John swapped torpedoes for the lure of the Valleys
CARDIFF CITY have been trying to increase their Scottish contingent this summer.
The Bluebirds signed Hearts and Scotland full- back Callum Paterson and have been linked with other players from north of the border.
They lost out to Celtic in the race for winger Jonny Hayes – an Irish internationalist who had an outstanding season with Aberdeen in the SPFL.
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock clearly believes there are players in Scotland capable of helping their bid to reach the Premier League.
An added attraction is that transfer fees are likely to be relatively modest compared to the English game.
Cardiff have a history of being successful by recruiting Scots to play in Wales.
The team that won promotion in 1960 was packed with them and captained by former Dundee defender Danny Malloy.
He cost Cardiff £17,500 but not all of their signings were so expensive.
In 1958, they recruited Dumbarton winger John McMillan for a lot less because he was still an amateur.
He caught the eye by hitting 10 goals in 30 matches for the Sons.
John recalled: “That was probably my successful season in football.
“I was an amateur because Dumbarton had never offered me professional forms.
“I was working at the Royal Navy torpedo factory in Alexandria at the time and still had three months of my apprenticeship to go.
“It’s often said I was a Scottish Amateur internationalist, but I didn’t actually make the team.
“I had played the trial match which, coincidentally, was against my club, Dumbarton.
“The other 10 players were picked for the Scotland team but I couldn’t play because I’d been sold to Cardiff and turned professional.
“I was in the company of plenty of my fellow countrymen when I arrived at Ninian Park.
“There was Danny, Bob Scott, Alex Milne and a host of others.
“In fact, we could have fielded an entire team of Scots apart from a goalkeeper.
“I spent four seasons at Cardiff, but it was difficult to make the first team.
“The minimum wage of £20-a-week was in operation and that meant they could afford to have 38 professional players on the books.
“I also had to do national service at the time and played for the RAF team.
“I did manage some games in England’s top flight and remember nearly scoring against Gordon Banks when we played Leicester City.
“They had made the FA Cup final and were dishing out vouchers to get tickets for Wembley. That made sure of a huge crowd at the game.”
John dropped down the divisions in 1961 when he was bought by Exeter City.
He went on: “The chairmen of the clubs were friendly and a lot of other players made the same move. When I joined Exeter, they already had five ex-Cardiff men in their team.
“The move nearly didn’t happen because I was owed £800 of a benefit by Cardiff and the manager, Bill Jones, wasn’t keen to pay.
“I told the Exeter manager that I couldn’t sign and told him why.
“He just shook his head, then went away and came back telling me the money was all sorted.
“That sort of haggling was very commonplace in those days. We had no agents working for us.”
John scored on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Oldham, but it wasn’t the best team in the club’s history. Family reasons then took John back to Wales. He said: “I went to Margate briefly, but my wife wanted to be closer to her mother in Cardiff and I joined Barry Town of the Southern League.
“I later played for Merthyr Tydfil before slipping down into the Welsh leagues.
“The reason I joined Barry Town was that I was able to get a job with the chairman’s firm that did ship repairs at the docks.”
Now aged 80, John still lives in the Vale of Glamorgan.