The following post was kindly submitted to us by Gordon McCreath, who is a keen Ayrshire junior football historian.
Davy McDougall only played one season for Irvine Meadow XI before setting off on a remarkable footballing journey, which took him all round the United Kingdom. He signed up in 1898 and played at outside left when Meadow beat Newmilns 4-0 in the Ayrshire Cup final at Rugby Park. It was the first trophy Meadow had won as a junior club and Davy played a prominent part by scoring the first of their four goals. ‘Jamieson sent in a fast cross-shot, which the goalkeeper saved, but McDougall met the ball rebounding off him and scored the first and only goal of this half.’ (Kilmarnock Standard).
After one season at Meadow Park, McDougall turned senior with Rangers, but was not able to break into the first team. He moved on loan to Partick Thistle, where his arrival was seen as a ‘real capture’ by the publication Sport.
Davy started his Jags career with silverware when he was in the team that won the Partick Thistle Sports Day 5-a-sides tournament, beating Linthouse and Clyde. More importantly, he won the Second Division championship with them in 1899/1900, making 39 league appearances and contributing 14 goals. At the end of the season McDougall was recalled to Rangers, for whom he played 4 league games, scoring 3 goals, as Rangers became Scottish champions in 1900/01. He also played in 11 friendly matches (another 4 goals) that season, but his impressive goals per game ratio didn’t secure him a regular start and during the season he moved on loan to Bristol City, who at that time played in the Southern League in England. After 11 games and 4 goals with the Bristol club, he had a short spell with the small Perthshire club, Vale of Atholl FC. The Pitlochry club had reached the Perthshire Cup final and Davy was one of several big name players they signed to strengthen the team before facing St Johnstone in February, 1902.
Still a Rangers player, he next moved to Ireland to play for Distillery, making a scoring debut on 31st May 1902. His 14 goals in 1902/03 were vital in the club’s three trophy wins, the League, the Irish Cup and the County Antrim Shield, and he helped win the League again in his last season there, 1904-05.
He later played with distinction for another Belfast club, Glentoran, and at the start of the next decade became the first ever full-time player-manager of Cardiff City. He began signing players, a number of whom he knew from Scotland and the North East of England and built an experienced team. His signing policy was rather expensive but he was aware that he needed a team that could compete with the opposition.
McDougall, who also captained the team, took Cardiff to a respectable 4th position in the 12team league but only stayed in his player-manager post there for one season. However, the foundations he put in place set the club up for their first Welsh Cup victory the following year.
Another Welsh club, Newport County, had started up and was elected to the 2nd division of the Southern League in season 1912-13. They turned to McDougall, who was one of a long list of applicants for the position as player-manager, to lead them in their fist season. The other players talked him into becoming club captain as well and it was in that capacity that he lead Newport County onto the field for their first competitive match, a Southern League 2nd Division against Mid-Rhondda from Tonypandy. McDougall lost the toss in front of 5,000 fans, but then lead his side to a 3-0 win, with Davy scoring the second goal from the penalty spot. It was his only goal in 22 league appearances as he steered Newport County to a safe 10th place in the league table.
He stayed only that one season with County and when he left he ran the Excelsior Social Club in Cardiff then went on to manage a few more pubs in the Cardiff area and still attended Newport games until the mid 1930’s.
(Thanks to Douglas Gorman and Davy McDougall’s great grand-nieces, Margaret Lamb and Carolanne Graham for information included in this article)