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The Bayview | Today's Guest - George Dewar

Post-war record goal scorer George Dewar was guest of honour at last weekend’s game v Raith Rovers. Stephen Mill looks back at his East Fife career in an article which appeared in the program that day.

Having attended Aberhill Primary School, next door to Bayview Park, it was his boyhood ambition to play in the Black and Gold. He had previously turned out for East Fife reserves at Tynecastle some two years earlier, following spells with Leslie Hearts, Methilhill Strollers and Wellsgreen Athletic but after facing a Hearts team which included Willie Bauld, Alfie Conn and John Cumming he was advised to “get a pair of spikes and speed up!”.

Five months after signing, the 23-year-old was handed his first team debut by Charlie McCaig at home to Stirling Albion. Dewar wore the number sever shirt in a game that ended in a 1-0 defeat and retained his place in the side for the remainder of the season, opening his scoring account two weeks later, finding the net twice in a 4-2 defeat of Forfar Athletic at Bayview. The youngster’s performance offered a ray of hope for the supporters who had witnessed a calamitous fall in the club’s standing in Scottish Football in recent years.

1961-62 started with a bang as the Fifers won all six of their League Cup sectional ties with Dewar hitting four goals in an 8-2 win at Brechin, following this up with a hat-trick at home to Arbroath four days later in a 6-0 success. A quarter final tie with Rangers was earned after Albion Rovers were seen off in the supplementary round. Although both legs against the Ibrox side ended in a 3-1 defeat, Dewar’s performances had caught the eye, scoring in each game. Despite being unable to reproduce this cup form in the league, the Methil men did manage a mid-table finish, an improvement in the previous two campaigns, Dewar finished top scorer with 31 goals having forged a productive partnership with Ian Stewart and goalkeeper-come-striker George Yardley.

Dewar continued to hit the target regularly the following season, finding the net on 24 occasions, including four goals in a 5-0 Scottish Cup win over Edinburgh University but the continued lack of league success saw Charlie McCaig replaced as manager by Jimmy Bonthrone in April 1963. Bonthrone made an immediately impact, with East Fife reaching the quarter finals of the League Cup, once again being paired with Rangers. It was a much closer affair this time around with Dewar’s second half equaliser earning a 1-1 first leg draw in front of a 14,000 Bayview crowd. A 2-0 defeat followed at Ibrox but, perhaps more importantly, performance in the league were showing marked signs of improvement, notably a 3-1 home win against eventual runaway Champions Morton. Dewar notched the second goal in a victory that brought the Greenock side’s record breaking 23 successive wins to an end. Fourth position was achieved at the end of a season with ever present Dewar finishing top scorer with 34 goals.

From a league prospective, 1964-65 was disappointing but the 9^th place was compensated by another quarter final appearance in the League Cup with goals gfrom Andy Waddell and George Christie helping to secure a remarkable 2-0 first leg defeat of Celtic at Bayview. Unfortunately, a defensive collapse at Parkhead resulted in a 6-0 reverse and no place in the semi-finals for the men from Methil. In the Scottish Cup East Fife created another upset after holding Aberdeen to a goalless draw at Pittodrie. A 27^th minute goal from Dewar was enough to see off the Dons in the replay. Kilmarnock, the side that would go on to lift the First Division Championship that season, were just too good for the Fifers in the next round, although it took another replay before the Ayrshire team progressed with a 3-0 win at Rugby Park.

The following two seasons saw the Fifers finish six points short of a promotion place. For the fifth successive season Dewar finished top goal scorer in 1965-66 but the next campaign found him on the side-lines through a knee injury, requiring an operation in December 1966 and causing him to miss out on another Scottish Cup shock, a 1-0 success away to Motherwell. Manger Bonthrone continued to bring in fresh blood in his efforts to return o top flight football, signing the experience Bertie Miller, Walter Bothwick, Peter McQuade, Dave Clarke and Dave Gorman. A third-place finish was achieved in 1967-68, four points behind runners up Arbroath, with top scorer Dewar also receiving the accolade of club’s Player of the Year. The goal of promotion eluded East Fife in the following campaign, again missing out by one place in Jimmy Bonthrone’s last season in charge. Bill Baxter taking over the reins after Bonthrone’s appointment as coach at Aberdeen in April 1969. For a club record seventh time Dewar ended the year as top scorer.

1969-70 was to be Dewar’s farewell season at Bayview Park as a player. He found the target for the last time in November 1969 at East Stirlingshire and played his part in a thrilling Scottish Cup run which saw Raith Rovers and Morton being knocked out before losing narrowly to Dundee in the quarter final. His final appearance in the black and gold was away to Brechin City in April 1970. After 337 appearances and a post-war record 193 goals for the club, Dewar elected to hang up his boots and was awarded a testimonial match against a Stoke City side that included Gordon Banks in November 1970 which attracted a 6,000 crowd

George Dewar gas a spell as a coach with East Fife, assisting Pat Quinn in bringing top division football to Methil after 13-year absence in 1971. A successful businessman, he continued to retain strong links with the area and in 2008 was voted into the pre-1970’s All-Time Greats team; a fitting and deserving tribute to a true Bayview legend. 

Walking Football at Bayview

Walking Football is back at Bayview after the summer break. The first session takes place on Wednesday 6^th September from 7 till 8 pm on the new 3G pitch at Bayview Stadium.

Walking Football is a slow-paced version of the game designed to help people maintain an active lifestyle, as well as getting those who have stopped playing, for various reason, back into the game.

