Oldest swingers in town are still at the top of the hit parade

Ian Paul

7 Apr 1998

THE ROCK 'N ROLL children are proving themselves as long-term stayers on the football fields of Scotland these days, are they not? The children of the sixties, products of the Bob Dylan days, are doing a service to the parents who reputedly revelled to excess in the freedom of the new permissiveness.

It has to be said that some of us who were around then have lived with the stinging pain that we must have been out at the time of the debauchery but be that as it may the footballers who have gone well into their thirtysomethings by now have shown a remarkable gift of stamina.

The fact of their staying power has been highlighted this weekend by the old soldier himself, Ally McCoist, who showed in the cup semi-final against Celtic that he remains the goaltaker supreme in this country, aided and abetted by Kevin McAllister, the Falkirk winger who gave a virtuoso performance, although his team lost in the other semi-final.

Alistair, born on September 24, 1962, and Kevin, whose date of birth is November 8, 1962, were particularly magnificent examples of the impression that modern day players are lasting longer than their counterparts of previous eras.

If this is, indeed, the case then it is a tribute to the state of fitness of the players of the nineties, despite the preponderance of knee, calf and groin injuries that seems to keep many of them in the treatment rooms for long periods.

It may be that very enforced absence that adds time on at the nether end of their careers, of course, but I am inclined to believe that the need to be faster and fitter to cope with the pace of the game today is at least as much of a factor in their longevity.

When you look around the premier league, never mind the lower divisions, you will find that McCoist and McAllister are by no means unusual in their ability to sustain their talents well into their thirties.

The place is jumping with them, although maybe they jump at a more sedate pace.

At Kilmarnock, for instance, the evergreen Rae Montgomerie, who is receiving a testimonial this year, will be 37 this month and, at any time I have seen him, looks as energetic and precise in his tackling as ever.

Motherwell have a pile of them, Dougie Arnott, 36, Tommy Coyne, 35, and Brian Martin, 34.

None of them seems to be teetering on the brink of pension time.

Since Dunfermline's captain, Craig Robertson, 35 this month, came back from injury he has played the last 17 successive games for his club and 34-year-old Dave McPherson, while finding it difficult to re-establish his place in the midst of a superb Hearts defence after a long term injury, has looked no less proficient than before when in the side.

Across Edinburgh, Jran Marc Boco has not had much trouble establishing his place in the Hibs side, even though he will not see 34 again.

One of the daddies of them all, unquestionably, is Maurice Malpas of Dundee United who at 35 has slotted into the central defensive role at Tannadice with such excellence that he is surely a prime candidate to be their top player of the season.

The old rascal is even getting sent off these days.

His colleague, Dave Bowman, is not any less committed than he was in his heyday, and that is saying a great deal, although he is 34.

These are all outfield players.

Goalies, of course, are different.

They seem to mature a lot later than others, probably because, as a breed, they seem to spend more of their youth waiting for their brains to catch up with their years.

At any rate, Andy Goram's performance against Celtic was a prime example of how their reactions seem to get sharper as they grow older, rather than as is the other way around for normal mortals.

Goram's shot stopping ability leaves the watcher quite breathless at times.

He is 34 this month but by goalie standards that is barely out of the teens.

Aberdeen's Jim Leighton, for example, who has caused huge gasps around stadiums throughout the world with some of his seeing-it-is-believing it saves, is in his 40th year but shows no sign at all of waning powers.

Gilles Rousset at Tynecastle has become a massive favourite and, at 34, is just out of his apprenticeship, which is a remark that applies to another 34-year-old who has saved Dunfermline on numerous occasions, Ian Westwater.

At Kilmarnock, former Celtic man Gordon Marshall is in charge of the goal area.

At 34, he, too, has plenty of time ahead.

Since he left, Celtic have looked like a bunch of schoolboys by comparison to others in the league, with skipper Tommy Boyd, a mere stripling at 32, the oldest head around.

Still, overall, the children of the flower people are doing all right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Taken from the Herald