Aitkenhead Wattie Image 2 Blackburn Rovers 1912

Description

Maryhill, Glasgow born inside forward Wattie Aitkenhead joined Partick Thistle from Maryhill Harp in 1906 and played just 4 matches before being signed by English First Division club Blackburn Rovers in September 1906 making his Football League debut against Derby County in October, and although he was selected for 18 matches during his debut season he didn’t become a first team regular until the start of the 1909-10 campaign, a season in which he was an ever present and the club’s leading goalscorer with 16 goals.

In 1910-11 he was the club’s second top scorer with 14 goals, and he played in their 1912 FA Cup semi final team which lost to eventual winners Bradford City at Bramall Lane. He remained with Blackburn for the remainder of his career, which was effectively ended by the onset of the First World War, winning the League Championship with Rovers in 1911-12, when he scored 21 goals and was the club’s leading goalscorer, including scoring both goals in their FA Charity Shield victory over Queens Park Rangers at White Hart Lane in May 1912, a consolation for again missing out in the FA Cup semi final, Aitkenhead playing in both the drawn first match and the replay, when they were beaten by West Bromwich Albion at Bramall Lane. It was in this season when he made his only appearance for Scotland, and scored twice in a 4-1 win against Ireland on 16 March 1912.

He again topped the goalscoring charts in 1912-13, jointly with Eddie Latheron with 16 goals, his tally including hat-tricks against Northampton Town in an FA Cup tie in January 1913 and Middlesbrough the following month. He featured less regularly during Blackburn’s second League Championship triumph, scoring 11 goals during the campaign but featuring in only 17 of their 38 League matches, although he again scored two hat-tricks, a treble in a 5-0 Christmas Day win over Preston North End and grabbing all three goals the next month in a win over Middlesbrough, Aitkenhead signed off with a brace in a 4-0 win over Middlesbrough in April 1915 immediately before peacetime football was suspended due to the onset of the First World War.

During the War he served as a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery and when on leave he “guested” for Preston North End for several seasons, retiring from playing in 1918 well before peacetime football was allowed to resume, after having scored 94 goals in 239 appearances for Blackburn Rovers.