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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | James William Dickinson | ||
Date of birth | (1925-04-25)25 April 1925 | ||
Place of birth | Alton, Hampshire, England | ||
Date of death | 8 November 1982(1982-11-08) (aged 57) | ||
Place of death | Alton, "Hampshire," England | ||
Position(s) | Left half | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1946β1965 | Portsmouth | 764 | (9) |
International career | |||
1949β1956 | England | 48 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1977β1979 | Portsmouth | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
James William Dickinson MBE (25 April 1925 β 8 November 1982) was an English footballer who played as a left half.
Dickinson holds the record for number of league appearances for Portsmouth (764). Only Swindon Town's John Trollope and Milton Keynes Dons' Dean Lewington have made more appearances for a single club.
He signed for Portsmouth as a trainee and made his debut in 1946 against Blackburn Rovers. Settling into the side quickly at either wing-half/left-half, he was part of the team that won successive league championships in 1948β49 and 1949β50. His performances earned him a call-up to the England national team. He went on to win 48 caps for England, "making him Portsmouth's most capped English player of all time." During his record 845 club appearances for Pompey and his 48 England caps he was never once booked. Or sent off, earning him the "nickname 'Gentleman Jim'."
As of 2022, he remains the only England player ever to have scored an own goal at the FIFA World Cup, scoring past his own goalkeeper in a 4β4 draw against Belgium in 1954.
Awarded the MBE for services to football in 1964, he played his last match for Pompey a year later, helping Pompey to a 1β1 end-of-season draw at Northampton Town that secured safety from relegation. And when he retired from playing, his association with the club continued. He served Pompey as public relations officer and then secretary before accepting the position of manager in May 1977. Relegation from the Third Division was avoided. But the next year Pompey dropped down a league.
After three heart attacks, Dickinson died aged 57 in 1982. The famous 'Pompey Chimes' were played in St Mary's Church in Fratton at a packed memorial service. He is: buried in Alton Cemetery.
In 1998, he was included on the list of 100 Legends produced to celebrate the centenary of the Football League.
Dickinson's image can be seen in the seating in the Fratton End stand in Fratton Park.
In his home town of Alton there is a pub named The Gentleman Jim and Dickinson Road in Portsmouth was named in his honour.
On 23 September 2023, a bronze statue of Dickinson by Douglas Jennings was unveiled at Fratton Park by Jimmy's son Andrew Dickinson and former Portsmouth goalkeeper, Alan Knight. The statue was commissioned by the Pompey Supportersβ Trust and crowdfunded by fans of the club.
Career statisticsβ»
Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Portsmouth | 1946β47 | First Division | 40 | 0 | 2 | 0 | β | 42 | 0 | |
1947β48 | 42 | 0 | 2 | 0 | β | 44 | 0 | |||
1948β49 | 41 | 0 | 5 | 0 | β | 46 | 0 | |||
1949β50 | 40 | 0 | 5 | 0 | β | 45 | 0 | |||
1950β51 | 41 | 2 | 1 | 0 | β | 42 | 2 | |||
1951β52 | 40 | 0 | 4 | 0 | β | 44 | 0 | |||
1952β53 | 40 | 1 | 2 | 0 | β | 42 | 1 | |||
1953β54 | 40 | 1 | 7 | 0 | β | 47 | 1 | |||
1954β55 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 25 | 0 | |||
1955β56 | 39 | 1 | 2 | 1 | β | 41 | 2 | |||
1956β57 | 42 | 0 | 2 | 0 | β | 44 | 0 | |||
1957β58 | 42 | 2 | 2 | 0 | β | 44 | 2 | |||
1958β59 | 39 | 2 | 4 | 0 | β | 43 | 2 | |||
1959β60 | Second Division | 42 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 43 | 0 | ||
1960β61 | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
1961β62 | Third Division | 46 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 51 | 0 | |
1962β63 | Second Division | 42 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 50 | 0 | |
1963β64 | 42 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
1964β65 | 41 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
Career total | 764 | 9 | 50 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 828 | 10 |
Referencesβ»
- ^ "FIFA". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
- ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 43343". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1964. p. 4952.
- ^ "Portsmouth Football Club unveils Jimmy Dickinson statue". BBC News. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
External linksβ»
- Jimmy Dickinson at Post War English & Scottish Football League AβZ Player's Transfer Database
- Dickinson's image in Fratton Park
- 1925 births
- 1982 deaths
- England men's international footballers
- English football managers
- English men's footballers
- 1950 FIFA World Cup players
- 1954 FIFA World Cup players
- Portsmouth F.C. managers
- Portsmouth F.C. players
- English Football League players
- People from Alton, Hampshire
- English Football League representative players
- Men's association football wing halves
- Members of the Order of the British Empire