Bauchop Jimmy Image 2 Bradford Park Avenue 1922

Description

Sauchie, near Alloa, Clackmannanshire born inside forward Jimmy Bauchop began his football career at Sauchie in 1902 and joined Alloa Athletic in 1903 before signing for Glasgow Celtic on New Year’s Day 1906 where he made an immediate impact with a goal on his debut in a 7-0 home romp over Falkirk on January 9th. He was an occasional player in the club’s Scottish League Championship winning sides of 1905-06 and 1906-07, deputising for Jimmy Quinn and others he scored 5 goals in 13 appearances for The Bhoys.

After a spell in the Southern League with  Norwich City in 1907 he joined Crystal Palace early in 1908. His first goal arrived in an enjoyable win over arch-rivals Millwall and he later bagged a hat-trick against Portsmouth along with a brace in the draw with FA Cup holders Wolves at Molineux in January 1909, and he also gained the dishonour of being the first Crystal Palace player to get sent off in a local derby clash against Croyon Common in the London Cup on September 30, 1908, and was the club’s top goalscorer in 1908-09 with 19 goals before he moved on to Second Division Derby County in May 1909 after scoring 26 goals in 47 appearances for Palace.

He made his Football League debut against Gainsborough Trinity that September, scoring in a 2-2 draw at The Baseball Ground, and he was a prolific goalscorer during his four seasons at the club, with 22 goals in his debut season and 21 in 1910-11. This included a hat-trick in his second game in a 5-2 win over Burnley, and a hat-trick against Barnsley in April 1911. He then scored 17 goals as Derby won the Second Division Championship in 1911-12, his total including two hat-tricks in wins over Glossop and Clapton Orient. He had a single season in the top flight for The Rams which included a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur in January 1913, and he featured in 135 matches, scoring 72 goals before he signed for Tottenham in the 1913 close season.

In a brief spell at White Hart Lane he played in 10 matches for The Lilywhites, scoring 6 goals before he moved on to Bradford Park Avenue in December 1913, where he played both sides of the First World War, making 170 appearances and scoring 75 goals. In his first season at Park Avenue he helped Bradford secure promotion as Second Division runners up, scoring an FA Cup hat-trick against Reading in January 1914. He was then comfortably the club’s top scorer in their first season in the top flight, scoring 29 goals in 38 appearances including successive hat-tricks against Notts County and Sunderland in January 1915 and further trebles against Tottenham and Manchester United, before the War interrupted his career.

During the War he returned back to Celtic in a brief loan, playing in a New Years Day game in 1918, but neither he nor Celtic scored in a 0-0 draw with Rangers. He played for ‘Bradford, An England Eleven’ v a Glasgow (Select), on 3rd January 1919, with an invitation from the Lord Provost to the after match dinner at the Glasgow City Chambers, probably a fundraiser in the Belgian War Fund Shield. On the return of peacetime football he was an ever present in 1919-20 as Bradford finished eleventh, but suffered two successive relegations with the club in 1920-21 and 1921-22.

Bauchop went on to play for Midland League Doncaster Rovers in 1922 where he scored 3 League and FA Cup goals in 1922-23. His debut was in the first game at Rovers’ new ground Low Pastures, which was to become known as Belle Vue, in front of what was then Doncaster’s highest ever home crowd of around 10,000. He then returned to Football League action in September 1923 with Lincoln City where he played a further 29 games, scoring 12 goals. He retired from playing in the 1924 close season, and took up a role as a trainer with Bradford Park Avenue.

He was the younger brother of Willie Bauchop, who played for a host of clubs including Hearts, Alloa, Plymouth Argyle, Stockport County, Leicester Fosse and Norwich City prior to the First World War.