

Third Lanark v Dumbarton

27 March 1940 League	Third Lanark	3-2[40][41]	Dumbarton	Cathkin Park
	Jones Stephenson Watters		Lang Speedie

Queen's Park v Dumbarton

2 April 1940 League	Queen's Park	4-1[44][45]	Dumbarton	Hampden Park
	Aitken Wright		McLean	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: H Watson

Morton v Dumbarton

6 April 1940 League	Morton	5-0[46][47]	Dumbarton	Cappielow Park
	Turnbull Calder Steel

Dumbarton v Kilmarnock

10 April 1940 League	Dumbarton	2-2[48][49]	Kilmarnock	Boghead Park
	Mathers  30' (pen) Dunn  44'		Newman  15' Gallacher

Dumbarton v Queen of the South

13 April 1940 League	Dumbarton	1-3[50][51]	Queen of the South	Boghead Park
	Stewart,A		Connor Dawson	Attendance: 2,000

Albion Rovers v Dumbarton

17 April 1940 League	Albion Rovers	3-1[52][53]	Dumbarton	Cliftonhill
	Dempsey Burke		Stewart,A	Referee: R Benzie

St Mirren v Dumbarton

20 April 1940 League	St Mirren	1-2[54][55]	Dumbarton	Love Street (stadium)
	Deakin		Shields Casey	Referee: H Watson

Dumbarton v Rangers

24 April 1940 League	Dumbarton	2-3[56][57]	Rangers	Boghead Park
	Stewart,A		McPherson McPhail	Attendance: 2,500

Dumbarton v Third Lanark

27 April 1940 League	Dumbarton	3-2[58][59]	Third Lanark	Boghead Park
	Shields Stewart,A		Jones	Attendance: 2,000

Dumbarton v Airdrie

4 May 1940 League	Dumbarton	0-1[60][61]	Airdrie	Boghead Park
			Soutar  (OG)	Attendance: 1,800

Ayr United v Dumbarton

11 May 1940 League	Ayr United	4-4[62][63]	Dumbarton	Somerset Park
	Roger Clark		Shields Stewart,A	Attendance: 7,000

In place of the Scottish Cup, a Scottish War Emergency Cup was established, to be played for by all the teams competing in the regional leagues. Dumbarton reached the second round before losing to Airdrie.

Dumbarton v Arbroath

24 February 1940 Cup R1(1)	Dumbarton	4–3[64]	Arbroath	Boghead Park
	Dunn  24' Milne Lang  70'		Miller  61' Mudie	Attendance: 4,500 Referee: C Faultless

Arbroath v Dumbarton

2 March 1940 Cup R1(2)	Arbroath	0–2[65] (3-6 agg.)	Dumbarton	Gayfield Park
			Dunn	Attendance: 2,150

Dumbarton v Airdrie

9 March 1940 Cup R2	Dumbarton	0–2[66]	Airdrie	Boghead Park
			Reid Flavell	Attendance: 5,500

While the Dumbartonshire Cup competition had been discontinued some years earlier, during the weeks following the suspension of official competition and the start of the regional leagues, Dumbarton played Vale of Leven (a junior football side) for custody of the trophy, and the senior team duly won the day.

Dumbarton v Vale of Leven

30 September 1939 Final	Dumbarton	4-2	Vale of Leven	Boghead Park
	McBride Nichol  (OG)

Following the demise of the Dumbartonshire Association, Dumbarton had been accepted as members of the Stirlingshire Association, and took part for the first time in the Stirlingshire Cup. Dumbarton were knocked out at the semi final stage by Falkirk, although the competition was never completed.

Dumbarton v Falkirk Amateurs

16 August 1939 First Round	Dumbarton	9-1	Falkirk Amateurs	Boghead Park
	Cowan Nichol Getty Nesbit			Attendance: 2,000

Falkirk v Dumbarton

7 October 1939 Semi Final	Falkirk	3-2	Dumbarton	Brockville Park
	Dawson  10' McPhee  15' (pen) Stewart  78'		Nichol  40' mcLean	Attendance: 4,000 Referee: W McCulloch

Players registrations were effectively cancelled and wages fixed at £2 per week which meant that players were free to sign for clubs local to their war work as 'guest players'.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Western Division		Emergency Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		John Hill[67]	6	0	6	0	0	0
	GK		William Morrison[68]	1	0	1	0	0	0
	GK		Duncan Yuill[69]	26	0	23	0	3	0
	DF		James Brown[70]	4	0	4	0	0	0
	DF		John Casey	19	1	16	1	3	0
	DF		Johnny Soutar[71]	33	0	30	0	3	0
	DF		Willie Steel	19	0	19	0	0	0
	DF		Kenneth Stewart[72]	2	0	2	0	0	0
	MF		John Browning	28	2	25	2	3	0
	MF		Robert Fraser[73]	6	0	6	0	0	0
	MF		John Mathers[74]	26	4	24	4	2	0
	MF		David McLean[75]	18	2	17	2	1	0
	MF		Stephen Murray	9	4	9	4	0	0
	MF		Fulton Wilson[76]	15	0	13	0	2	0
	FW		Bowden	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		David Collins	24	3	22	3	2	0
	FW		David Cowan	2	1	2	1	0	0
	FW		Willie Dunn	18	7	15	4	3	3
	FW		John Getty	5	0	5	0	0	0
	FW		John Lang	14	4	11	2	3	2
	FW		John McBride[77]	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Willie Mills	7	4	7	4	0	0
	FW		Jackie Milne	15	6	14	5	1	1
	FW		William Nichol[78]	27	2	24	2	3	0
	FW		James Shields[79]	6	5	6	5	0	0
	FW		Smith[80]	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Bobby Speedie[81]	19	4	17	4	2	0
	FW		Alex Stewart[82]	11	7	11	7	0	0

Source:[83]

Transfers

Players in Player From Date David Cowan Arbroath 1 May 1939 William Nichol Stenhousemuir 17 May 1939 James Brown Motherwell 3 Jun 1939 David McLean Third Lanark 3 Jun 1939 John Getty Nottingham Forest 4 Jul 1939 Johnny Soutar Montrose (guest) 21 Oct 1939 Duncan Yuill Millwall (guest) 21 Oct 1939 Stephen Murray Dunfermline Athletic (guest) 26 Oct 1939 Willie Mills Huddersfield Town (guest) 1 Nov 1939 Jackie Milne Middlesbrough (guest) 3 Nov 1939 Robert Fraser Hibernian (guest) 6 Nov 1939 Willie Steel Derby County (guest} 15 Nov 1939 Willie Dunn Raith Rovers (guest) 30 Nov 1939 David Collins Morton (guest) 7 Dec 1939 Kenneth Stewart Cowdenbeath (guest) 17 Feb 1940 Fulton Wilson St Mirren (guest) 29 Feb 1940 Alex Stewart Falkirk (guest) 23 Mar 1940 John Hill Cowdenbeath (guest) 15 Apr 1940 James Shields Celtic (guest) 22 Apr 1940 John Lang Barnsley (guest) John Mathers St Johnstone (guest) John Browning Gillingham (guest)

Players out Player To Date Robert Speedie Stenhousemuir 9 Aug 1939 William Morrison Released 17 Nov 1939 Thomas Bilsland Third Lanark Jimmy Smith Manager Dumbarton F.C.

In addition Walter Bulloch, William Cameron, John Craig, Andrew Cumming, Alistair MacKillop, James McAllister, Patrick McArdle, William Monaghan, John Smith and John Yuill all played their last games in Dumbarton 'colours'.

Source:[84]