Starting and finishing his career in the Scottish League, George Spence spent eight seasons in England, in the interim, going back-and-forth between the Football League and the Southern League, never getting a regular game, save at Second Division Gainsborough.

Noted by the Echo for being “fast, tricky, clever and a glutton for work,”

he was also versatile: in his 14 games for the Southampton side that won the Southern League for the sixth – and last – time, he played in five different positions. But he was unsettled off the field, as well, and returned to Scotland via two seasons at Hull. He later worked as a masseur in the salt-water swimming baths in his native Rothesay. When George Spence had joined Hull City in 1904, they were not in a League, so his two goals in the club’s one FA Cup-tie of the season made him their top-scorer in first-class football. When Hull were elected to the Football League, the following season, George scored their first goal in that competition.