Jim Dobbin (footballer)

James Dobbin (born 17 September 1963) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder from 1980 until 2000.

Jim Dobbin
Personal information
Full name James Dobbin[1]
Date of birth (1963-09-17) 17 September 1963
Place of birth Dunfermline, Scotland
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Whitburn Boys Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1980–1984 Celtic 12 (4)
1984 → Motherwell (loan) 2 (0)
1984–1986 Doncaster Rovers 64 (13)
1986–1991 Barnsley 129 (12)
1991–1996 Grimsby Town 164 (21)
1996–1997 Rotherham United 19 (0)
1997–1998 Doncaster Rovers 31 (0)
1998 Scarborough 1 (0)
1998–1999 Grimsby Town 6 (0)
1998–1999 → Southport (loan) 3 (0)
1999 Gainsborough Trinity
1999 Boston United 1 (0)
1999–2000 Whitby Town
Total 428 (50)
National team
Scotland under-18
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He notably for Celtic, Barnsley and Grimsby Town. He also played for Motherwell, Doncaster Rovers, Rotherham United, Scarborough, Southport, Gainsborough Trinity, Boston United and Whitby Town.

Career

A schoolboy international, Dobbin started his career at Celtic. In 1982, he was part of the Scotland under-18 squad which won the European Under-19 Championship, although he missed out due to injury.[2] Dobbin's chances at Celtic were limited and he made only a handful of league appearances, with a similar return from a loan spell at Motherwell.

In March 1984, Dobbin left Scotland and moved to Doncaster Rovers, signing alongside Scotland under-18 colleague John Philliben.[3] Dobbin spent two-and-a-half years at Belle Vue before moving to Barnsley in 1986. Spending five years at Oakwell, Dobbin featured in over 100 league matches for The Tykes, before beginning the first of two spells with Grimsby Town in 1991. Dobbin's £200,000 move saw him go on to make over 150 league appearances for Grimsby before his release at the end of the 1995–96 season. From here, Dobbin spent a year with Rotherham United, appearing in around half of the club's matches before re-joining Doncaster for the 1997–98 season. A regular during this season, Doncaster were struggling at the bottom and released Dobbin before the end of the season, allowing him to join Scarborough. After just one match, Dobbin returned to Grimsby,[4] featuring twice in the remainder of the season. He played another four matches at the start of the following season before being loaned to Southport for the latter part. In 1999-00, Dobbin spent time with three part-time clubs, turning out for Gainsborough Trinity, Boston United and Whitby Town before retiring at the end of the season.[5]

Personal life

After his retirement from football, Dobbin worked on a building site, and as a gas engineer for Npower.[6][7] He also covers Barnsley home games for Opta. His daughter Beth Dobbin is an athlete who broke the Scottish women's 200m record in 2018 and represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2018 Athletics World Cup.[8]

Masters football

Since his retirement he has played in three Masters football tournaments for Celtic once and twice for Barnsley. Most recently, he helped to guide Barnsley to local victory in the Yorkshire masters and even struck home a thunderous right- footed strike in the final against Sheffield Wednesday to force the game into penalties where he tucked his away past the despairing Kevin Pressman.[9]

Honours

Scotland
  • European Under-18 Championship: 1982

Grimsby Town
  • Football League Trophy: Winners: 1998
  • Football League Division Two: Play-off winners: 1998
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References
  1. "Jim Dobbin". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. "When Smith made Scots Euro kings". The Scotsman. 4 December 2004. Archived from the original on 5 December 2007.
  3. "Jim Dobbin". DoncasterRovers.co.uk. Forward Productions. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
  4. "Boro's Dobbin in switch to Grimsby". The Evening Press. 26 March 1998. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  5. "Jim Dobbin". GrimsbyTown-mad.co.uk. 22 February 2005. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  6. Hubbert, Richard (6 August 2001). "Player Database: Jim Dobbin". thefishy.co.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  7. Fissler, Neil (6 March 2014). "Where Are They Now? Doncaster Rovers 1983-84 Division Four Runners Up". The League Paper. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  8. "Beth Dobbin: British 200m champion talks seizures, PTSD and Olympic dreams". BBC Sport. 17 July 2018.
  9. "Screwfix Masters Cup 2009 - Yorkshire Masters". Masters Football. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  • Jim Dobbin at Soccerbase
  • Jim Dobbin at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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