Jim Bett

Jim Bett

Personal information
Full name	James Bett
Date of birth	(1959-11-25) 25 November 1959
Place of birth	Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Gartcosh United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1978	Airdrie	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	KR Reykjavík	13	(4)
1994–1995	Heart of Midlothian	26	(2)
1995–1996	Dundee United	10	(2)
International career
1980–1982	Scotland U21	7	(0)
1982–1990	Scotland	26	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James "Jim" Bett (born 25 November 1959 in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who predominantly played for Aberdeen. He played in central or left midfield.

Bett was a Scottish Schoolboy internationalist, who started his career with Gartcosh United and Airdrieonians before moving to Icelandic side Valur in 1978. A year later he joined K.S.C. Lokeren (282) in Belgium before Rangers manager John Greig paid £150,000 to sign him for the Glasgow club in 1980. In three seasons at Ibrox he won a Scottish Cup winners medal (1980–81) and a League Cup winners medal (1982–83). During this spell he also earned his first selection for the Scotland national side, making the first of 25 appearances in 1982.

Bett left Rangers in 1983 for a second spell with Lokeren before returning to his native land in 1985, joining Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1985 for £300,000. During his time with the Dons he collected winners medals in the 1985–86 and 1989–90 seasons for both the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup. He left Pittodrie in 1994, after making almost 300 first-team appearances, and moved to KR Reykjavík. He won the Icelandic Cup with KR but left at the end of the 1994 Icelandic season to join Hearts, with whom he played the 1994–95 Scottish season. He retired in 1996, after a final season with Dundee United.

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. Coincidentally, Bett's only goal for Scotland occurred in a 1–0 win over Iceland in Reykjavík in 1985.

In 2003, Bett was inducted into the Aberdeen FC Hall of Fame as one of the founding members.

External links

• Jim Bett career statistics at Soccerbase
• Scotland appearances at londonhearts.com
• Profile and stats - Lokeren