Jim Bett

James Bett (born 25 November 1959 in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional association footballer who played in central or left midfield. He played with Aberdeen for nine seasons and had shorter spells at other clubs in Belgium, Iceland and Scotland. He earned 26 caps for the Scottish national team over eight years.

Jim Bett
Personal information
Full name James Bett[1]
Date of birth (1959-11-25) 25 November 1959
Place of birth Hamilton, Scotland
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Gartcosh United
Dundee
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1978 Airdrieonians 8 (0)
1978 Valur 2 (0)
1978–1980 Lokeren 33 (1)
1980–1983 Rangers 104 (21)
1983–1985 Lokeren 64 (7)
1985–1994 Aberdeen 257 (33)
1994 KR Reykjavík 13 (4)
1994–1995 Heart of Midlothian 26 (2)
1995–1996 Dundee United 10 (2)
National team
1980–1982 Scotland U21[2] 7 (0)
1982–1990 Scotland 26 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Bett, a Scottish Schoolboy international,[3] started his club career with Gartcosh United, Dundee and Airdrieonians before moving to Icelandic side Valur in 1978. A year later he joined K.S.C. Lokeren (282) in Belgium.

Rangers manager John Greig paid £150,000 to sign Bett for the Glasgow club in 1980. In three seasons at Ibrox he won a Scottish Cup winner's medal (1980–81)[4] and a League Cup winner's medal (1981–82).[3] He left Rangers in 1983 for a second spell with Lokeren.

Bett returned to his native land, joining Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1985 for £300,000.[3] During his time with the Dons, he collected winner's medals in the Scottish Cup in 1985–86,[5] and both the League Cup and Scottish Cup in 1989–90,[6] He also played in three other League Cup finals - all ending in defeat to Rangers,[7][8][9] and was in squads which finished runners-up behind the same opponent in the Scottish Premier Division on five occasions.

He left Pittodrie in 1994, after making over 300 first-team appearances. In 2003, Bett was inducted into the Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame as one of the founding members.[10]

He next moved to KR Reykjavík and won the Icelandic Cup with the club, but left KR at the end of the 1994 Icelandic season. Bett returned to Scotland again to join Hearts with whom he played the 1994–95 Scottish season. After a final season with Dundee United, he retired.

International

During his spell with Rangers, Bett earned his first selection for the Scotland national side, making the first of 26 appearances in 1982.[11] While playing for Aberdeen at club level, he was a member of the Scottish World Cup squads in 1986, where he did not play, and 1990, where his only appearance was in the opening 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, which turned out to be the final cap of his career.[11]

Personal life

Bett met his Icelandic wife during his time playing for Valur and has maintained a close connection with Iceland since. His sons Baldur and Calum, also both professional footballers, were born there and have represented the country at Under-19 level.[12] Coincidentally, Bett's only goal for Scotland occurred in a 1–0 win over Iceland in Reykjavík in 1985.[12]

Career statistics

International
Scotland national team[13]
YearAppsGoals
198220
198310
198460
198561
198620
198720
198810
198920
199040
Total261

International goals
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.[14]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
128 May 1985Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland Iceland1–01–01986 FIFA World Cup qualification
gollark: I don't see why you can't have "free markets and companies" without "government which randomly militarily meddles in things".
gollark: The US doesn't really *need* to invade random foreign countries.
gollark: Presumably the "total debt" thing is personal + companies + government.
gollark: It is impressive that they apparently have more debt than the actual *people* in the US.
gollark: Oh, and there's a colour TV license and a black and white one.

References
  1. A Record of Post-war Scottish League Players 1946/47 to 2017/18. 7. John Litster and Scottish Football Historian magazine. 2018.
  2. "Jim Bett". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  3. Lamming, Douglas (1987). A Scottish Soccer Internationalists Who's Who, 1872–1986 (Hardback). Hutton Press. (ISBN 0-907033-47-4).
  4. "Six of the best Scottish Cup finals: Rangers 4 Dundee United 1 (1981, replay)". The Herald. 24 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  5. "Scottish Cup: 1986 revisited". Aberdeen F.C. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  6. Traynor, James (14 May 1990). "Stagnant Celtic pay ultimate penalty. Snelders saves Rogan's kick and Irvine secures cup for Aberdeen". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  7. Reynolds, Jim (26 October 1987). "Spot-on Rangers earn the cheers". Glasgow Herald. p. 9. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  8. "Now you know: Ally McCoist double helped Rangers defeat Aberdeen 3-2 in 1988 League Cup Final". Evening Times. Glasgow. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  9. McKinney, David (26 October 1992). "Football: Smith's slip gives Rangers the prize". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  10. "Hall of Fame: Jim Bett". AFC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  11. "Dark Blue Dons: Jim Bett". AFC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  12. "News Archive". Bob Dunning 1970–71 Football review. 30 September 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013.
  13. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Jim Bett". www.national-football-teams.com.
  14. "Jim Bett". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Scottish Football Association.
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