Former local referee Gordon Hunter set me a poser when I recently met him.
“How many football players do you know named Arthur?” he asked.
“We can come up with just four —Arthur Graham (ex-Aberdeen), former Rangers defender Arthur Numan, Arthur Albiston (Manchester United and Dundee) and Hibs winger Arthur Duncan.
“But there must be more,” concluded Gordon, who works at Dundee’s Dens Park on matchdays, looking after the match officials.
I immediately pitched in with Arthur Mann, a central defender of the 1970s who played for Hearts before being transferred to Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison’s Manchester City for a then Tynecastle club record of £65,000.
Arthur was one of those players who also had a fear of flying (Jimmy Johnstone and Dennis Bergkamp being two noteable others), and he was unable to play in any of Manchester City’s European away games at that time.
Back to the ‘Arthur’ theme and, if you take into account global variations of spelling, then perhaps former Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boric can make the list.
However, no more came to mind.
Can you add to the list? Email me at jbrown@dcthomson.co.uk
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