Douglas John Lishman was born in Birmingham in September 14, 1923 and died in December 1994.
Having served in the Royal Marine Commandos during the Second World War and taking part in the Walcheren Island landing in Holland. He signed as a professional for Walsall in the run up to the return of football after the second world war in August 1946 and in May 1948 moved to Arsenal for £10,500.
The reason for the transfer was the growing irregularity of the appearances of Reg Lewis, and doubts about how long Ronnie Rooke could continue playing.
Rooke had taken over the number 9 shirt and scored 21 goals in 24 games in 1946/7. Lewis played his last game at number 9 of the season in January 1948, although played occasionally in other positions after that, while Rooke played all 42 league games and scored 33. Although Rooke continued in 1948/9 it was to be his last season, and Lishman effectively replaced both men.
Lishman played his first game on 4 September 1948 but he too started to suffer from injuries, and was replaced by Lewis at number 10 – and missed all the FA Cup games that season, including the Final. He then broke his leg in December 1950.
Yet he was still the top scorer for the season despite continuing to play at inside left and not returning to the side until the last two games of the season.
But then in 1950-51, and again in 1951-2 he became top scorer, playing in most of the games of the season, and scoring three hat tricks in successive home games (not successive games as stated in some places):
27 October 1951 4-3 v Fulham
10 November 1951 6-3 v WBA
24 November 1951 4-2 v Bolton W
He did play in the 1952 cup final which Arsenal lost to Newcastle but he won the league championship in 1953.
Overall he scored 82 goals across four seasons at his height, and was finally transferred to Nottingham Forest of the second division for £8,000 in March 1956.
In all he scored 137 goals in 244 appearances, making him the club’s seventh-highest goalscorer of all time.
Season | Club | Lge Game | Lge Goals |
1946–1948 | Walsall | 59 | 26 |
1948–1956 | Arsenal | 226 | 125 |
1956–1957 | Nottingham Forest | 38 | 22 |
He scored a hat-trick in the match that got Nottingham Forest promoted in 1956/7 but retired in the summer of 1957 to join his father-in law in a furniture retail business in Stoke on Trent, and later took over the business himself. He continued to live in Stoke on Trent until his death in 1994.
(The Anniversary File is now split in two, because of its size. January to June and July to December)
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The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
After the war Doug Lishman played for Paget Rangers, a non league club in Sutton Coldfield and it is said that on one occasion he forgot his football boots and had to play in dancing shoes as that was all he had with him at the time. He still stood out as an extraordinary talent and is well remembered by people of my generation.
Derek Williams