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Joe (Joseph) McCallan
Joe McCallan (born 1 April 1949 in Borrowstounness, Falkirk) was a Scottish professional football player in the 1960-80s who is best known for his time with Clydebank F.C. [1]
Career highlights
- First person to play on every senior ground in Scotland, all of the Scottish Football League (SFL) and Highland League.[2]
- 1976/77 SFL First Division runners-up with Clydebank[4]
- 1979/80 SFL Second Division winners with Falkirk [5][6][7]
- 1992/93 North Junior Football League champions with Inverurie Locomotives F.C.[8]
- Various Aberdeen Amateur league winners and Player of the Year awards. [9]
Career History;
Alloa Athletic F.C.(1968-1974)
Joe signed for Alloa in 1968 after being a prolific goal scorer in juvenile football. Seasoned professionals, such as Bobby Gray and Alex Hodge help Joe adapt to the senior game at a struggling time for Alloa.
One of Joe’s favourite goals in his career was with Alloa against Hamiliton at Douglas Park. “I think we had just scored and it was straight from a centre. We had realised that they always played it forward then played it back to one of the midfield guys. I made a beeline for the guy as soon as the ball was kicked. I got quite close to him and forced him to pass it inside so I just changed direction and I picked up the ball. I went towards the centre halves, moved it to the right and just slammed it into the top of the net from about 25 yards out.”
Joe finished his career with Alloa with 188 appearances and 64 goals– currently 26th place in Alloa’s all-time appearance list.
Clydebank F.C. (1974-1978)
Joe then singed for Clydebank from Alloa in 1974, both Second Division clubs at the time. The 1975/76 season saw the first league reconstruction of Scotland in over 25 years and the Bankies were inaugural champions of the new Scottish Football League Second Division, taking the title on goal difference from Raith Rovers.
Joe scored 21 times in the 1975/76 season but will still 1 behind Clydebank’s top scorer of the season, Davie Cooper.
The 1976/77 season proved to be one of Joe’s most prolific in his professional career netting 31 goals in the SFL First division. Clydebank finished runners-up to St.Mirren and became the first club in Scotland to win back to back promotions.
“We just got better and better. Getting Davie Cooper helped us out considerably. He was a tremendous player, the best that I ever played with. We had an attacking team with attacking full backs and the goals seemed to come easily”.
The step up to the Premier League for Clydebank proved too much in the 1977/78 season, together with the loss of Davie Cooper and other key players with the owners cashing in on the teams success.
The Bankies were relegated in the 1977/78 season with Joe on the move again.
Falkirk F.C. (1978-80)
Joe signed for Falkirk in 1978 and would again enjoy another title winning season in the 1979/80 SFL Second Division and Falkirk being promoted to the SFL First Division.
Livinigston F.C (previously Meadowbank) (1980-82)
Joe would only stay a couple of seasons at Falkirk before moving on to Livingston F.C. (previously Meadowbank). Nothing too noteworthy with Joe’s time at Livingstone compared to his previous successes at his other clubs . The main highlight being beating Hibernian at Easter Road in the East of Scotland cup.
Joe was then reallocated to Aberdeen with his job at British Telcom.
Highland League (1982-1989)
Moving to Aberdeen, Joe signed for Peterhead F.C. (1982-83) of the Highland League. Joe then moved from his striker role to midfield and eventually back to defence, sweeper over the years playing for Peterhead.
Joe would then sign for Rothes F.C. (1983-1985) before signing for Devronvale (1985-1988). It was during these 3 years playing for Devronvale that Joe would achieve the exCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
“The last game was at Fort William and they were very generous and presented me with a big bottle of malt whisky”.
Joe would also secure the Players Player and Player of the Year trophies for the 1987-88 Highland League season along with further cup successes.
Juniors
Joe would then go on to play in the North Junior Football League when he reached his 40s. Enjoying several seasons with Inverurie Locomotives (1988-93) where he would enjoy a further Division 1 Highland league title (1992-93)[10], a North East League cup (1991-92) and Green Final's junior player of the season for 1990 [11]
Joe would later sign for Hall Russell United (1993-96) with further cup successes.
Amateur /Welfare
Nearing 50, Joe still continued playing competitive football with the move to Wellfare and Amatuer football where he would achieve Division 3 and Division 2 league titles. Along with achieving Green Final’s Player of the Year. [12]
Even now with Joe in his early 70s, he continues to play 7-aside and 5-aside games at the Aberdeen Sports Village and various indoor 5-aside halls a couple of times a week.
- ^ "Clydebank F.C. website".
- ^ Bruce, Alistair (2019). "Deveronvale F.C. The First Fifty Years": 47–48.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Clydebank F.C. website".
- ^ "Clydebank F.C. website".
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979%E2%80%9380_Scottish_Second_Division.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Falkirk F.C. Official Programme vs. Queens Park (16). 19 April 1980.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Vs. Montrose". Falkirk F.C. Official Programme (17). 26 April 1980.
- ^ Fasken, David (2015). If Goalposts Could Talk...The Life and Times of Inverurie Locomotive Works Football Club at Harlaw Park 1902 to 2015. Harlaw Park, Harlaw Road, Inverurie: Inverurie Loco. Works Football Club. pp. 232–235.
- ^ "Green Final (Evening Express)". Evening Express. 11 September 1999.
- ^ Fasken, David (2015). If Goalposts Could Talk...The Life and Times of Inverurie Locomotive Works Football Club at Harlaw Park 1902 to 2015. Harlaw Park, Harlaw Road, Inverurie: Inverurie Loco. Works Football Club. pp. 232–235.
- ^ "Green Final Amateur and Junior Players of the Year". Green Final (Evening Express). 29 December 1990.
- ^ "Green Final (Evening Express)". Evening Express. 11 September 1999.