Paterson Jim Image 1 Leicester City 1934

Description

St Ninians, Stirlingshire born inside forward (who played in all three inside forward positions) Jim Paterson began his football career with Causewayhead United and Strathallan Hawthorn in the early-mid 1920’s and played for Camelon Juniors in 1925 before a spell with Everton, where he spent 1926-27 without making their first eleven. Paterson returned to Scotland with St Johnstone in 1927 and moved on to play for Cowdenbeath in 1930, where he was their leading goalscorer two seasons in a row, scoring 54 goals, and while with Cowden at the end of the 1930-31 season, he played in the Home Scots v Anglo Scots match at Newcastle and scored both of the Home Scots goals in a 3-2 defeat. As a result he was capped three times by Scotland on their European summer tour in May 1931 playing in matches against Austria, Italy and Switzerland, becoming Cowdenbeath’s most capped player.

He was signed by First Division club Leicester City for a fee of £2,250 in the summer of 1932. He made his Football League debut against Sheffield United that August, scoring in a 1-1 draw, scoring a dozen goals in 19 matches during his first season at Filbert Street, but lost his regular place in their 1934-35 campaign, featuring in only 5 matches, before a move to Reading in the 1935 close season, by when he had scored 19 goals in 49 matches for The Foxes. At Reading he was a regular for two seasons as they finished third and fifth in the Third Division (South) but lost his place in October 1937 and transferred to Clapton Orient in the 1938 close season after 25 goals in 82 matches for The Royals. But he was a fringe player at Brisbane Road, playing just 5 matches for The O’s before his retirement with the outbreak of the Second World War.

His son Alex played 24 matches for Stirling Albion between 1954 and 1956.