| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 December 1901 | ||
| Place of birth | Dumfries, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 5 January 1970(1970-01-05) (aged 68) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1920 | Queen of the South | ||
| 1920–1921 | St Mirren | 13 | (2) |
| 1921–1925 | Dundee | 126 | (90) |
| 1925–1929 | Sunderland | 166 | (156) |
| 1929–1930 | Arsenal | 15 | (8) |
| 1930–1933 | Manchester City | 76 | (47) |
| 1933–1935 | Clapton Orient | 53 | (33) |
| 1936–1937 | Yeovil and Petters United | ||
| Total | 449 | (336) | |
| International career | |||
| 1924 | Scottish Football League XI | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1936–1937 | Yeovil and Petters United | ||
| 1937–1955 | Aberdeen | ||
| 1955–1958 | Leicester City | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
David Halliday (11 December 1901 – 5 January 1970)[1][2] was a Scottishfootball player and manager. He achieved numerous distinctions and high rankings as a prolific goal-scoringforward with six senior clubs;St Mirren,Dundee,Sunderland,Arsenal,Manchester City andClapton Orient. He bookended his senior career playing at then non-leagueQueen of the South andYeovil and Petters United. Halliday's three goals in theFA Cup proper for Yeovil give him a career total of 368 senior goals. From being player-manager at Yeovil, he went on to win trophies managingAberdeen andLeicester City.[1]
He is the most recent of only two players to be outright top scorer in both Scottish and English football's top divisions, with 38 Dundee goals in 1923–24 and 43 Sunderland goals in 1928–29. He is the quickest player in history to 100 goals in English football's top division, taking 101 games when at Sunderland. He is the only player to score 30 or more goals in four consecutive seasons in English football's top division (achieved again when at Sunderland). He scored at least 35 league goals in each of those four seasons. He is Sunderland's most prolific goals-per-game striker with 165 goals from 175 games. His 211 goals in English football's top division with Sunderland, Arsenal and Manchester City ranks him the 20th highest scorer at that level. Of the 27 players to have scored 200 or more goals in English football's top division, onlyDixie Dean scored at a more prolific rate at that level.[1]
Managing Aberdeen, he won the1946–47 Scottish Cup and the1954–55 Scottish Football League. He managed Leicester City to promotion to the top division in England from winning the1956–57 Football League Second Division.[1]
Halliday was born inDumfries and started in local schools football where he featured on the left wing.[3] He firstly attended Noblehill Primary School and thereafterDumfries Academy. Halliday then worked with car manufacturerArrol-Johnston and played for the company's team. This side was one of three who merged to formQueen of the South in 1919. However, despite having played in the new club's trial matches, Halliday did not join Queens until 17 January 1920 as he had a brief spell with Tayleurians. After joining the club, Halliday played 19 games until the season's end in May 1920.[1]
In Queens's first season their fixtures consisted of challenge games and local cup competitions, including the Dumfries Charity Cup which was played over three weekends in May. On 8 May in the first game, Queens thrashedDumfries 7–1. A week later they saw off Solway Star 4–0 in the semi-final. They then faced up in the final against sideDalbeattie Star.[1] A then-record crowd of 4,500 (with many others situated upon the stadium's roof) watched the game. An early Halliday shot went wide following good link up play withIan Dickson. However it was Dalbeattie with their physical style of play who took the lead. Queens equalised throughWillie McCall before Halliday's play became fruitful. One shot hit the post, another went inches wide before he put Queens ahead five minutes before half time. Connell hit a third a minute into the second half before Halliday beat Borthwick to cross for McCall who scored a fourth goal.[1]
Halliday in all scored 13 goals in 19 games for theDoonhamers while playing at outside left. In 1924 Halliday's 16-year-old brotherBilly joined Queen of the South.[1]
Halliday was asked to sign bySt Mirren after the cup final win over Dalbeattie. He requested time to consider the offer before agreeing, with a stipulation that he continued working with Arrol-Johnston and travelled toPaisley on match days. In season 1920–21, as a part-time member of the playing staff, he scored two goals in 13 league games.[1]
