DUNDEE: ALAN GILZEAN
By Jim Hendry
There are 11 legends lauded in Hector Nicol’s Up Wi’ The Bonnets which greets Dundee FC as they put together to do battle at modern-day Dens Park even when that adjective alongside the decrepit stadium is a contradiction by way of Champions League proportions.
There may be little argument that the staff which received the membership’s solely high league title in 1962 and which then mesmerised the Continent on their option to the European Cup semi-final was their greatest ever.
Legendary scholar, commentator and acknowledged soccer knowledgeable Bob Crampsey even went so far as declaring they had been Scotland’s greatest ever membership aspect and he harassed the inclusion of the Lisbon Lions in that judgment.
Whether or not he would have gone public with that view on this age of keyboard warriors and trial by aggrieved fan base is a query greatest left unanswered.
Alan Gilzean is mobbed by supporters after Dundee clinched the league title in 1962
It will be rude to not give a reputation test to ‘the proud boys who wore the Darkish Blue of Dundee’, to borrow Hector’s lyrics, and they’ll nonetheless journey off the tongue of many who had been round at the moment … Liney, Hamilton, Cox, Seith, Ure, Wishart, Smith, Penman, Cousin, Gilzean and Robertson.
Excellent gamers all however Gillie was the jewel that shone brightest. His prowess within the air is stuff of legend and lots of of his 169 objectives for the Darkish Blues had been certainly headers however, boy, may he play on the deck too.
4 second-half objectives at Ibrox in a 5-1 win on their option to that title ought to persuade any doubters, or what about his European Cup double within the Heysel Stadium as Dundee dismantled Anderlecht in entrance of 64,073 followers – a Belgian report crowd to at the present time and one that may by no means be surpassed.
Gillie additionally claimed Scotland Corridor of Fame standing with a Hampden winner over England in 1964 – sure, it was a header – and later loved an impressive profession with Spurs, the place he’s additionally worshipped to at the present time.
A modest and intensely humorous man, Gilzean has a lounge named in his reminiscence at Dens and a Nineteen Eighties Fanzine slipped into native dialect to declare ‘Eh Thoughts O’ Gillie’. That aside, there’s additionally one thing of a shrine to the native hero within the nook of a widely known Coupar Angus resort, the Perthshire city of his start.
There’s a hyperlink between Gillie and his closest contender Doug Cowie – their careers overlapping when the elder statesman welcomed the younger Gilzean into the fold in 1957.
Cowie represented Scotland in two World Cups, in Switzerland 1954 and Sweden ’58. He, too, was modesty personified with a silky contact and management qualities that belied his quiet and understated persona. After hanging up his boots Cowie had an eye fixed for a participant as he unearthed native expertise akin to Dave Narey, Davie Dodds and John Holt to the advantage of the membership throughout the street.
There was mutual respect between two consummate execs; the frail and aged Cowie saluting on the pavement exterior his dwelling close to Dens Park as his youthful pal’s funeral cortège handed en path to the town’s crematorium in 2018.
There have been, in fact, different contenders from the mists of time going all the best way again to Dundee’s solely Scottish Cup triumph after they beat Clyde after two replays in 1910. Folklore has it that the membership’s Cup probabilities have been cursed ever since due to the grand previous trophy being placed on show in an undertaker’s window.
The League Cup story is a happier one with back-to-back triumphs within the early Fifties towards Rangers and Kilmarnock, Cowie enjoying in each finals alongside one other with a declare to greatness, Billy Metal, who had been signed from Derby County for a Scottish report payment of £23,500.
Metal had magic in his toes and a pointy tongue, his caustic humour not at all times hitting the mark with under-performing colleagues. However the Dens crowd adored him.
Extra trendy greats embody former captain and supervisor Jim Duffy, enjoying and managerial legend, Jocky Scott plus his nice pal and team-mate Gordon Wallace, scorer of the one objective to beat Celtic within the 1973 League Cup remaining, the membership’s final main honour.
