ENIGMATIC
the land for house building.”
Clearly a clubbable chap, Mckay was devastated. He adored the football culture of the time, which, from how he describes it, was not far removed from rugby’s reputation for playing hard and then going for a drink with the opposition afterwards.
Mckay recalls footballers from different clubs such as Queen’s Park, Partick Thistle and even Celtic and Rangers gathering in the Horseshoe pub in Glasgow’s Drury Street for a few drinks on a Saturday night. Celtic were on course to lift the European Cup, Rangers reached the European Cup Winners’ Cup final and Partick Thistle were in the top flight, while Queen’s Park were comfortably placed in the Second Division, where Thirds were latterly too.
“You’d meet your footballer chums at night,” recalls Mckay. “It was a source of great pride to be a footballer in Glasgow at the time.”
Mckay and his team-mates feared being robbed of this status. After Third Lanark folded, their contracts switched to the Scottish Football League. “They contacted me when I was on a business trip to London and said Motherwell were after me,” he recalled. “I said that’s OK, tell them I will sign when I get back.”
Hiddelston died the same year in Blackpool after a massive heart attack. The Board of Trade enquiry following the club’s collapse ruled that it had been an “inefficient and unscrupulous one-man business”.
It’s a haunting story that really does have everything. The only surprise is it has taken so long for the programme makers to get round to it after a string of well-received documentaries
“He was mysterious. Being kind I suppose he was private. People speculated about selling the land for house building”
covering such subjects as Jim Baxter, Hibs’ Famous Five and Dundee United’s run to the Uefa Cup final in 1987.
This latest production contains an extra charge. The name Third Lanark – the club was originally an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers – still carries such resonance. But the club has now been gone for more than half as long as they were ever alive. ● Third Lanark will air on BBC ALBA at 9pm tomorrow night, 50 years to the day from the sale of the land at Cathkin Park.