Jim Bett

James Bett (born 25 November 1959) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played in central or left midfield. He played with Aberdeen for nine seasons and had shorter spells at other clubs in Belgium, Iceland and Scotland. He earned 26 caps for the Scotland national team over eight years.

Jim Bett

Personal information
Full name	James Bett[1]
Date of birth	(1959-11-25) 25 November 1959 (age 65)
Place of birth	Hamilton, Scotland
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Gartcosh United
	Dundee
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1978	Airdrieonians	8	(0)
1978	Valur	2	(0)
1978–1980	Lokeren	33	(1)
1980–1983	Rangers	104	(21)
1983–1985	Lokeren	64	(7)
1985–1994	Aberdeen	257	(33)
1994	Valur	13	(4)
1994–1995	Heart of Midlothian	26	(2)
1995–1996	Dundee United	23	(2)
Total		530	(70)
International career
1980–1982	Scotland U21[2]	7	(0)
1982–1990	Scotland	26	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

A Scottish Schoolboy international born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire,^[3] Bett started his club career with Gartcosh United, Dundee and Airdrieonians before moving to Icelandic side Valur in 1978. A year later he joined K.S.C. Lokeren (282) in Belgium.

Rangers manager John Greig paid £150,000 to sign Bett for the Glasgow club in 1980. In three seasons at Ibrox he won the Scottish Cup (1980–81)^[4] and a League Cup (1981–82).^[3] He left Rangers in 1983 for a second spell with Lokeren.

Bett returned to his native land, joining Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1985 for £300,000.^[3] During his time with the Dons, he collected winner's medals in the Scottish Cup in 1985–86,^[5] and both the League Cup and Scottish Cup in 1989–90,^[6] He also played in three other League Cup finals – all ending in defeat to Rangers,^[7][8][9] and was in squads which finished runners-up behind his former club in the Scottish Premier Division on five occasions.

He left Pittodrie in 1994, after making over 300 first-team appearances. In 2003, Bett was inducted into the Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame as one of the founding members.^[10]

He next moved to KR Reykjavík and won the Icelandic Cup with the club, but left KR at the end of the 1994 Icelandic season. Bett returned to Scotland again to join Hearts with whom he played the 1994–95 Scottish season. After a final season with Dundee United, he retired.

International

During his spell with Rangers, Bett earned his first selection for the Scotland national side, making the first of 26 appearances in 1982.^[11] While playing for Aberdeen at club level, he was a member of the Scottish World Cup squads in 1986, where he did not play, and 1990, where his only appearance was in the opening 1–0 defeat to Costa Rica, which turned out to be the final cap of his career.^[11]

Personal life

Bett met his Icelandic wife during his time playing for Valur and has maintained a close connection with Iceland since. His sons Baldur and Calum, also both professional footballers, were born there and have represented the country at Under-19 level.^[12] Coincidentally, Bett's only goal for Scotland occurred in a 1–0 win over Iceland in Reykjavík in 1985.^[12]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club[13][14][15][16][17][18]	Seasons	League			National Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Airdrieonians	1976-77	Scottish First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	1	0
	1977-78		7	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	7	0
	Total		8	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	8	0
Valur Reykjavik	1978	Úrvalsdeild	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Lokeren	1978-79	Belgian First Division	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0+	0+
	1979-80		33	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	33+	1+
	Total		33	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	33+	1+
Rangers	1980-81	Scottish Premier Division	34	4	7	1	4	0	0	0	45	5
	1981-82		35	11	5	1	9	1	2	1	51	14
	1982-83		35	6	6	0	11	5	4	0	56	11
	Total		104	21	18	2	24	6	6	1	152	30
Lokeren	1983-84	Belgian First Division	32	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	32+	1+
	1984-85		32	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	32+	6+
	Total		64	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	64+	7+
Aberdeen	1985-86	Scottish Premier Division	24	3	6	0	3	0	4	0	37	3
	1986-87		38	4	3	1	2	0	2	1	45	6
	1987-88		38	10	5	0	5	3	3	1	51	14
	1988-89		30	5	5	0	5	3	2	0	42	8
	1989-90		30	3	4	1	5	2	2	0	41	6
	1990-91		36	7	1	0	3	2	4	0	44	9
	1991-92		38	1	1	0	2	0	2	0	43	1
	1992-93		17	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	22	0
	1993-94		6	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	13	0
	Total		257	33	28	2	32	10	21	2	338	47
Valur Reykjavik	1994	Úrvalsdeild	13	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	13+	4+
	Total		13	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	13+	4+
Heart of Midlothian	1994-95	Scottish Premier Division	26	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	30	2
	Total		26	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	30	2
Dundee United	1995-96	Scottish First Division	23	2	0	0	1	0	-	-	24	2
	Total		23	2	0	0	1	0	-	-	24	2
Career total			530	70	50+	4+	57+	16+	27+	3+	664+	93+

International

Scotland national team[19]
Year	Apps	Goals
1982	2	0
1983	1	0
1984	6	0
1985	6	1
1986	2	0
1987	2	0
1988	1	0
1989	2	0
1990	4	0
Total	26	1

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.^[20]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	28 May 1985	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	1–0	1–0	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Rangers^[11]

• Scottish Cup: 1980–81
  • Runner-up 1981–82, 1982–83
• Scottish League Cup: 1981–82
  • Runner-up 1982–83

Aberdeen^[11]

• Scottish Cup: 1985–86, 1989–90
  • Runner-up 1992–93
• Scottish League Cup: 1989–90
  • Runner-up 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93

Scotland

• The Rous Cup: 1985^[21]