David Kinnear was born in Kirkaldy on February 22nd 1917. He attended the local Viewforth Secondary School, where his football talent was first displayed. A lively and quick left winger, he played for junior side Burntisland United before being snapped up by local senior club Raith Rovers in 1933, when he was aged just 16. Rovers were a Second Division club at that time, and in his first and only season at Stark’s Park he helped them to an 8th place league finish by scoring an impressive 14 goals in just 21 starts. His performances hadn’t gone unnoticed amongst the Ibrox scouts, and in the summer of 1934 Kinnear joined Rangers.
Bill Struth’s team no longer had the genius of Alan Morton on the left wing, the all-time great winger having retired the previous year. His long-time deputy Willie Nicholson had played on the left wing for most of season 1933/34, but he was reaching the veteran stage of his career and Struth was looking for a longer-term alternative for the left side of the Rangers attack. And the young Kinnear was quickly given his chance to impress when making his debut in just the 4th game of the new season, an away league game at Dens Park against Dundee on August 25th 1934. He showed great promise, but couldn’t prevent a 3-2 defeat. Kinnear then started at Parkhead on the Monday in a testimonial game for the great Celtic centre forward Jimmy McGrory, and he scored his first Rangers goal as a young Rangers side thrashed their hosts 4-0.
He only made 3 more appearances in his first season at the club, but these included a baptism into the competitive Old Firm cauldron when he played at Parkhead in a 1-1 league draw on September 8th. Struth decided the youngster was better learning in the reserves at this early stage, and he selected several different outside lefts over the course of the season, including Nicholson, Torry Gillick and Sammy Roberts. In the end, Gillick made most appearances, including the Scottish Cup final win over Hamilton, as Rangers won a league and cup double.
Although Rangers lost their league crown in season 1935/36, Kinnear had a more successful season, forcing himself into the team on a more regular basis. His 12 appearances in the league included a first competitive goal in a 2-1 away win over Albion Rovers, and he added further strikes in the season against Third Lanark and Kilmarnock. He ended the season as the first-choice left winger, playing in 6 of the last 7 league games, although not selected for the Charity Cup final defeat to Celtic that rounded the season off.
However, as season 1936/37 started, Kinnear was the man in possession of the starting place. He was almost ever present in the league, starting 37 times as Rangers reclaimed the title in emphatic style. He hit the net 9 times during the season, including one in his first successful final when Rangers routed Partick 6-1 in the Glasgow Cup. Kinnear also enjoyed a memorable New Year victory over Celtic at Ibrox, when a huge 95,000 crowd saw Alex Venters score the only goal of the game despite Kinnear and his teammates playing most of the game with 10 fit players after an early injury to Bobby Main left him hobbling on the touchline in the days before substitutes. He ended the season with 2 winners medals, unable to add the Scottish Cup thanks to a surprise defeat at Queen of the South.
Kinnear had an injury interrupted year in season 1937/38, but still made over 30 appearances in all competitions and hit double figures in the scoring charts for the first time. This didn’t help the club to any prizes, unfortunately, the season being summed up on New Year’s Day when Celtic easily won 3-0 as an inconsistent Rangers gave one of their poorest displays in the fixture for some time. Kinnear was injured in the match and missed over 2 months of the season afterwards. Despite the team’s lack of success, Kinnear became a Scotland international player when selected for the friendly match against Czechoslovakia at Hampden on December 8th 1937. He scored the final goal in a thumping 5-0 win. Despite this promising debut, he never played for Scotland again.
Season 1938/39 would prove to be a memorable one for both Rangers and Kinnear. It started quite poorly, he played in a horrendous 6-2 hammering at Parkhead in September when a young Willie Woodburn endured a torrid time at centre half. When Queens Park knocked Rangers out of the Glasgow Cup shortly afterwards, the newspaper headlines were of Rangers in crisis. But by the end of the season in May, the league title had been reclaimed by a massive 11-point margin, and a pivotal game in the season was the return match against Celtic on January 2nd 1939. Rangers held a 6-point lead, but champions Celtic were still confident of overtaking them, having played a game less. A scarcely believable crowd of 118,567 crammed into Ibrox (with thousands more locked out) to see the teams do battle. And that record attendance saw David Kinnear open the scoring in the 17th minute of a first half Rangers dominated. When Alex Venters doubled the lead, most thought the game was settled. Kinnear was tormenter-in-chief of the Celtic defence, and Bobby Hogg, the long-serving Celtic full back would later say that Kinnear was the most difficult opponent he ever faced in his long career.
