Born in
Aberdeen, Dawson started his career as a trainee with
Manchester United under
Matt Busby in the mid 1950s. He was given his
First Division debut as a 17-year-old on 22 April 1957, when he scored in a 2–0 home win over
Burnley in the First Division. He also found the net in United's next two league games against
Cardiff City and
West Bromwich Albion. These games came after United had sealed the First Division title for a second successive season. In
1957–58, he made just one appearance during the first six months of the season, but then came the
Munich air disaster in which eight Manchester United players died, including forwards
Tommy Taylor and
Liam Whelan, while
Bobby Charlton and
Dennis Viollet were unavailable for several weeks as they recovered from their injuries. He was on the scoresheet in United's first game after the crash, scoring one of United's goals in a 3–0 victory over
Sheffield Wednesday in the fifth round of the
FA Cup. He remained a regular player in the team until the season's end, scoring a
hat-trick against
Fulham in the FA Cup semi-final replay at
Highbury, the last man to do so until
Riyad Mahrez in 2023. He was in the team for the
Wembley final against
Bolton Wanderers, but United lost 2–0. He faced competition for a first-team place from new signing
Albert Quixall, which restricted him to 11 appearances in
1958–59. The subsequent two seasons saw Dawson enjoy more regular first team action, and in the
1960–61 season he scored 20 goals in all competitions. Dawson's first team chances were limited in
1961–62 following the arrival of
David Herd. He left United for
Preston North End in 1961 after scoring 54 goals in all competitions for the Red Devils. At Preston, he became known as the "Black Prince of Deepdale" and featured in their
1964 FA Cup final team. He scored in the final as Preston lost 3–2 to
West Ham United. He later played for Bury, Brighton and Brentford. Dawson died on 17 July 2020, aged 80. ==Honours==