3 June: Jimmy Logie joins Arsenal

3 June 1939  Jimmy James Tullis Logie was signed from Lochore Welfare.

And what a time to sign – within 3 months we were at war with Germany, and Jimmy’s playing career was put on hold.  But despite that he played 296 league games, scoring 68 goals and 30 cup games with 8 goals.

Jimmy was born in November 1919 in Edinburgh and died on 30 April 1984.

Jimmy first played for Scottish junior side Lochore Welfare, who are still playing (home crowds are around 200 or so), having been formed in 1934,  playing in Crosshill in Fife.  The club came about as a merger between several other local clubs – as is common with mining villages that have seen a decline in their industry.   In fact Jimmy was not their only famous son – Willie Johnston went on to Rangers and Scotland and Craig Levein of Hearts also played there.

Jimmy served in the Royal Navy throughout the war, and played occasional wartime matches for Southampton, Grimsby, Dunfermline and even one or two for Arsenal when on leave and at the end of the war.

After finishing at Arsenal he moved on to be player manager of Gravesend and Northfleet in 1955, until 1960.  Gravesend and N is now called Ebbsfleet – it is the club that Roy Hodgson played for between 1969 and 1971.

Quite what happened in the move to Gravesend I am not sure, but I have seen reports that Jimmy actually took an amazing £1000 signing-on fee to join Gravesend as he was in dispute with Arsenal.  I have no idea if that is true.

What is true is that in 1954-5 Gravesend were bottom of the Southern League – but fortunately there was no relegation.  In 1955/6 they were midtable, in 1956/7 they were 6th and in 1957/8 they won the league.  They came second the following season as the league was divided into two regional zones.

Now here’s another thing: some sources say that by the time of that championship win in the Southern League the manager was  Lionel Smith who also played for us – 180 times and won a cup winners medal with us in 1950.  And there’s even more Arsenal connections: also in that league winning team apparently at centre-forward was Cyril Grant who played Arsenal in 1946/47. He was then transferred to Fulham with Dave Nelson in exchange for Ronnie Rooke in December 1946.

So quite a gathering and I am suspicious about the Logie management bit, because normally after such success you would expect to see the man turn up at another club – but he did not.    It is said that after he left Gravesend he had a difficult life, not helped by the fact that he was something of a gambler.  Final reports of him have him working in a newsagents in Piccadilly.  He died in 1984, aged 64.

If you can fill in any details, please do write in.

41 Replies to “3 June: Jimmy Logie joins Arsenal”

  1. Logie’s playing career at Highbury came to an end following an incident in a friendly game against Spartak Moscow. The Arsenal management were so angry with Logie, who was club captain at the time, that he played only one more game for the club and he was transferred shortly afterwards. Logie’s heinous crime? He refused to shake the referee’s hand after the game!

    Lionel Smith was still Gravesend’s manager during the 1958-59 season and Logie was still playing.

    Next report I have of him is that he was employed as a scout by Joe Mercer at Aston Villa late 1961.

  2. I seem to recall the feeling at the time of Logie’s signing, that he was the “new Alex James”. Of course, WW2 put paid to that.
    I quite believe the reason for his departure from Arsenal. Pre-WW2 and for some time afterwards, the Club was a hard taskmaster on behaviour and was not overly generous in its treatment of employees (legends or not).

  3. @Andy Kelly,
    You might have reminded us, (in your comment) that Lionel Smith was an Arsenal fullback in the 50’s.

  4. nicky, there have been more recent(ish) incidents.

    Look at what happened to Kenny Sansom in March 1988 when he criticised George Graham. He was stripped of the captaincy and at the end of the season he was dropped never to play again.

  5. Andy,
    I can go back to the middle 1930’s in following Arsenal. As a boy,I recall George Allison writing that a potential signing was abandoned “due to his unpleasant eating habits”.
    As I became an adult, the one word I would have used to describe the Arsenal way of operating was “priggish”.

  6. Wow so glad I stumbled across this blog today I’m jimmy Logie’s grandson as you can gather by the surname and without sounding biased he was an outstanding player although he only got one cap for Scotland. He was also in George Graham’s all time eleven. But as you stated he came into bad times at the end of his career/life. Anymore info or anything would be much appreciated as he died shortly before I was even born.