Kinnear was injured right at the start of the second half and reduced to the role of a limping spectator. Without their sparkling winger, Rangers were forced into a desperate rearguard action to defend their lead, with Jimmy Simpson and Scot Symon outstanding at the back. Celtic hit the woodwork 3 times and scored a goal with 15 minutes left, but they failed to get level and Kinnear had inspired Rangers to a massive win. His injury was such that he was unable to play again until the end of February, missing the surprise Scottish Cup exit to Clyde. He did win his first Charity Cup final before the season ended, when he started the drawn match with Third Lanark which was won by Rangers forcing more corners.
Such a successful season had Kinnear impatient for 1939/40 to begin, but that was a season that ended before it had properly begun, as War overshadowed all else. Kinnear enlisted with the Army Physical Training Corps during the conflict, and this saw him based mainly in England, but also serving in France. As he was still a registered Rangers player, he did turn out for the team in his rare periods of leave back home, playing in a handful of wartime league games between 1940 and 1944 as well as a Glasgow Cup semi-final. But his football career during the war was mainly spent down south, making guest appearances for several clubs. Among the colours he wore were those of Fulham, Northampton Town, Stockport County, Aldershot and Middlesbrough.
Once the war ended, Kinnear was now nearing the age of 30 and Struth had assembled a winning team in his absence. He was allowed to leave the club to seek first team football, and he joined Third Lanark in May 1946. Kinnear became something of a Scottish football nomad in his remaining career, his short spell at Cathkin Park being followed by equally short stays at Dunfermline, Queen of the South and Millwall before he retired.
His time in the Army had given him skills that he wanted to use in his post football career, and Kinnear became a remedial gymnast at the Gleneagles Rehabilitation Unit, before he moved to a similar role at the Bridge of Earn hospital. It was here that he helped a former serviceman and East Fife player Harold Davis to recuperate from injury, a friendship that would come back to help Rangers in years to come. In 1956, his former teammate Scot Symon, now manager at Ibrox, invited David Kinnear back to the club as first team trainer and physiotherapist. Kinnear was delighted to accept the role, and his recommendation to Symon that he sign Davis made the move one with instant success.
Kinnear served the club for the next 14 years, leaving in 1970 when another former teammate, Willie Waddell, was now the manager. His association with the club had spanned 5 different decades, ending when he moved to the Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow to take up a key position in their sporting injuries rehabilitation unit.
Kinnear and his family lived stones throw from Ibrox, moving to Newton Mearns once he retired. On February 3rd 2008, he passed away at the age of 90 in Mearnskirk Hospital. Prior to his death, he was the oldest living former Rangers first team player.
A Rangers player at 17.
A league winner, and a scorer in front of the record Ibrox attendance.
Over 100 first team appearances in a career halted by War.
Served the club in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
A man who rehabilitated injured footballers, and who recommended the great Harold Davis to the club.
David Kinnear, 1917 – 2008.
His service to the club should be remembered.
Bill Struth’s team no longer had the genius of Alan Morton on the left wing, the all-time great winger having retired the previous year. His long-time deputy Willie Nicholson had played on the left wing for most of season 1933/34, but he was reaching the veteran stage of his career and Struth was looking for a longer-term alternative for the left side of the Rangers attack. And the young Kinnear was quickly given his chance to impress when making his debut in just the 4th game of the new season, an away league game at Dens Park against Dundee on August 25th 1934. He showed great promise, but couldn’t prevent a 3-2 defeat. Kinnear then started at Parkhead on the Monday in a testimonial game for the great Celtic centre forward Jimmy McGrory, and he scored his first Rangers goal as a young Rangers side thrashed their hosts 4-0.
He only made 3 more appearances in his first season at the club, but these included a baptism into the competitive Old Firm cauldron when he played at Parkhead in a 1-1 league draw on September 8th. Struth decided the youngster was better learning in the reserves at this early stage, and he selected several different outside lefts over the course of the season, including Nicholson, Torry Gillick and Sammy Roberts. In the end, Gillick made most appearances, including the Scottish Cup final win over Hamilton, as Rangers won a league and cup double.
Although Rangers lost their league crown in season 1935/36, Kinnear had a more successful season, forcing himself into the team on a more regular basis. His 12 appearances in the league included a first competitive goal in a 2-1 away win over Albion Rovers, and he added further strikes in the season against Third Lanark and Kilmarnock. He ended the season as the first-choice left winger, playing in 6 of the last 7 league games, although not selected for the Charity Cup final defeat to Celtic that rounded the season off.
However, as season 1936/37 started, Kinnear was the man in possession of the starting place. He was almost ever present in the league, starting 37 times as Rangers reclaimed the title in emphatic style. He hit the net 9 times during the season, including one in his first successful final when Rangers routed Partick 6-1 in the Glasgow Cup. Kinnear also enjoyed a memorable New Year victory over Celtic at Ibrox, when a huge 95,000 crowd saw Alex Venters score the only goal of the game despite Kinnear and his teammates playing most of the game with 10 fit players after an early injury to Bobby Main left him hobbling on the touchline in the days before substitutes. He ended the season with 2 winners medals, unable to add the Scottish Cup thanks to a surprise defeat at Queen of the South.