Halliday next joinedDundee in 1921, for whom Scotland internationalistAlex Troup played on the left wing. Halliday was thus moved tocentre forwards and quickly became one of the most prolific players in the game. He finished as Scottish top scorer in1923–24 with a return of 38 goals from his 36 top division appearances; remains the club record all-time seasonal league goalscoring record. Halliday scored in the 3-01924–25 Scottish Cup tie victory overAirdrieonians whose team containedHughie Gallacher,Bob McPhail andWillie Russell. Dundee progressed to the1925 Scottish Cup Final in which, after leading at half-time, they lost 2–1 to a last minute goal byCeltic'sJimmy McGrory.[4] Halliday scored 90 goals in 126 league appearances for theDees, with another 13 goals from 21 Scottish Cup games in four seasons.[1]
While atDens Park he was capped for theScottish Football League XI in a 1–1 draw against theEnglish League atIbrox Park in March 1924.[1][5] In end-of-season tours with Dundee, Halliday scored doubles against each ofAthletic Bilbao,Real Madrid,Valencia CF andFC Barcelona.[1]
In 1925 Halliday joinedSunderland who paid £4,000 for his services. ReplacingCharlie Buchan in the team, Halliday instantly became even more prolific south of the border than in the north. He hit his first 100 goals for Sunderland in just 101 games, and remains the quickest player to s century of English top division league goals. His 43 goals in1928–29 made him top scorer in England's top division that season, making him the most recent of only two players to have been outright top scorer in the top divisions of both Scotland and England (the other wasDavid McLean). He scored at least 35 league goals in each of the four full seasons he spent at Sunderland, and is the only player at any club to score 30 or more league goals in four consecutive seasons in England's top division. His lowest full seasonal league tally of 35 goals is higher than any other Sunderland player has achieved in their best season. Hence Halliday has the top four season-by-season league goal scoring tallies at Sunderland.[1][6]
Halliday has a Sunderland goals to games ratio of 0.94, the highest of any striker in the club's history. He struck 165 goals in 175 games for theBlack Cats comprising 156 league goals from 166 games and nine in nine FA Cup outings. He scored 12 league hat-tricks, more than any other player. He scored 4 goals in a game on three occasions. He is also Sunderland's third highest goalscorer of all time. His 165 Sunderland goals were all in his first 168 games atRoker Park before scoring in none of his last seven games.[1]
Despite Halliday's goals feats with Sunderland, he managed no better than third place in the league with the club, achieved in the1925–26 and1926–27 seasons.[1] While at Sunderland in November 1927, Halliday's brother Billy joined nearby rivalsNewcastle United.[1]
In 1929 Halliday was signed byArsenal. He debuted againstBirmingham City on 9 November 1929. Halliday endured a relatively goalless start for him, playing in an Arsenal team off-form largely attributed at the time to injury affecting key playmakerAlex James. ManagerHerbert Chapman tried different combinations in attack before James, and subsequently the rest of the team, began to find form in late January.Jack Lambert had been recalled at centre-forward. With Arsenal's form in upswing, Lambert remained Chapman's first choice for the number 9 jersey for the rest of the season with Halliday only an occasional first teamer, though he played in the6–6 record scoring game against Leicester City onEaster Monday 21 April 1930. Halliday scored four putting him on six goals from his four most recent first team games at that point.[1]
Arsenal's next game after the Leicester match was the1930 FA Cup Final. Chapman recalled Jack Lambert at centre-forward for the final, and the decision was vindicated with James and Lambert scoring in the 2–0 win over Chapman's previous club,Huddersfield Town. Chapman started the league campaign the next season with the five forwards from the cup final. Arsenal scored 127 goals in 42 games winning the league by seven points in the era of the two points for a win. Halliday scored regularly playing for the reserves (39 goals in 29 reserve games in his year at Arsenal), but with Lambert top scoring for the first team with 38 goals in 1930–31, Halliday stayed out of the first team.[1]
Halliday's four-goal game against Leicester was his last Arsenal first team appearance. He scored 8 goals in 15 games for Arsenal (and also played in a game against Middlesbrough which was abandoned after 55 minutes and hence is not counted in official statistics).[1][7]
Halliday signed forManchester City in November 1930, a year after joining Arsenal, for a fee of £5,700.[3] At City, Halliday hit 47 goals in 76 league games as well as four goals from six cup appearances that took City to the1931–32 FA Cup semi-finals when they lost to a last-minute Arsenal goal. He scored a hat-trick against former club Sunderland in just ten minutes in January 1932. Halliday though missed the1933 FA Cup Final, which City lost toEverton.[1]