  7. I had the great honour of knowing jimmy quite well in his later years. He worked with my mum.he was a true gentleman.i was a kid who worshipped the gunners.jim loved the club but always said that they were tight.he gave me some memorabilia.dont know what I did with it!!!!(gutted).gambling and drink ruined him, but he was always a lovely much loved man.

  8. Jimmy Logie, Ronnie Rooke,Reg Lewis ,Don Roper and Denis Compton.From memory (not from computer) Denis`s brother Lesley was at centre half along side of Joe Mercer, Lionel Scott at left back and George Swindon between the sticks.It gives me a lot of pleasure to recall those names and makes me realize that I`m still a kid at heart.

  9. Alex – welcome to the site – I hope you have had a chance to meander around our pages, for if you do you will find that you are not the first relative of a player to write in here. Peter Storey’s son got in touch recently, and we have had communications from relatives of many people going back to 1887.

    This site is also a place where books emerge – we are about to publish “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and after that there will be Arsenal in the 70s. I have often wondered about a book made up of contributions by family members too – but not sure how to do that.

    Do stay in touch – you never know, we might be able to take this forward. At least we have unravelled a bit more about why your grand father left Arsenal, and his time thereafter.

  10. @Aussie Jack,
    The Championship team I recall in 1947/8 was
    Swindin; Scott and Barnes;
    McAuley,Compton(L)and Mercer;
    Roper, Logie, Rooke, Jones (B)and Compton(D).
    There were other members. of course, like Reg Lewis.

  11. I remember reading something about him working on a news stand selling evening papers, which is related to your working in a newsagents story, so might be true.
    He was skilful inside forward and was probably in the 1950 cup winning side.

  12. Alex I was only a kid when I knew your grand father.he worked as the bottling up man in the famous A and R club in charing cross rd. once owned by nabs windsors husband ronnie knight.desite his problems he was a really lovely generous man.my mum holds him in grat affection even now.he felt arsenal treated him and other ex players poorly,but I’m sure he still loved the gunners.i for 1 am very round to have known him

  13. I can fill in a little more about Jimmie. in about 1958 or 59 He ran The Greyhound Pub which stood at the junction of Kingsbury Road and Balls Pond Road.

    Years latter I was stuck in traffic in Piccaddilly and I looked to my left and there, selling papers, outside what was then Swan & Edgar’s, was Jimmie Logie!

  14. Thank you all so much I know for a fact he was in the fa cup winning team against Liverpool he set up both of the goals and he was also vice captain behind joe mercer near the end of his carrer.And the reason for him not shaking the refs hand is because it was a very dirty game and the ref did not give a penalty that should of been given.

  15. @nicky: Thanks Nicky for jogging my memory it`s been a long time.Archie and Wally, how could I forget. I lived in north London then and I remember the school yard was split in two halves. Spurs were down the bottom and Gunners at the top of the yard. All we had was a tennis ball but play time and lunch time the battle was on. Don`t think we ever lost a game but then again it never ended.

  16. Ref Steve Doran’s earlier note. I too knew Jimmy from the old A&R club days. I was a young singer in a band working in a nearby club and we used to go to the A&R club so knew Jimmy then. I always remember him fondly as being a really nice gentle soul who was always looking through the Racing section of racing paper! He was recognised at the time as being a former famous footballer and was held in high esteem from what I can remember. As you get older you tend to google people’s names you used to know and as I really had a soft spot for him, I googled his name, hence me arriving at this blog! Alex, your granddad was a lovely man!

  17. Ref Steve Doran’s earlier note. I too knew Jimmy from the old A&R club days. I was a young singer in a band working in a nearby club and we used to go to the A&R club so knew Jimmy then. I always remember him fondly as being a really nice gentle soul who was always looking through the Racing section of racing paper! He was recognised at the time as being a former famous footballer and was held in high esteem from what I can remember. As you get older you tend to google people’s names you used to know and as I really had a soft spot for him, I googled his name, hence me arriving at this blog!Alex, your grandad was a lovely man!

