The early years

Roger Graham • Published 29 Jun 2009 14:00

Looking at Allan McGraw a Morton legend

ALLAN McGraw was born in Kinning Park, Glasgow, but it was in the shadow of Ibrox Park where he was brought up by his parents Peter and Margaret as one of five children.

As a Govan boy it was hardly surprising that Allan was attracted to Rangers. Everyone in the family followed football - except his father, Peter, whose passion was boxing.

Allan explained: 'He really wasn"t interested in football. He loved the boxing. He fought for a British title at the White City in London before I was born. His prize money was £3. I think he would have been a middle-weight.'

Mum Margaret was, like so many women of her generation, a housewife. With Allan, elder brother Alex and sisters Rose, Margaret and Catherine, she had her hands full.

Allan"s first trip to Ibrox was no ordinary occasion. As a six-year-old he was taken to the glamour friendly against Moscow Dynamo on 3 December, 1945, a game which ended 2-2.

'My uncle took me,' said McGraw. 'He was home on leave from the army. The game was on a Wednesday afternoon because there were no floodlights in these days.

'My mother had given me a note to take to the school, asking for permission to go to the game. So I went into the classroom and the teacher said: "If anyone asks for time off to go to the football, they"re not getting it."

'So I never gave her the letter. When I went home at lunchtime my mother asked if I"d given the teacher the letter, and I said: "Aye, it"s okay." So I dogged school, but I"d forgotten to take my schoolbag home. My sister went in to get it and she got hell.'

McGraw"s principal memory of the match had nothing to do with the football on the park, but the attire of the capacity crowd. 'I can"t mind too much about the game,' he said. 'It was a misty day and they say the Russians had 12 men on the park. My abiding memory is that everyone in the crowd had a flat cap on.'

If there was fun and mischief, there was tragedy too. Street games were commonplace in these days and some boys had chalked a set of wickets on the wall near the close entrance. McGraw said: 'My sister Catherine - I think she was seven at the time - was running through the close and a boy with a cricket bat swung it at the ball and hit her. Her skull was fractured and she was taken to hospital. She died.

'Maybe nowadays she would have survived, I don"t know, but I"m told my father never recovered. He took to the drink.'

Of the family, only Allan and elder brother Alex are still alive, Alex still living in Glasgow.

As most boys did at the time, Allan played football whenever he could, but blood poisoning in a wound sustained on an ash park led to him being hospitalised for five months. 'I got a cut on what we used to call a "clinker" park,' he recalled. 'I didn"t clean it properly, so I ended up in hospital. It was a year before I played again.'

When he recovered, Allan would play football at lunchtime at the sheet metal company where he worked. He said: 'A fella came up one day and asked if I played for a team and I said "not really". He was with Partick Avondale. They gave me a trial and I signed. I was about 16.

'At that time I didn"t think I was fit enough to play up front, so I said I"d play centre half.

'Within a year Renfrew Juniors signed me. We won a couple of trophies and then came National Service.'

McGraw took the King"s shilling and joined the Scottish regiment, the Cameronians. He was supposed to be based in Edinburgh, but his talent for football was soon to take him to Germany.

'The army can be very strange,' said McGraw. 'The only football trophy the Cameronians had never won was the British Army of the Rhine Cup.' And so McGraw, his best pal Jimmy Mallon, who was to join him at Morton, and goalkeeper Alex Ross were sent out on a special mission to Germany - to win the cup.

'They wanted to win that cup - and that"s what we did. We won it.' said McGraw.

The army was full of talented footballers at the time of National Service and, while based in Lanark before going out to Germany, Allan found himself in the Scottish Command team alongside Jimmy Mallon, who was a Partick Thistle player at that time, and such illustrious names as Jim Baxter, who was in the Black Watch, and John White.

These two were to become idols of the Rangers and Spurs fans, as well as being in arguably the most talented Scottish team ever in the 60s.

'I think I was the only one in the Scottish Command team who wasn"t a professional,' said McGraw. 'When I was in the British Army of the Rhine team, again I was the only non-professional.

'I didn"t know at the time, but there was also a lot of scouts from football clubs in the army. This fella came up and asked if I would go to train with Tottenham Hotspur. Well, Tottenham at that time had Bill Nicholson as manager, and they were a team. So I said "Aye, certainly." I got a week"s leave and went to Spurs. Dave Mackay was there, and John White had just signed for them.'

They were, in fact, to become one of the best ever English club sides, winners of the league and cup double in 1960-61 and the first British team to win a European trophy, the old Cup Winners" Cup. They beat Atletico Madrid 5-1 in the final in season 1962-63. As well as Mackay and White, they had Cliff Jones, Danny Blanchflower and Jimmy Greaves in a star-studded side. McGraw, however, dropped the Tottenham name into the conversation as if it might have been Alloa or Grimsby Town.

He continued: 'I trained for a week and Bill Nicholson said to me: "When you finish your national service you come here." I said: "Fine, that"s great." - I mean, Tottenham Hotspur. I went back to the army and then Newcastle asked me to go for a trial but I said I"d committed myself to Tottenham.'

In between these clubs expressing their interest Allan"s father Peter died, and it was to prove life-changing for more than the obvious reason.

McGraw revealed: 'Jackie Ferguson, who played for Morton and in the army team, had recommended me to Hal Stewart [the then Morton manager and a charismatic character]. I came home on leave for a weekend and Hal had sent word to me to ask if I would play a trial.

'I played at Dumfries. I scored a goal and got robbed of another - John McTurk kicked it out from over the line. Hal said afterwards that he wanted me to sign, but I told him I was committed to Tottenham Hotspur.'

Haldane Y. Stewart was not to be thwarted by such a trifle.

'It was strange, ' said McGraw, 'because my father had worked at Shieldhall where Hal was a manager. He"d heard that my father had just passed away and he said: "I tell you what I"ll do. If you sign for Morton I"ll fly you home every weekend from Germany." Well, when you got your leave, you never flew; you came home by boat and train.

'I said: "Can you do that?" and he replied: "Yes, I"ve got contacts."

'When my father died, my mother was more or less on her own, because my sister had emigrated to America. So I said okay.

'Hal was a con-man, but he was the most likeable and convincing man you ever met in your life. I know he did a lot of wrong things to other people, forbye myself, but he carried out that promise to the letter. He flew me home every weekend.'

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 29 Jun 09

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