Jock Dodds

Dodds was born in Grangemouth. His father died when he was two years old. His family moved to Durham in 1927 after his mother remarried. Four years later, at the age of 16, he began his career at First Division Huddersfield Town as a centre forward. In 1934, after just two years with the Terriers, and via a short spell with Lincoln City, he took a free transfer to Second Division Sheffield United. Dodds later became the Blades' leading scorer for four successive seasons, netting a total of 130 goals in just 203 appearances. His debut came on 15 September 1934, against Burnley but despite playing and scoring regularly in the following months, the club was unconvinced that he was yet of first-team quality. The club made an enquiry into the return of former player Jimmy Dunne, who found himself out of favour at Arsenal after he had been sold, but this came to nothing due to a cartilage injury. Dodds secured his position by scoring four goals in the next game, a 6–1 victory against Southampton on 16 February 1935. His prolific goalscoring helped the club reach the 1936 FA Cup Final, in which he almost scored, hitting the crossbar with a header. It was said by Ernest Jackson that he would have scored nine times out of ten from such a position and Dodds himself claimed that he had been pushed in the back by Wilf Copping. United ultimately lost the final to Arsenal, 1–0, thanks to a goal by Ted Drake. His 100th league goal came in his 154th appearance, against Tottenham Hotspur on…

Dodds made all eight of his international appearances for Scotland during the wartime period, and thus they are unofficial. On 18 April 1942, he netted a hat-trick in a 5–4 win over England at Hampden Park in front of a crowd of 91,000. Bill Shankly hit Scotland's winning goal. Dodds scored 8 goals in his 6 games versus England.

Sheffield United

Sheffield United

FA Cup runner-up: 1935–36