JIMMY Bonthrone, the former Aberdeen manager, has died aged 79.
Born in Kinglassie in 1929, Bonthrone enjoyed a successful playing career as a forward with East Fife, and was a part of the League Cup-winning team of 1953.
In the same year, he was picked for a Scotland XI to play the Army at Hampden Park, and p
layed for Scotland B against England B at Easter Road.
After 11 years at Bayview Park, Bonthrone joined Dundee, and finished his playing career with Stirling Albion and Queen of the South.
He went on to pursue a career in coaching and management, starting off as manager at East Fife from 1963 to 1969, before accepting the position of assistant to Aberdeen manager Eddie Turnbull.
When Turnbull left to join Hibernian, Bonthrone took over at Aberdeen and enjoyed instant success with the winning of the Dryborough Cup in 1971.
He also became involved with Scotland squads at the invitation of national managers Bobby Brown Willie Ormond, coaching the Scotland under-23 team for a brief spell.
However, Bonthrone found it difficult to follow in the footsteps of Turnbull at Aberdeen, after he had guided the Dons to the Scottish Cup in 1970. Although he blooded Willie Miller in the first team, and took the legendary Zoltan Varga to Pittodrie, he had to contend with the departures of key individuals Martin Buchan and Joe Harper, as well as a very public show of dissent from defender Willie Young, who threw his shirt at Bonthrone after being substituted for the first time in his Aberdeen career.
After four years in charge, Bonthrone stood down at Pittodrie, where he was replaced by Ally MacLeod. He later returned to football as commercial manager of his first love, East Fife, and when he retired in 1994 he was rewarded with a testimonial match against Manchester United in 1995.
• A full obituary will appear later this week.
The full article contains 326 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