  18. I am the club historian of Ebbsfleet United(formerly Gravesend @
    Northfleet)and when I grew up in the late 50s Jimmy Logie was the clubs star player and held in much esteem as he still is but
    he was never player manager that was his old Arsenal team mate
    lionel Smith who did that role from 1955-60 with Jimmy being his first signing.They both feature in two books I have written on the club.

  19. My Dad was jimmys cousin George Tullis all of them brought up playing football in the lawn market My Dad who was also an exceptional player he gave my Uncle Jimmy his football gold medal before he went off to play for Arsenal Dad said he wore it on his wrist watch Margaret Tullis

  20. I remember watching Jimmy play in the 1950`s he was a terrific little player and a great character.I remember one match which was played in very heavy rain and the pitch was a quagmire.Jimmy was in the opposition goalmouth when a cross came in but too high for little Jimmy so he caught the ball,dropped it onto his head and nodded it into the goal.Players on both sides had a good laugh as well as the Referee.

  21. Jimmy Logie is my grandad I can fill in all the blanks 🙂 and tell u all the trues and falses written on here

  22. Jimmy Logie is my grandad. Alex Logie he is not your grandad sadly.

  23. My 7 year old Sam just asking me about my uncle jimmy Logie so I goggled him to explain to him and found this, I do have some pics somewhere Jeannie I will get to you. I got confused a bit when I read Alex Logie? Great reading all the history xx

  24. Jimmy Logie was my mothers uncle and would appreciate any information about him. Thanks

  25. I knew Jimmy Logie from the 1970`s till his death in 1984.He was a lovely man , had many good nights going from the A & R Club in charing cross rd,to the Tin Pan Alley Club in denmark street then back again.Tha A & r Club was owned by Ronnie Knight and Mickey Regan at that time and they all loved Jim , as I say a lovely man held in great esteem by everyone. Stephen Doran , hope you don`t mind me asking but was your mum Theresa. Best Wishes , John Farley.

  26. Hi…. I went to Sir Thomas Abney junior school in the 1960″s and Alex Logie, Jimmy’s grandson… was in my class and played in the school team as striker with me on the wing! No one at the school ever knew that they were related and I thoight at the time that they were father and son! Only years later did it all become clear! Alex had a little of Jimmy” s magic though! Law

  27. logie did leave ths arsenal in 1955 over that handshake incident , i remamber lisening to that game on the radio doing my national service in luneberg north germany which the gunners lost to moscow spartak the ref was of course from russia
    he made a lot of odd desisions which resulted in the hand shake not happening,
    the disipling was so different from yodaybut the football wsa much better to watch.

  28. Alan Livermore
    9 April 2018

    Jimmy Logie, what a great player. I was a fan of Gravesend and Northfleet, from the mid to late fifties onwards, and I remember that Jimmy had a dispute with Arsenal, Where he was playing, and at the time the maximum wage allowed in the football league was £12 per week. Gravesend & Northfleet offered him £20 per week (no maximum in the non – league), plus a £1000 signing on fee, to sign for them, and as he was a friend and former team mate of the then manager, Lionel Smith, duly signed for them. After playing in home games, he could be seen selling evening newspapers on a corner in Gravesend Town Center.

  29. Jeanette can you email me please my name is Carol Freeman and I worked with your grandmother Jeanette, for a few years and she was bridesmaid at my wedding. I am now 87 years old, and I remember Jeanette as being extremely beautiful, in fact she had been a beauty queen. I was very fond of her, but lost touch. My email address is

    carolfreeman.freeman@gmail.com

  30. In the 1970s jimmy Logie worked as a reception security guard at Thames TV when I worked there.

  31. As a young girl i was told jimmy logie was my uncle through marriage. Thats the reson i started supporting Arsenal and am forever grateful for that. Does anyone kmow his wifes name. Was her surname Parker?

  32. sandra murphy, i dont know about jimmy logies wife but he did have a shop opposite the old finsbury music hall, selling sweets and ices,in the case of jimmy logies wife i suggest you look into the birth and marriage records.

  33. My dad believes his wife lived in the flat below in 71 Oakley Road, Islington. Her name was Gene Parker.

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