However Gilzean stands head and shoulders above all of them. An admirers of Hibs’ Well-known 5 throughout his youth, how becoming that lots of his Darkish Blue headers got here courtesy of inviting crosses from the boot of Easter Highway legend Gordon Smith.
If we will excuse the pun, that nicely worn routine on their option to title glory helps give Gillie the nod because the Biggest Darkish Blue of All Time.
DUNDEE UNITED: DAVID NAREY
By Eddie Isaac
Did anybody epitomise Jim McLean’s Dundee United and the best way they shook up the established order within the Nineteen Eighties higher than David Narey?
One of many enigmas of the Scottish recreation, quiet man Narey performed soccer like a world-class continental defender who had been mysteriously teleported to the unfamiliar environs of Tannadice.
He was a key a part of a United staff who, beneath McLean’s dictator-like grip, went toe-to-toe with their New Agency rivals Aberdeen throughout a golden interval that noticed Celtic and Rangers given the largest fright of their lives.
Narey was on the coronary heart of it of all, his defensive partnership with Paul Hegarty as essential to the unstoppable rise of the Tangerines as Willie Miller and Alex McLeish’s pairing was important for the Dons.
A standout in a staff boasting skills like Paul Sturrock, Ralph Milne and Maurice Malpas, he would savour a title triumph for the ages in 1983, in addition to lifting the League Cup on two events.
‘Narey may have performed for anyone he wished to, he was a world class participant,’ recalled former team-mate Jim McInally.
‘He may run beside the quickest man within the opposition staff and beat him by a yard. Not solely may he defend, he would begin the sport from the again. He was only a terrific participant.’
A lot in order that he turned the primary Tannadice man to win a Scotland cap.
Stylish defender David Narey made 872 appearances for Dundee United over 20 years
And maybe it was a precursor for the best way United would make European soccer sit up and take discover inside just some years when Narey introduced his arrival on the World Cup in sensational fashion in 1982.
His 18th-minute thunderbolt gave the Scots a scarcely plausible 1-0 lead over Brazil in Seville, Jimmy Hill hilariously dismissing it as a ‘toe poke’ whereas Socrates later admitted it was one of many objectives of the match.
Alas, the one factor that had been poked was the pleasure of the Brazilians, who would go on to win 4-1, however it appeared becoming by some means that it must be a participant from this upstart United outfit who was giving the previous world champions a bloody nostril.
The Tangerines did not simply knock Glasgow’s large two off their perch, they did the entire of Scottish soccer proud by reaching the European Cup semi-finals in 1984 – solely to be accomplished in by a dishonest Roma aspect – and the UEFA Cup remaining in 1987.
Narey was central to their success, a towering determine on that run to the UEFA showpiece that noticed McLean’s males topple Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach earlier than falling to Gothenburg in a two-legged remaining.
True, the defender would undergo different large disappointments throughout a 20-year profession at Tannadice which noticed him make 872 appearances, together with defeat in a variety of Scottish Cup finals.
However there could be a wonderful profession swansong when he left United for Raith Rovers and helped them beat Celtic within the 1994-95 League Cup remaining.
His legend had been solid at Tannadice, nevertheless, and Jim McLean’s admiration for the participant was no secret.
‘Of all of the gamers I had through the years, Hegarty, Sturrock, Malpas, Gough, Grey … David Narey was not second to any of them,’ he mirrored.
‘Andy Grey was a unique participant and he was improbable, however Narey was up there by way of his significance to the staff. His use of the ball was distinctive and his positional sense the most effective. He was a supervisor’s dream.’
In a staff stuffed with heroes, who may deny that he was the best of all of them?
DUNFERMLINE: NORRIE McCATHIE
By Paul Forsyth
Dunfermline Athletic usually are not in need of legendary figures. Charlie Dickson is their all-time main goalscorer. Willie Callaghan was a cornerstone of their successes, home and European, within the Nineteen Sixties. Roy Barry captained them to the second of their Scottish Cup triumphs.
