
Davie Laing
DOB: 20th February 1925
Position: Midfielder
Season of first appearance: 1959/60
Season of last appearance: 1963/64
Full Appearances: 106
Substitute: 0
Goals: 8
Also played for:
Bayview Youth Club (Scotland), Heart of Midlothian (260,17), Glasgow Celtic (0), West Ham United (0), Bath City, Clyde (59,4), Hibernian (10,0), Gillingham (88,5), Ramsgate Athletic and Canterbury City.
Player Profile:
Stylish Scottish playmaker born in Strathmiglo, Fife, who had two spells with Margate. Davie started his career with Bayview Youth Club in Methil and joined Heart of Midlothian in 1942 aged 17.
However, he signed-up for the Navy that year and it wasn't until after completing his National Service in the Royal Navy as a telegraphist that he made his Hearts debut in November 1946 (although during the war he did guest for Celtic, West Ham United and Bath City).
Davie became known for his long throws and rocket left foot at Hearts and his consistent form saw him picked three times for the Scottish League in 1952, twice against the League of Ireland and the other against a Wales League XI.
He made more than 300 appearances for Hearts before joining Clyde for £6,000 in 1954. It was at Clyde that he gained a Scottish Cup winners' medal in April 1955 when they beat Celtic 1-0 in a replay after a 1-1 draw. Both matches took place at Hampden Park, the first watched by 106,234. It is generally accepted that Davie was the best player in both matches.
While playing in Scotland, he had worked part-time in sports journalism with the Scottish Daily Mail.
Davie also played for Celtic and Hibs in Scotland before coming south to join Gillingham in August 1957. He spent two seasons at Priestfield and made a total of 82 Football League appearances for the Gills. He also featured in the club's biggest ever FA Cup win - 10-1 over Eastern Counties League side Gorleston on 16.11.57.
Davie then joined Margate in the summer of 1959 and became club captain for the 1959/60 season. His hard tackling and excellent distribution were a feature of a consistent campaign in which he was ever-present, making 58 appearances and scoring six times. These goals included a 25-yard effort on his debut against Cambridge United on 22.8.59.
He also wrote a weekly column for the Thanet Times as part of his work as a sports journalist. Its sister paper The Isle of Thanet Gazette said that Davie was a "joy to watch" during the season.
Davie kept the captaincy for the 1960/61 campaign and made a further 45 appearances, scoring twice. One of these goals was a stunning 25-yard effort that gave Margate a 1-0 win over Ramsgate on 18.2.61.
He continued to be inspirational during the campaign and added another string to his journalistic bow when he began a feature called "Davie Laing Coaches the Young Footballers" in the Thanet Times - Davie was a qualified FA coach. This ran in addition to his weekly "Keeping in Touch" column. However, at the end of the season, Davie was controversially released by Margate. After the final whistle of his last appearance, the Hartsdown crowd chanted "we want Laing!" for several minutes.
Davie joined Ramsgate Athletic for the 1961/62 season. However, he was plagued by a niggling knee injury and signed for Canterbury City in June 1962. On 3.4.63, he disturbed a burglar at his home and captured him with the help of a passing postman!
On 4.5.63, Davie played in what was supposed to be the final match of his 21-season career. He was named as Canterbury's captain for the match - against Margate - and was applauded onto the Kingsmead pitch by the Margate players. Davie said it was "a pleasant surprise and made a sad occasion more nostalgic than ever". He finished the campaign having made 20 Southern League appearances for City without scoring.
Remarkably, Davie had never been cautioned or sent off in his entire playing career.
However, the lure of playing proved too strong for Davie to resist and he made a comeback in Margate's reserves early in the 1963/64 season. At that time he was also helping Almer Hall to run a youth side on Sundays that was effectively a Margate 'nursery'. Davie made 23 appearances for the second X1 and also played in four first-team games during which he showed that his "powers of distribution remained undimmed", according to the local press. The last of them was a 3-2 win at Ashford in the Kent Floodlight Cup on 4.3.64. Davie played at left-back and was 39 years old at the time.
During the 1964/65 season, Davie continued to coach the Margate 'A' side and he also played a few games for them in the local amateur league.
In the summer of 1965 he left Thanet and returned to his native Scotland to work for the Daily Record as a football journalist. Davie later became editor of Hearts' matchday programme for a spell that included the 1970/71 season.
In the mid-1970's Davie returned to Kent and became Sports Editor of the Dover Express. He formed a five-a-side team and also played Sunday football in the Dover area despite being over 50. After working for the Dover Express for 16 years, Davie retired in May 1990 and went back to Scotland.
In 2008, he was living in East Kilbride and the East Kilbride Mail ran a story about Davie meeting up with lifelong Clyde supporter Andy Fleming who he'd written to 54 years earlier. Andy had been seriously ill with tuberculosis aged 15 and his sister had contacted Clyde to let them know. Davie had written a letter wishing Andy well and the two of them finally met up over half a century later. Davie told the paper: "I felt wonderful when I saw Andy's letter. This is what makes my life worthwhile. You can't beat memories being brought back. It's so nice to be remembered. Football is all about the fans and I have always had a good relationship with them. Now I know I have another good friend."
In 2009, Davie was living with his daughter in East Kilbride and, despite suffering from Alzheimer's disease, he still went to watch football games when he could. By then a Scottish Junior Football Association competition named the D. J. Laing League Cup in Davie's honour had been running for many years.
By the summer of 2011, Davie's condition had sadly deteriorated and he was living in a nursing home in Calderwood, East Kilbride.
On 30.9.11, he was one of five former players inducted into Clyde's new 'Hall of Fame' at a ceremony held in Glasgow. The others included former Chelsea and Scotland winger Pat Nevin. Despite his condition, Davie bravely managed to make an acceptance speech which the East Kilbride News described as "decipherable and positively rousing". Clyde's club dentist David Macpherson told the paper: "It was just magic to see how happy Davie was. His eyes lit up and he had a huge smile as he gave his speech. It was tremendous."
On 19.5.12, Davie was present at Hampden Park as Hearts beat Hibernian, another of his former clubs, 5-1 in the Scottish Cup Final.
David died in July 2017. He was 92.