Digging up spuds before Final didn’t do the trick for Mac
THE Scottish League Cup r e a c h es the quarter-final stage this week.
The timing of the competition changed in 2000. Prior to then, the Final was normally contested before Christmas.
Many things have changed since the trophy was introduced in 1946.
Players definitely prepare in a different way for games, but they still face the same challenges on the pitch.
55 years ago, the players of Third Lanark were taking part in the club’s only League Cup Final appearance.
At the heart of the Thirds’ defence was highly-rated centrehalf, George McCallum.
He was being tipped for big things, and Blackburn Rovers manager Dally Duncan made a special trip to watch the 24-yearold play at Hampden.
George re c a l l s h ow his unexpected rise to fame was undone by two games against Hearts in five days.
He says: “I’d played for Camelon Juniors, and during that time I broke my ankle and my collar bone.
“I then went off to do National Service, and when I came back I wasn’t playing for anyone.
“However, I was recommended to Third Lanark manager Bob Shankly, and was given a trial against Falkirk at Brockville.
“I was signed and didn’t take long to make the first team.
“We reached the League Cup Final during my second season, and I remember being pictured breaking in my boots for the game by digging up potatoes!
“The leather was a lot harder back then and you had to soften them up.”
In that Final, Thirds went ahead after just two minutes when a Joe McInnes’ cross was prodded home by Matt Gray.
The Jambos, however, came back to win the Cup with two goals in two minutes during the second half.
George goes on: “I still remember the goal that won it for Hearts.
“I went to head the ball away and it suddenly hung in the air. I wonder if the was the famous Hampden swirl that caught it.
“I didn’t make a proper contact, and AlexYoung latched onto the ball and scored past Jocky Robertson.”
Losing a cup final is painful enough, but worse was to follow for George.
“We had originally been scheduled to play Hearts in a league match on the day of the Final,” he continues.
“So we played them again in a re- arranged fixture at Tynecastle on the Wednesday night.
“After 15 minutes, I came a cropper and was carried off with a knee injury.
“A few minutes later I made the mistake of thinking I could come back on and play as a striker.
“I did a lot more damage by running about for two minutes on a badly injured knee.
“I stayed with Third Lanark for another couple of seasons, but I never really recovered properly.
“There had been talk of English clubs being interested, and Bob Shankly told me Rangers had been making enquiries just before he left to become Dundee manager.”
The knee injury meant George couldn’t go back to work in a steelworks and instead spent many years making insulation.
Now aged 79, he still gets a twinge from the knock that effectively ended his football career. RICHARD GOUGH was taken to hospital after sustaining a head injury in Rangers’ 3-0 win over Hibs at Ibrox.
The defender had been wearing a headband after needing stitches during his side’s Skol Cup Final defeat by Aberdeen the previous week.
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