However typically the sheer weight of a participant’s persona, his service to the staff and his reputation with supporters make him so synonymous with the membership that he can’t be equalled. No marvel they name Norrie McCathie Mr Dunfermline.
Lengthy earlier than the tragedy of his loss of life on the age of simply 34, which left a membership and a city bereft, McCathie had captured their hearts by making a club-record 576 appearances and turning into a pillar of the aspect that rose by means of the divisions beneath Jim Leishman.
McCathie was a pacesetter, an inspiration, a towering presence as each a defender and an individual. That he additionally scored 59 objectives for Dunfermline confirmed one other aspect to his recreation, one which had been obvious throughout his teenage years with Cowdenbeath.
McCathie epitomised all that was good about Dunfermline, in response to former supervisor Bert Paton
He was a striker when he joined Dunfermline in 1981, however the turning level was 4 years later when Leishman tried him in defence. There, he got here into his personal, tackling powerful, studying the sport nicely and forming the spine of successive promotions that took Dunfermline all the best way to the highest flight.
In all, he spent 15 years on the Fife membership, interrupted solely by a mortgage spell at Ayr United when he was on the best way again from a severe damage. After returning to his father or mother membership, he performed in each match for the following two seasons. His proudest second was main them out within the 1991 League Cup remaining at Hampden, having helped them get there with a penalty objective of their semi-final shootout with Airdrie.
McCathie acquired essentially the most out of himself and his team-mates, which made it all of the more durable to see his Dunfermline profession – and life – lower brief in essentially the most distressing circumstances. Two days after his final look, which was away to St Mirren on January 6 1996, the defender and his girlfriend died of carbon monoxide poisoning at his dwelling in Fife.
It was a stunning loss for the membership, the neighborhood and for Scottish soccer. His shirt quantity – 4 – was retired for the remainder of that season, which ended with one other promotion to the Premier Division. In December 1998, the South Stand at East Finish Park was named after him. Down the years, he has been remembered with banners, songs and commemorative shirts, all recognising the size of his contribution to the membership.
Bert Paton, who performed for and managed the Pars, spoke for hundreds when he mentioned: ‘Norrie epitomised all the things that was good about Dunfermline and we are going to maintain his reminiscence in our hearts endlessly.’
EAST FIFE: HENRY MORRIS
By Alan Hendry
With Scottish soccer royalty on both aspect of him and the Lion Rampant on his shirt, East Fife striker Henry Morris sat proudly for the staff {photograph} on the event of his Scotland debut. Rangers captain George Younger, the primary man to succeed in 50 caps for Scotland, sat to his left. On his proper, was legendary former Dundee and Derby County inside ahead Billy Metal.
That an East Fife participant could be comfy in such firm tells you all it’s good to know concerning the Methil membership’s standing within the post-war years.
Morris scored a hat-trick in an 8-2 World Cup qualifying win over Northern Eire, his first objective in that recreation was additionally Scotland’s first ever in World Cup qualifying. Extremely, he was by no means chosen once more.
Henry Morris on Scotland obligation, flanked by George Younger (left) and Billy Metal (proper)
Accidents and stiff competitors meant Morris was by no means seen in a Scotland shirt once more. ‘There have been a number of good centre forwards in these days,’ the modest hero was quoted as saying later.
Morris and 5 different Methil stalwarts had been capped by their nation because the Bayview males loved what can solely be described as a golden age between 1938 and 1954, amassing a powerful main trophy haul of three League Cups and one Scottish Cup.
Whereas legends from that interval like Charlie Fleming, Willie Finlay and Sammy Stewart all wrote their names into East Fife folklore, none can stake a declare as compelling as Morris.
He performed a key position within the League Cup triumphs of 1947-48 and 1949-50, scoring the third objective within the 3-0 Hampden conquer Dunfermline.
