1952–53 in Scottish football

1952–53 in Scottish football
Division A champions
Rangers
Division B champions
Stirling Albion
Division C (North & East) champions
Aberdeen 'A'
Division C (South & West) champions
Rangers 'A'
Scottish Cup winners
Rangers
League Cup winners
Dundee
Division C League Cup winners
Aberdeen 'A' or Rangers 'A'
Junior Cup winners
Vale of Leven
Scotland national team
1953 BHC

The 1952–53 season was the 80th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 56th season of the Scottish Football League.[1]

Scottish League Division A

Main article: 1952–53 Scottish Division A

Rangers won the title with a 1–1 draw in their last match, away to Queen of the South. Rangers equalised with 17 minutes to go and thereby won the league on goal average from Hibernian, thus preventing Hibs from winning their third title in a row.

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
1 Rangers 30 18 7 5 80 39 2.051 43
2 Hibernian 30 19 5 6 93 51 1.824 43
3 East Fife 30 16 7 7 72 48 1.500 39
4 Heart of Midlothian 30 12 6 12 59 50 1.180 30
5 Clyde 30 13 4 13 78 78 1.000 30
6 St Mirren 30 11 8 11 52 58 0.897 30
7 Dundee 30 9 11 10 44 37 1.189 29
8 Celtic 30 11 7 12 51 54 0.944 29
9 Partick Thistle 30 10 9 11 55 63 0.873 29
10 Queen of the South 30 10 8 12 43 61 0.705 28
11 Aberdeen 30 11 5 14 64 68 0.941 27
12 Raith Rovers 30 9 8 13 47 53 0.887 26
13 Falkirk 30 11 4 15 53 63 0.841 26
14 Airdrieonians 30 10 6 14 53 75 0.707 26
15 Motherwell 30 10 5 15 57 80 0.713 25
16 Third Lanark 30 8 4 18 52 75 0.693 20
Source: RSSSF[dead link‍]

Champions: Rangers
Relegated: Motherwell, Third Lanark

Scottish League Division B

Main article: 1952–53 Scottish Division B
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Stirling Albion 30 20 4 6 64 43 +21 44 Promotion to the 1953–54 Division A
2 Hamilton Academical 30 20 3 7 72 40 +32 43
3 Queen's Park 30 15 7 8 70 46 +24 37
4 Kilmarnock 30 17 2 11 74 48 +26 36
5 Ayr United 30 17 2 11 76 56 +20 36
6 Morton 30 15 3 12 79 57 +22 33
7 Arbroath 30 13 7 10 52 57 −5 33
8 Dundee United 30 12 5 13 52 56 −4 29
9 Alloa Athletic 30 12 5 13 63 68 −5 29
10 Dumbarton 30 11 6 13 58 67 −9 28
11 Dunfermline Athletic 30 9 9 12 51 58 −7 27
12 Stenhousemuir 30 10 6 14 56 65 −9 26
13 Cowdenbeath 30 8 7 15 37 54 −17 23
14 St Johnstone 30 8 6 16 41 63 −22 22
15 Forfar Athletic 30 8 4 18 54 88 −34 20
16 Albion Rovers 30 5 4 21 44 77 −33 14
Source: "1952-1953 Division B - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.

Promoted: Stirling Albion, Hamilton Academical

Scottish League Division C

Section[2][3] Winner Runner-up
South-West Rangers 'A' Partick Thistle 'A'
North-East Aberdeen 'A' Hibernian 'A'

Cup honours

Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Scottish Cup Rangers 1 – 0 (rep.) Aberdeen
League Cup Dundee 2–0 Kilmarnock
Junior Cup Vale of Leven 1–0 Annbank United

Other Honours

National

Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup - North Buckie Thistle 4 – 2 * Inverness Thistle
Scottish Qualifying Cup - South Peebles Rovers 6 – 5 * Tarff Rovers
Coronation Cup Celtic 2 – 0 Hibernian

County

Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup Buckie Thistle
Ayrshire Cup Kilmarnock 5 – 0 * Ayr United
East of Scotland Shield Hibernian 4 – 2 Hearts
Fife Cup East Fife 1 – 1 ‡ Raith Rovers
Forfarshire Cup Brechin City 2 – 1 Dundee United
Glasgow Cup Partick Thistle 3 – 1 Rangers
Lanarkshire Cup Motherwell 3 – 0 Albion Rovers
Renfrewshire Cup Morton 2 – 0 Babcock & Wilcox
Stirlingshire Cup Dumbarton 3 – 1 East Stirling
  • * - aggregate over two legs
  • ‡ - trophy shared

Highland League

Top Three
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Elgin City 28 23 1 4 84 37 +47 47
2 Buckie Thistle 28 18 5 5 88 36 +52 41
3 Inverness Caledonian 28 19 3 6 86 44 +42 41
Source: [citation needed]

Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team 1940–59 results
Date Venue Opponents Score[4] Competition Scotland scorer(s)
18 November 1952 Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)  Wales 2–1 BHC Billy Liddell, Allan Brown
5 November 1952 Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Northern Ireland 1–1 BHC Lawrie Reilly
18 April 1953 Wembley Stadium, London (A)  England 2–2 BHC Lawrie Reilly (2)
6 May 1953 Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Sweden 1–2 Friendly Bobby Johnstone

Scotland and England shared victory in the 1953 British Home Championship.

Key:

  • (H) = Home match
  • (A) = Away match
  • BHC = British Home Championship

Notes and references

  1. ^ "1952/53 - the Scottish Football League". Archived from the original on 5 January 2013.
  2. ^ Scottish Football League C Division, dates results & final tables 1952-53, Scottish Football Historical Archive
  3. ^ Scotland - Final Tables Third Level 1924-2004, RSSSF
  4. ^ Scotland's score is shown first.