‘HE NEVER GOT THE CREDIT HE DESERVED’
Bobby Wishart was Alan Gilzean’s best friend in football as well as former Dundee team-mate. He remembered the great striker yesterday.
“I always felt he never got the credit he deserved. There were too many folk just saying ‘Gilzean, he was terrific in the air’. But he was a better player than just that.
“As a matter of fact, you could put him down as the complete forward.
“I always remember a quote from John Rafferty writing in The Scotsman where he said, after Alan was transferred to Spurs, that it was ‘sad to think we have seen the last of the swashbuckling Gilzean’.
“I realise what he meant when I saw the difference between the untamed Alan up here, when he was given carte blanche to get out there and score all those goals, to being methodised down at Spurs as Jimmy Greaves’ target man. That’s how he started down there. But he went on to fulfil all types of roles. One of his own big assets is that he had very good vision. He was a master in the art of the first-time pass, which gave Greaves – and later big Martin Chivers – that extra yard, which made all the difference between a shot hitting the back of the net and getting blocked.
“Add that to all his talents like heading and beating men and cracking the ball into the net. He was a maker of goals as well.
“And as a friend, he was a very loyal. He did not make friends easily. But if you played the game by him, he certainly played the game by you. He was a modest guy.
“That stemmed from his roots in Coupar Angus. His mother would never have allowed any son of hers to be big-headed. Mrs Gilzean was probably the most level-headed person I ever came across. Alan knew he was a damn good player. But he never gave you the impression he thought he was a great player.” l In yesterday’s edition of The Scotsman, to illustrate a tribute about Alan Gilzean, a photograph of his Dundee strike partner Alan Cousin playing against Hearts was used. We apologise for the error.
ALAN PATTULLO