Halliday saw out his senior playing career withClapton Orient between December 1933 and June 1935. He top scored for Orient in both seasons in which he played there despite arriving in late December. In his 18 months there he hit 36 strikes in 56 competitive first team games.[1]
After leaving Orient, Halliday became player-manager of non-leagueYeovil & Petters United. He top scored in both his full seasons there with 22 and 47 goals respectively. He also scored a further three goals in the FA Cup proper. In that run they defeatedIpswich Town andGainsborough Trinity to reach the third round playing againstManchester United atOld Trafford. He had already reached agreement between Yeovil and Aberdeen that he would take over as Aberdeen manager immediately after the Manchester United tie.[1]
Halliday was appointed manager ofAberdeen on 22 December 1937 but did not take over the reins until after Yeovil's FA Cup tie at Manchester United in January 1938. He led theDons to a 3–2 victory againstRangers in the1945–46 Southern League Cup Final; this a national competition in all but name and predecessor to theScottish League Cup launched the season after. Halliday then guided Aberdeen to1946–47 Scottish Cup success, defeating the emergingHibernian team who were on course to become Scottish league champions in three of the next five seasons. This was the first major trophy won by the club. He returned to the Scottish Cup Final again in1953, losing a replay 1–0 to Rangers, then in1954 was Scottish Cup runner-up again, this time losing 2–1 to Celtic. He led Aberdeen to their first-everScottish Football League title in1954–55. OnlyAlex Ferguson has since taken Aberdeen to the Scottish League title.[1][3]
After leaving Aberdeen in 1955 Halliday spent three years at the helm ofLeicester City, guiding them to the1956–57Second Division title. Although Halliday left in 1958, the 1957 promotion was the beginning of Leicester's longest run to date in the England's top division, 12 seasons.[1]
Halliday returned to theAberdeen area and scouted for Leicester City in northeast Scotland. He died on 5 January 1970, aged 68.[1][2]
Excluding Queen of the South figures as they were non-league until 1923–24, Dave Halliday scored 92 league goals in Scotland in 139 appearances and a further 13 in 21 Scottish Cup appearances. In England he scored 244 league goals in 310 appearances and a further 16 FA Cup goals in 18 appearances with league clubs. He also scored an FA Cup hat-trick for Yeovil, for a total of 368 first class goals. It is worth noting that a large chunk of his career was spent playing under the old offside rule and that all his league goals bar the season and a half with Clapton Orient in the Third Division South were scored in the top flight in both Scotland and England.[1]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| St Mirren | 1920–21 | Scottish Division 1 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 |
| Dundee | 1921–22 | Scottish Division 1 | 28 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 25 |
| 1922–23 | Scottish Division 1 | 26 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 34 | 15 | |
| 1923–24 | Scottish Division 1 | 36 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 39 | |
| 1924–25 | Scottish Division 1 | 36 | 19 | 7 | 5 | 43 | 24 | |
| Total | 126 | 90 | 21 | 13 | 147 | 103 | ||
| Sunderland | 1925–26 | First Division | 42 | 38 | 4 | 4 | 46 | 42 |
| 1926–27 | First Division | 33 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 37 | |
| 1927–28 | First Division | 38 | 35 | 3 | 4 | 41 | 39 | |
| 1928–29 | First Division | 42 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 43 | |
| 1929–30 | First Division | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | |
| Total | 166 | 156 | 9 | 9 | 175 | 165 | ||
| Arsenal | 1929–30 | First Division | 15 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 8 |
| Manchester City | 1930–31 | First Division | 24 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 14 |
| 1931–32 | First Division | 40 | 28 | 5 | 4 | 45 | 32 | |
| 1932–33 | First Division | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | |
| 1933–34 | First Division | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | |
| Total | 76 | 47 | 6 | 4 | 82 | 51 | ||
| Clapton Orient | 1933–34 | Third Division South | 21 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 19 |
| 1934–35 | Third Division South | 32 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 34 | 17 | |
| Career total | 449 | 336 | 39 | 29 | 488 | 365 | ||
| Season(s) | Club | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1919–20 | Queen of the South | 19 | 13 |
| 1935–1938 | Yeovil and Petters United | ? | ? |
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Yeovil and Petters United | England | 1936 | 1937 | |||||
| Aberdeen | Scotland | 1937 | 1955 | 386 | 188 | 65 | 133 | 48.7 |
| Leicester City | England | 1955 | 1958 | 145 | 64 | 27 | 54 | 44.14 |
Queen of the South
Dundee
Yeovil and Petters Utd[9]
Aberdeen[3]
Leicester City[1]