War-time Queen’s Park forward remembered in new book

A QUEEN’S PARK captain, who scored a memorable winning goal against Rangers, has been immortalised in a book charting his career.

‘Young Arthur’ follows the career path of Arthur Dixon, who starred for the Spiders during the Second World War, before signing for Clyde in 1945.

During five years at Hampden he boasted a scoring ratio of almost 1:2 with 88 goals in 178 war-time appearances and assumed the captaincy in his final season on the southside before moving on to Clyde.

He later played through the lower leagues in England but never featured for Scotland – he was named a reserve in 1942 but international honours were never granted as he was born south of the border despite being raised in Scotland. 

Now his grandson Scott – an Open University history student around his work as a planning analyst for a large multinational bank has chronicled his paternal grandad’s career in print – and it’s his spell with the Spiders that stands out as a career high-point.

Scott said: “It was at Queen’s Park, at the start of his career, that he gained widespread attention. His wartime goal record was outstanding, he scored a famous winner against Rangers at Hampden in 1942, and there was even flirtation with international honours.

“Later, as a coach and physiotherapist, he helped support the development of the next generation of stars and the book follows his journey from his wartime debut in 1940 to his decision to leave football and take a ‘regular job’ in the early 1960s.”

Young Arthur was published earlier this month and is available to buy on Amazon.