Biography
Inside forward Andy Duncan joined the Tigers in May 1930 from Scottish junior side Renton Thistle. Duncan was born and raised in Renton, a model town between the Firth of Clyde and Loch Lomond that was renowned as a footballing hotbed. Renton FC won the World Club Championship in 1888 and weeks later beat English double winners Preston North End – and that legacy lived on in Duncan’s time. When he signed for City it was in the teeth of offers from other Scottish clubs, notably local league side Dumbarton, but Andy chose the Tigers and his stay on the Humber was successful. Manager Bill McCracken held Duncan back in the reserves for much of 1930/31 season but when he was elevated to the first XI in March 1931 the impact was immediate, four goals scored in his first five starts including an April brace against New Brighton to get off the mark. Andy was a regular starter in 1931/32 season under the management of Hayden Green, but he scored only twice all season. Green persisted with the young Scot however and in 1932/33 he was rewarded with Duncan missed only six matches by the end of March 1933 and scored nine goals in support to London-born goal machine Bill McNaughton. Andy bagged a brace against Wrexham in August and a hattrick in a February 6-1 demolition of Doncaster Rovers. Duncan missed eight games in April and May as the Tigers cruised to the Division Three North title and promotion to the Second Division.
Duncan took a while to adjust to the higher standard of football that promotion brought but remained first choice at inside forward and contributed three goals in a seven game spell during September and October. In February 1934 Duncan was injured in a 3-1 defeat at Bury and missed the rest of the season. By the time he was restored to full fitness for the 1934/35 season, Green had been replaced by former England international Jack Hill and Duncan made an immediate impression on his former team-mate with a hattrick on the opening day of the season – unfortunately the Tigers lost that opener against Plymouth 4-6, a scoreline that summed up Hill’s tenure at City. Duncan scored twice in September against West Ham as the Tigers registered their first league win of the season at the sixth attempt, and bagged another hattrick at Bramall Lane in December 1934 as City beat Sheffield United 4-3. On Christmas Day 1934 Duncan scored his last goal for the free-scoring (and free-conceding) Tigers in a 2-6 defeat at Newcastle. His goalscoring exploits had attracted the attention of First Division clubs and in March 1935 Hull City, desperate to plug a financial deficit, accepted £6,000 from Tottenham Hotspur for Duncan’s signature.
Andy Duncan was a success at Tottenham, making 103 senior appearances and scoring 26 goals in a four year spell at White Hart Lane. By 1939 he was settled in the leafy West London suburb of Isleworth, close to Brentford, living in splendid art deco style home. He continued to play wartime fixtures for Tottenham until 1942 but with his professional football career suspended he worked for a manufacturer of scientific instruments. In 1945 he joined Chelmsford City where he spent three seasons playing alongside his former Spurs teammate Fred Sargeant, lifting the Southern League title in 1946. Just weeks after Duncan left Chelmsford in May 1948, his great friend Sargeant, aged only 34, died in hospital after an emergency stomach operation. By 1950 Duncan was working as a scout for Tottenham. He remained in London for the rest of his life and died in October 1983.
Details
Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 25 January 1911, Renton
Hull City First Game: 28 March 1931, Wrexham A (Division Three North), 20 years, 62 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 March 1935, Oldham Athletic H (Division Two), 24 years, 43 days old
Clubs
Renton Athletic, Hull City (1930-1935), Tottenham Hotspur (1935-1939), Chelmsford City (1945-1948)
Hull City Record
Career: 114 apps, 31 goals
Andy Duncan| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930/31 | 7 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1931/32 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1932/33 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1933/34 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1934/35 | 26 | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |