Reid Duggie Image 2 Portsmouth 1947

Description

Mauchline, Ayrshire born inside right and later centre half Duggie Reid had been living in Manchester and began his football career with Heaton Chapel, from where he signed for Third Division (North) club Stockport County in August 1935, making his debut in a Third Division Cup match at Crewe Alexandra in September 1936, scoring twice in a 3-3 draw, and his Football League debut against Oldham Athletic a month later. He played 11 matches at centre forward as The Hatters won the Third Division (North) Championship at the end of the season and was a regular for County in their final two seasons at right half before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 forced the abandonment of peacetime football, by when, despite Stockport’s immediate relegation in 1938, 26 goals in 93 matches for Stockport County.

The War substantially interrupted Reid’s career but after the War, in March 1946, at the age of 28, he was sold to First Division club Portsmouth for £7,000. Although Portsmouth fans were initially sceptical, he won them over by scoring 29 goals at inside right in his first season when he was an ever present, including 2 goals on his debut against Blackburn Rovers that August ending it as the club’s top scorer with a hat-trick at Chelsea in May 1947, and he scored a further hat-trick against Grimsby Town that November.

Known for his blistering shots, his nickname; ‘Thunderboots’ was re-affirmed when, at Fratton Park he put the ball through the net and into the crowd when scoring a penalty against Manchester City in August 1949. His goals helped Portsmouth win the club’s first League Championship titles in 1948-49, when he scored a hat-trick against Charlton Athletic in September 1948, and 1949-50, with a hat-trick in a 5-1 final-day win over Aston Villa in the season helping Portsmouth claim the title on goal average, Reid also scoring hat-tricks that season in wins over Everton and Chelsea as well as scoring in a 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Charity Shield at Highbury in October 1949.

From 1953 he moved to centre half and had four seasons in the position, playing his final match for Pompey aged 38 in April 1956, by when he had scored 135 goals in 327 matches for Portsmouth. Reid moved to non-league club Tonbridge in the summer of 1956 before returning to the south coast once again as Portsmouth;s groundsman, a post he held until 1978. Reid also ran a hostel for the club’s young footballers in Southsea.

Reid’s son David also played for England at amateur level.