Kinnear had an injury interrupted year in season 1937/38, but still made over 30 appearances in all competitions and hit double figures in the scoring charts for the first time. This didn’t help the club to any prizes, unfortunately, the season being summed up on New Year’s Day when Celtic easily won 3-0 as an inconsistent Rangers gave one of their poorest displays in the fixture for some time. Kinnear was injured in the match and missed over 2 months of the season afterwards. Despite the team’s lack of success, Kinnear became a Scotland international player when selected for the friendly match against Czechoslovakia at Hampden on December 8th 1937. He scored the final goal in a thumping 5-0 win. Despite this promising debut, he never played for Scotland again.
Season 1938/39 would prove to be a memorable one for both Rangers and Kinnear. It started quite poorly, he played in a horrendous 6-2 hammering at Parkhead in September when a young Willie Woodburn endured a torrid time at centre half. When Queens Park knocked Rangers out of the Glasgow Cup shortly afterwards, the newspaper headlines were of Rangers in crisis. But by the end of the season in May, the league title had been reclaimed by a massive 11-point margin, and a pivotal game in the season was the return match against Celtic on January 2nd 1939. Rangers held a 6-point lead, but champions Celtic were still confident of overtaking them, having played a game less. A scarcely believable crowd of 118,567 crammed into Ibrox (with thousands more locked out) to see the teams do battle. And that record attendance saw David Kinnear open the scoring in the 17th minute of a first half Rangers dominated. When Alex Venters doubled the lead, most thought the game was settled. Kinnear was tormenter-in-chief of the Celtic defence, and Bobby Hogg, the long-serving Celtic full back would later say that Kinnear was the most difficult opponent he ever faced in his long career.
Kinnear was injured right at the start of the second half and reduced to the role of a limping spectator. Without their sparkling winger, Rangers were forced into a desperate rearguard action to defend their lead, with Jimmy Simpson and Scot Symon outstanding at the back. Celtic hit the woodwork 3 times and scored a goal with 15 minutes left, but they failed to get level and Kinnear had inspired Rangers to a massive win. His injury was such that he was unable to play again until the end of February, missing the surprise Scottish Cup exit to Clyde. He did win his first Charity Cup final before the season ended, when he started the drawn match with Third Lanark which was won by Rangers forcing more corners.
Such a successful season had Kinnear impatient for 1939/40 to begin, but that was a season that ended before it had properly begun, as War overshadowed all else. Kinnear enlisted with the Army Physical Training Corps during the conflict, and this saw him based mainly in England, but also serving in France. As he was still a registered Rangers player, he did turn out for the team in his rare periods of leave back home, playing in a handful of wartime league games between 1940 and 1944 as well as a Glasgow Cup semi-final. But his football career during the war was mainly spent down south, making guest appearances for several clubs. Among the colours he wore were those of Fulham, Northampton Town, Stockport County, Aldershot and Middlesbrough.
Once the war ended, Kinnear was now nearing the age of 30 and Struth had assembled a winning team in his absence. He was allowed to leave the club to seek first team football, and he joined Third Lanark in May 1946. Kinnear became something of a Scottish football nomad in his remaining career, his short spell at Cathkin Park being followed by equally short stays at Dunfermline, Queen of the South and Millwall before he retired.
His time in the Army had given him skills that he wanted to use in his post football career, and Kinnear became a remedial gymnast at the Gleneagles Rehabilitation Unit, before he moved to a similar role at the Bridge of Earn hospital. It was here that he helped a former serviceman and East Fife player Harold Davis to recuperate from injury, a friendship that would come back to help Rangers in years to come. In 1956, his former teammate Scot Symon, now manager at Ibrox, invited David Kinnear back to the club as first team trainer and physiotherapist. Kinnear was delighted to accept the role, and his recommendation to Symon that he sign Davis made the move one with instant success.
Kinnear served the club for the next 14 years, leaving in 1970 when another former teammate, Willie Waddell, was now the manager. His association with the club had spanned 5 different decades, ending when he moved to the Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow to take up a key position in their sporting injuries rehabilitation unit.
Kinnear and his family lived stones throw from Ibrox, moving to Newton Mearns once he retired. On February 3rd 2008, he passed away at the age of 90 in Mearnskirk Hospital. Prior to his death, he was the oldest living former Rangers first team player.
A Rangers player at 17.
A league winner, and a scorer in front of the record Ibrox attendance.
Over 100 first team appearances in a career halted by War.
Served the club in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
A man who rehabilitated injured footballers, and who recommended the great Harold Davis to the club.
David Kinnear, 1917 – 2008.
His service to the club should be remembered.
