Let's venture into the illustrious, or should I say, not so illustrious career of Daniel Finlayson. Born on the 19th of January in 2001, our stalwart defender hails from Scotland and seems to have a particular fondness for the number 19; fitting, considering it aligns perfectly with his birth date and deftly doubles as his current jersey number at Livingston. It's not only his jersey number that's hefty either. At a towering 6ft 3in (1.91m) and weighing in at a sturdy 13st 3lb (84kg), he would have made a fine prop in a game of rugby. Too bad he decided to dedicate his life to football instead.
It all started in July of 2017, when this Scottish progeny joined the ranks of Rangers Football Club. As is customary in this enchanting dance we call football, Finlayson subsequently found himself passed around more often than a Christmas cracker. He was shipped off on loan to Orange County SC of the USL in the United States in February 2020. Apparently, less than a year was enough for our lad to sample the sun-soaked offerings of America's left coast.
Still on loan, Finlayson swapped the sunny shores of the West Coast for rainy Scotland to join St Mirren in October of the same year. There, he graced the pitch thrice in league matches during his debut stint in the 2020/21 season. This was, of course, but a warm-up for the flurry of transfers that were yet to come.
In July 2021, Finlayson had the good fortune (or misfortune, depending on your perspective) to be permanently signed by St Mirren, only to be loaned yet again, this time to Kelty Hearts in September 2021. Skipping a few travels, by July 2023 he found himself at Linfield in Northern Ireland. This proved a more productive spell for Finlayson, with a busy schedule of football, a total of 67 appearances and 4 goals to his name over two seasons.
July seems to be an auspicious, or perhaps, ominous month for our man, as it was in July of 2024 that he was unleashed onto Livingston in Scotland. Though permanently departing Linfield, it appears that Finlayson did manage to tread a path well beaten, after all. His current endeavors at Livingston have seen him making 34 appearances in the 2024/25 season and 2 appearances so far in the ongoing 2025/26 season. Not content with standard league games, this ambitious colossus has also participated in the League Cup, making five starts, the Scottish Cup, with two starts and one sub appearance, and the Premiership Play-offs where he enjoyed one start and three substitute appearances for Livingston.
All in all, it's been quite the globetrotting adventure for our lad Finlayson. Perhaps one day he'll find a club that truly captures his heart.
