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Personal
Fullname: James Dobbin
aka: Jim Dobbin
Born: 17 September 1963
Birthplace: Dunfermline
Signed: Jan 1979 (‘S’ Form); 9 October 1979 O (professional terms)
Left: 16 Mar 1984 (to Doncaster Rovers)
Position: Midfield
First game: Arbroath 4-1 home 1 September 1982 league cup
Last game: Hearts 3-1 away 17 December 1983 league
First goal: Arbroath 4-1 home 1 September 1982 league cup
Last goal: Dundee United 1-1 home 27 December 1983 league
Internationals: Scotland youth
Biog
Midfielder Jim Dobbin was a schoolboy signing for Celtic on an ‘S’-Form from Whitburn BC. He signed professional terms in October 1980. No less a talent than Billy Bremner (Doncaster Rovers manager) said of him that:
“He is a silky player with a great touch, a great talent for scoring spectacular goals“.
The Dunfermline-born player made a scoring debut (as a sub for Paul McStay) in a 4-1 defeat of Arbroath in a League Cup tie at Parkhead on September 1st 1982. That would be Jim Dobbin’s only appearance of that season, and it would be almost a year before he saw first team action again – making three more League Cup appearances at the start of the 1983-1984 season against Brechin City, Kilmarnock and Airdrie. All these games were at Celtic Park, and all were drawn matches.
Jim Dobbin’s league debut came on 3rd December 1983 in a match against St Johnstone in Perth. He would again get his name on the scoresheet as Celtic ran out 3-0 winners. A fortnight later he came off the bench to score in a 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle. His final appearance for Celtic’s first team came as a substitute just 10 days later on 27th December 1983 in a 1-1 draw against Dundee United at Celtic Park.
A good passer of the ball and with an eye for goal Jim Dobbin’s Celtic career was restricted by the emergence of another young midfielder – Paul McStay.
Consequently with first team opportunities limited Jim Dobbin was transferred to Doncaster Rovers in March 1984 after seven first team appearances and three goals. A fair record for the man with few opportunities in the first team.
Later moved to Grimsby and scored v Newcastle to stop Kevin Keegan’s side achieving a then record 14 wins in a row in 1992 (it was the only goal of the game). He went on to play for a myriad of lower tier sides before hanging up his boots in 2000.
After football, Jim Dobbin was working outside of football on a building site, but later moved onto work as a gas engineer for NPower, but kept ties in football by covering Barnsley FC home games for Opta stats.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1979-84 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Goals: | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League Cup
- 1982-83
- (played in an early round match)