The Dundonian additionally holds the membership report for many league objectives scored in a single season, scoring 41 occasions in season 1947-48. With 188 objectives in 171 appearances, he loved a scoring charge of higher than a objective a recreation.
The cup competitions had been a speciality for the Fife hero, and he scored 19 objectives in 17 Scottish Cup video games.
Each centre-half Finlay and full-back Stewart may construct their very own instances on having performed in all three of the Fife membership’s League Cup victories (1947-48, 1949-50 and 1953-54) when Hampden Park was a second dwelling for the Methil aspect.
A former coal miner, Finlay was the rock upon which that legendary staff was constructed, and he can rely himself unfortunate his reliability and management qualities didn’t translate right into a Scotland name up.
A stalwart of the staff for a decade, Finlay left Bayview beneath a cloud after falling out with supervisor Jerry Dawson. He stayed away from Bayview for a few years after his acrimonious departure however, in scenes that will carry a tear to a glass eye, he was afforded a hero’s reception in 2008 when he helped the membership unfurl the Third Division championship flag.
Stewart amassed 528 appearances between 1938 and 1961. Extremely, he scored simply two aggressive objectives for the membership: one on his debut and a second 21 years later in 1960, each towards East Stirlingshire.
In later years, defender Davie Clarke achieved legendary standing with a report 628 appearances between 1968-1987. Whereas future Scotland striker Gordon Durie loved a blistering begin to his profession in Methil from 1981-84, scoring 26 objectives in 81 appearances.
EAST KILBRIDE: JOHN ROBERTSON
By Alan Hendry
With apologies to BJ Coll, Sean Winter, Adam Strachan and others … our seek for the EK GOAT is proscribed to the time a membership has spent within the SPFL. For the Okay-Park aspect that boils down to simply final season and this – a brief sharp dash for our accolade.
However what a season 2025-26 was, Kilby received 21 of their 36 video games to beat Spartans to the title and achieve promotion to Scottish League One.
John Robertson was the identify on the lips of anybody watching Mick Kennedy’s aspect final time period, tearing up League Two with 32 objectives in 45 video games.
Who is aware of the place East Kilbride’s SPFL journey will take them? However their scoring sensation wasn’t hanging round to seek out out and now finds himself only one step from the top-flight after signing for Championship Raith Rovers.
John Robertson (proper) celebrates East Kilbride’s League Two triumph with Lewis Spence
Robertson could have made Rovers followers undergo final summer time, scoring an unbelievable five-minute hat-trick to assist East Kilbride to a 4-2 League Cup win in July however they’ve taken steps to make sure he’s doing the injury for them for the foreseeable.
‘I scored a five-minute hat-trick towards Raith within the League Cup this season – despite the fact that I believed I would performed s**t for the entire recreation,’ mentioned Robertson when he signed for Dougie Imrie’s aspect.
‘I’ve at all times had perception in my very own skill, that is one factor about me. I do know I am the person.
‘I do not assume there’s anybody up there with me. What do I hope to get from it (signing for Raith)? Promotion and perhaps one other transfer. I am wanting ahead to go and attempt to rip up the Championship.’
The extrovert ahead has an eye fixed for the spectacular and at occasions final time period it appeared like he was working his personal objective of the season competitors. He won’t lack for confidence as he seeks to make his mark with Raith and why would he after a season wherein he appeared to attain virtually at will. His innate skill to seek out the online is nearly matched by his expertise for winding up opposition supporters. You think he’ll seize the headlines by some means.
Robertson added: ‘Most fanbases hate me to be sincere with you as a result of I’m a little bit of a wind-up service provider. However I did not get that from the Raith followers. I can not wait to get going.’
The long run appears vibrant for Robertson however his affect in a single nook of South Lanarkshire will not be forgotten in a rush.
Agree or disagree? Get in contact at greatestplayer@dailymail.co.uk and tell us what you assume
Half 4 options Edinburgh Metropolis, Elgin Metropolis, Falkirk, Forfar Athletic and Greenock Morton
