All white on the night for George and League side
Players on the verge of international recognition will be hoping they’re back in action as soon as possible.
For you just never know when the chance of representing your country might slip away. At this time in 1959, George Mccallum was within touching distance of a full cap for Scotland.
But less than a year later, he was getting lost on a training run through Glasgow as he battled to save his career.
George was a rising star with Third Lanark when he was picked for a Scottish League side to play Scotland in an international trial.
He recalled: “I was quite hopeful of being picked for Scotland at the time.
“And playing for the League team that beat Scotland 6-5 didn’t do my chances any harm.
“We played in a new all-white strip in front of a crowd of 40,000 at Ibrox on a Monday night.
“I’ve still got the shirt. It’s in good condition apart from the badge. It was covered in grass stains when I got it home, my wife washed it and the colours on the badge ran.
“Andy Kerr and John White both scored hattricks for our team. Jock Wallace was in goal.
“John was an incredible player. He was with Falkirk at the time before going on to Tottenham.” George made a rapid rise to the verge of international honours.
He said: “I’d been called up for National Service when I was 20, although I didn’t do much soldiering.
“I just played football, even when I was stationed over in Germany.
“I was working in an ironworks when I was demobbed and Bob Shankly offered me a chance to join Third Lanark in 1958.
“I played in a match against Morton when they first used the floodlights at Cappielow. “They handed out the wage packets and I saw the tax I was paying was more than my weekly wage at the ironworks. I immediately packed in my job.
“It made me the first full-timer at the club.
“I lived in Cowie, near Stirling, and Bob Shankly would pick me up every morning at Larbert Cross and take me to Cathkin Park.
“I wouldn’t say I was a brilliant footballer but I was very fit.
“The other players wanted me to enter the
Powderhall handicap sprint to make a few bob, but nobody would give me a start in the race.”
George’s career was on the up and up until the fickle finger of fate intervened.
He went on: “Bob Shankly confided in me that he was becoming Dundee manager.
“He said that if it was any consolation, he could tell me Rangers were asking about me. “All my family were Rangers fans. “Nothing happened but George Young took over as Third Lanark manager and we reached the League Cup Final against Hearts.
“Unfortunately, we lost 2-1 at Hampden before playing Hearts a few days later in the league. “During that match, I took a heavy knock and was carried off with a knee injury.
“I decided to come back on. I said I could play as a striker and still head the ball but I remember trying to jump for a cross and just couldn’t get off the ground.
“I ended up needing an operation.” By March, 1960, George Young was talking about offering a coaching role to his player if he couldn’t overcome the injury. George said: “I even moved in with trainer Tom Mcniven to train as much as possible. “One day we went out jogging in Glasgow, and I said it was surely time we went back. “Tom admitted he didn’t know where we were. We were lost and ended up catching a bus in the direction of his house.
“I spent another couple of seasons trying to play but was forced to retire.”
Like everyone else just now, George currently looking for ways to pass the time.
And he revealed: “I’ve just completed a jigsaw puzzle of Third Lanark’s Cathkin Park.”