| Club: | Dumbarton |
| Season: | 1951–1952 |
| Manager: | William Irvine |
| Stadium: | Boghead Park, Dumbarton |
| League: | Scottish League B Division |
| League Result: | 10th |
| Cup1: | Scottish Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Third Round |
| Cup2: | Scottish League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Prelims |
| Cup3: | Supplementary Cup |
| Cup3 Result: | Second Round |
| League Topscorer: | Jimmy Scott (14) |
| Season Topscorer: | Jimmy Scott (20) |
| Pattern La1: | _black_hoops |
| Pattern B1: | _goldhoops |
| Pattern Ra1: | _black_hoops |
| Pattern So1: | _goldtop |
| Leftarm1: | ffc100 |
| Body1: | 000000 |
| Rightarm1: | ffc100 |
| Shorts1: | ffffff |
| Socks1: | 000000 |
| Prevseason: | 1950–51 |
| Nextseason: | 1952–53 |
The 1951–52 season was the 68th Scottish football season in which Dumbarton competed at national level, entering the Scottish Football League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Supplementary Cup, and the Festival of Britain Quaich. In addition Dumbarton competed in the Stirlingshire Cup.
See main article: 1951–52 Scottish Football League. Another slow start to the league campaign, with only a single win from 9 attempts, meant that Dumbarton were never seen as challengers for the title but improving performances during the season resulted in a mid-table 10th-place finish with 28 points, 16 behind champions Clyde.
See main article: 1951–52 Scottish Cup. In the Scottish Cup, Dumbarton lost to Falkirk in the third round.
See main article: 1951–52 Scottish League Cup. Qualification from the League Cup sectional games was again unfruitful, with Dumbarton finishing 4th and last, recording a win and a draw from their 6 games.
After a year's absence, the Supplementary Cup returned for one last season, with Dumbarton reaching the second round before losing out to Alloa Athletic.
The season started brightly, with Dumbarton winning their first national silverware in 41 years, by triumphing in the St Mungo Quaich - a competition for B Division sides to celebrate the Festival of Britain.
In the Stirlingshire Cup, Falkirk defeated Dumbarton in the semi-final.
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Source:[1]
Andy Tait and Duncan Smith were selected to play for the Scottish League B XI against the Irish League B side on 15 April 1952 - Smith scored one of the goals in the 6-0 win.
| Player | From | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ally Johnstone | 16 Jul 1951 | ||
| Jimmy Scott | 16 Jul 1951 | ||
| Hugh Shaw | 16 Jul 1951 | ||
| Jimmy Forbes | Rangers (loan) | 14 Sep 1951 | |
| Eddie Beaton | Aberdeen (loan) | 18 Sep 1951 | |
| Peter Murphy | 3 Oct 1951 | ||
| Gerry McCaffrey | Campsie BW | 1 Mar 1952 |
| Player | To | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willie Johnstone | Freed | 30 Apr 1952 | |
| Ally Johnstone | Freed | 30 Apr 1952 | |
| Willie McLaren | Freed | 30 Apr 1952 | |
| John Sharp | Freed | 30 Apr 1952 |
Source:[3]
Dumbarton played a reserve team in Division C (South West) and finished 12th out of 16, recording 11 wins and 4 draws from 30 matches. Note that in addition to the reserve sides of the bigger Division A teams in South and West Scotland, the first teams of East Stirlingshire (relegated from Division B three seasons previously) and Stranraer also competed in this league.
In the Second XI Cup, Dumbarton lost in the second round to Dundee United.
Finally in the Reserve League Cup, Dumbarton could only manage a win and a draw from their 6 sectional matches and failed to progress to the knock-out stages.