A move to England meant shared digs and a day job
Brentford played their first-ever game in the English Premier League on Friday night.
They started in the way they had finished back in 1947, when they were relegated from the top flight after a match at home to Arsenal.
By 1958, they were battling to get out of the Third Division.
Money was tight and their Scottish boss, Malky Macdonald, looked north for new recruits.
He was a former Celtic player, and had managed Kilmarnock for seven years.
Buying players from his former clubs would be too expensive, so he went back to where it all began.
Macdonald first played football with St Roch’s Juniors in the East End of Glasgow, and snapped up two of their talented teenagers.
These days, Brentford operate on a totally different level, last month spending £13.5-million on Norwegian Kristofer Ajer from Celtic.
You can be sure his wages will be more than £1m-a-year. When winger Johnny Hales headed to Griffin Park from St Roch’s, the incentive was rather more modest.
He said: “Willie Waddell was keen to sign me for Kilmarnock when I was 17.
“But I had a lot of respect for Malcolm Macdonald. He had gone to school with my mother, so I was well looked after.
“I was an apprentice at Blythswood Shipbuilders in Glasgow, and Brentford offered me a job at an engineering firm.
“The managing director at the firm was also
on the board at the football club. I was working during the day and training at night. But it proved to be a life-changing move.
“I met a girl who was working at the firm, and we are still married.
“Having other Scots lads at the club helped me to settle in the London area.
“I shared a room with George Summers, who arrived from Glasgow shortly after me.
“I had to wait nearly a year to make my firstteam debut. It came in the last game of the season against Norwich City.
“I think that’s one of my favourite games – finally becoming a professional footballer.”
Brentford developed a real taste for young Scottish players from St Roch’s.
Charlie Mcinally was signed at the same time as John, and John Docherty soon followed.
Hugh Mclaughlin and Dick Lowrie later took the same route. There were always at least halfa-dozen Scots in the Brentford squad.
They finished 23rd in Division Three in 1962, and were relegated. It meant the Bees had gone from top to bottom in a 15-year period.
Three international strikers – Scotland’s John Dick, Billy Mcadams of Northern Ireland and former England inside-forward, Johnny Brooks – arrived to fire Brentford to the title.
John scored in the last two matches, taking the team’s total to 98 goals in 46 outings.
The following season – which proved to be John’s last in professional football – wasn’t as successful as expected.
The inconsistency of the team was summed up by a spell where John secured a place in Brentford’s history.
They lost 5-2 at home to Bristol Rovers on October 12 1963.
A smaller crowd – 10,500 – turned up at the same venue three days later and saw their favourites thump Wrexham 9-0.
John, now 81, was one of the scorers, and it remains the club’s record victory.
He said: “I was invited to reunite with the other scorers when Wrexham played at Griffin Park 30 years later.
“Sadly, the other lads have now passed away.” When John was released in 1964, he decided to concentrate on a career outside of football.
He said: “I worked for British Airways in sales out of Heathrow for 32 years.
“The only football I played was for the BOAC Speedbird Club in Watford.”
These days, John is retired in Poole, Dorset, with five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.