Stuart Gordon (18 January 1947 – 9 April 2021)

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club was saddened to hear of the death of one of its former players, Stuart Gordon, at the age of 74.

Above: Dunfermline Athletic Reserves 1969, Stuart Gordon is front row, second from the right

Stuart Gordon was a player who arrived at East End Park in the summer of 1967, at a time when a new manager George Farm was taking over and when the club was riding high in Scottish football. According to Stuart’s son, also Stuart, it was a dream come true for the 20-year-old inside forward.

Gordon had shown considerable promise as a youngster, and one of his claims to fame was that he played in the same team as Kenny Dalglish at Possil YM! He was invited to go for a trial with Arsenal and in 1966 he played for Dumbarton first team as a trialist. He came to prominence, however, as a member of the Kilsyth Rangers team that won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1967, beating Rutherglen Glencairn 3-1 in the Final.

His first season with the Pars was a success, and, in between cleaning Bert Paton’s boots, he managed to break into the first team three times, his debut coming in a league match against Hibernian on 3 February 1968 when he replaced the injured Jim Fraser. He was later to make an appearance in Dunfermline’s 1968 Scottish Cup-winning run when he came on as sub in the 2-1 win against Aberdeen, and then a full 90 minutes in his more favoured inside-left position in a 2-1 win over Partick Thistle on 13 April.

Sadly for Stuart, his career came to an abrupt end when he suffered a very badly broken leg. He managed to return to football and played in the Reserves until 1970 but he was never the same player and his football career came to an end. Son Stuart says it was the worst thing that ever happened to him because all he ever wanted to do was to become a professional footballer.

A qualified Electrical Engineer, Stuart decided to branch out, and along with other people, invested in buying a hotel. When that didn’t work out Stuart bought the Cross Keys Bar in St Andrews and was a very successful publican there from 1979. More recently and as Stuart’s health deteriorated, Stuart’s daughter Claire has run the pub.

As Stuart Junior said, “my dad had a lot of very fond memories of his time at East End Park and he always had a Dunfermline Athletic clock on behind the bar at the pub. He just regretted that he was not able to enjoy the football career that he so much wanted to have.”

Our thoughts and condolences are with son Stuart and daughter Claire at this sad time.