Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | William Alexander Dickson | ||
Date of birth | 27 August 1866 | ||
Place of birth | Crail, Fife, Scotland | ||
Date of death | 1 June 1910 (aged 43) | ||
Place of death | Stoke-upon-Trent, England | ||
Playing position | Forward | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
– | Strathmore | ||
– | Bolton Wanderers | ||
– | Sunderland | ||
1889–1891 | Aston Villa | 58 | (33) |
1892–1896 | Stoke | 119 | (40) |
Total | 177 | (73) | |
National team | |||
1888 | Scotland | 1 | (4) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
William Alexander Dickson (27 August 1866 – 1 June 1910) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Aston Villa and Stoke and also the Scotland national team.
Dickson was born in Crail, Fife and played for Dundee club Strathmore before joining English club Bolton Wanderers and then Sunderland. In 1889 he joined Football League side Aston Villa and did well for the Birmingham-based club scoring 34 goals in 64 matches. He joined fellow Midlands based club Stoke in time for the 1892–93 season where he scored 11 goals as Stoke enjoyed their best season in the league up to that point. He scored 13 in the following campaign including five in six in the short lived United Counties League. As well as playing up front Dickson also played at full-back and would often swap positions on a regular basis. He left the Victoria Ground in 1896 after scoring 48 goals in 128 matches for the "Potters".
Dickson won his only Scotland cap while with Strathmore on 24 March 1888 where he scored four times in a 10–2 win over Ireland. Despite this, he was never selected again for his country. He is one of just two players to have scored four goals in their only Scotland appearance, the other being Charles Heggie two years previously.