If you’re interested in taking part, or keen to find out more, email Allan Duthie (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

To comply with the pitch guarantee only studded boots (moulded or screw-in) will be allowed. NO TRAINERS, BLADES, ASTROS ETC WILL BE PERMITTED

Please note that there are currently no changing or shower facilities available at the stadium and parking/access is from the north end of the stadium.

The Bayview | Black, Gold and Blue - Dan Liddle

Jim Corstorphine profiles the first player to be capped by Scotland while at East Fife. This article first appeared in Issue No. 2 of The Bayview (2017/2018).

Dan Liddle, the first East Fife player to pull on the dark blue of Scotland whilst still plying his trade with the Methil club, was born in the West Lothian seaport town of Bo’ness on 17th February 1912. Encouraged by their footballer father, who played for Bo’ness, Dan and his older brother John played football from an early age. As a schoolboy, Dan developed a reputation as a talented dribbler of the ball, and eventually made his name in the Juvenile game before stepping up to Junior football with Musselburgh side Wallyford Bluebell. The young Dan Liddle made such an impact on the left wing with Wallyford that he was selected to represent Scotland at outside-left in the Junior international against Ireland at Tynecastle just weeks after his seventeenth birthday, where he played his part in a 3-1 victory. Naturally, the youngster’s talents attracted the attention of several Senior sides, with Hearts the first such club to show an interest. Despite the interest from Hearts, and despite offers of contracts from both Middlesbrough and St Bernard’s, Dan opted to sign for East Fife, and duly put pen to paper on 18th May 1929.

Dan Liddle made his East Fife debut on 10th August 1929 against league newcomers Montrose at Bayview, and would have scored but for a brilliant save from visitors’ ‘keeper Robson. It didn’t take the youngster long to find the net, however, and just weeks later Dan scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over St Bernard’s at Logie Green. Throughout his first season at Bayview, the outside-left’s dashing runs down the wing and regular goal-scoring exploits quickly established him as a favourite on the terraces, and before long he had earned the nickname “Dangerous Dan”.

When the curtain finally came down on season 1929/30, East Fife had attained second place in the league table and promotion to the top flight of the Scottish League for the first time in the club’s history. It has to be said that this proud achievement would not, in all probability, have been accomplished without the services of left-winger Dan Liddle. Despite rumoured interest from Rangers, Dan stayed with East Fife for the duration of the following season. Unfortunately, season 1930/31 turned out to be a disastrous one from East Fife’s point of view, with the club returning to the Second Division at the end of the campaign. Despite the team’s poor form, however, Dan’s performances on the park had been impressive, and inevitably came to the attention of the SFA Selection Committee. Consequently, Dan Liddle’s name was added to the Scotland squad for their three-match continental tour in May 1931.

Dan made his Scotland debut aged just nineteen against Austria in front of 45,000 spectators at the Hohe Warte Stadion in Vienna on Saturday 16th May 1931, but unfortunately the occasion turned out to be a disastrous one, both for the team and the player. The Austrians raced into a two-goal lead inside the first fifteen minutes through Schall and Zischeck, and from there on it was “backs-to-the-wall” for the Scots, with things going from bad to worse when half-back Colin McNab received a bad gash on his head just before half-time. The player was able to continue, but when Dan Liddle was forced to retire after picking up a serious injury early in the second half, the Scots had to see out the remainder of the game with only ten men (no substitutes in those days!). The Austrians took full advantage, and eventually ran out 5-0 winners following further goals from Vogel, Zischeck and Sindelar to inflict Scotland’s first defeat by a foreign side and equal their record defeat which had been suffered forty-three years earlier against England in 1888! The embarrassment attracted much criticism in the press, with Monday’s Dundee Courier commenting: “Shades of our vaunted prestige. A Scottish team of supposedly international standard allow themselves to be whacked by a “foreign” team without scoring a goal! It’s a disaster!”

Despite his injury, Dan retained his place in the team to face Italy in Rome on Wednesday 20th May, but unfortunately the Scots were humbled again, this time by three goals without reply. In front of a crowd of 25,000, which included Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini, the Italians took an early lead through a Costantino header after six minutes, followed by a second goal just before half-time from Meazza. Orsi rubbed salt into the wounds with a third just three minutes from time. The final match of the tour was against Switzerland on the following Saturday at Parc des Charmilles in Geneva, where the Scots finally tasted success. Playing with the wind at their backs during the first half, Scotland scored twice inside the first twenty-five minutes through Portsmouth’s James Easson and Clyde’s Willie Boyd, before the home team pulled a goal back on the half-hour mark through Buche. The Swiss then equalised midway through the second half through Fauguel and, just when it looked like a draw was inevitable, Aberdeen’s Andy Love netted in the final minute to win the match by the odd-goal-in-five and restore some Scottish pride.

Unsurprisingly, with East Fife now back in the Second Division, Dangerous Dan’s days at Bayview were numbered. Both Liverpool and Leicester City were keen to sign the outside-left, and it was the latter who eventually landed his signature shortly after the player’s return from international duty. Despite some great performances for his new club, including a four-nil hammering of Sheffield United in which Liddle scored all four goals, the player was never again selected to represent his country. He turned out for Leicester for fourteen seasons from 1932 to 1946 and, after having made one appearance for Mansfield Town in season 1946/47, ended his playing days with Lincolnshire non-league side Stamford. Dan Liddle passed away on 9th June 1982 aged 70.