Guthrie Jimmy Image 3 Portsmouth 1938

Description

Luncarty, Perthshire born wing half Jimmy Guthrie played for junior clubs Luncarty City Boys in 1930, and Perth Thistle and Scone Thistle in 1931 before joining Dundee in 1932. After five years at Dens Park he was transferred to First Division Portsmouth for a fee of £4,000 in August 1937, making his Football League debut against Middlesbrough the next month.

He played 94 times for Pompey most famously captaining them to a 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1939 FA Cup Final at Wembley. However a car accident later in 1939 and the suspension of competitive football due to outbreak of the Second World War effectively put an end to his playing career. He did return to Fratton Park after the War, but played just 2 more games for Portsmouth in their 1946 FA Cup campaign, and having scored twice in 86 appearances he joined Crystal Palace in October 1946, appearing just 5 times for the Selhurst Park outfit in the winter of 1946 before joining non league Guildford City in 1947.

Throughout his career he was active in the Players’ Union and he became the Union’s fifth Chairman in August 1946 holding the position until 1957. He did much of the campaigning work that later saw the abolition of the maximum wage. His book ‘Soccer Rebel’, published in 1976, documents his time at the Players’ Union and includes commentary about the subsequent work of the renamed Professional Footballers’ Association and the state of the English game.