The 50 Greatest Scottish Footballers. Day 4

20. Bobby Lennox 1943-

Show me your medals: With Celtic, one European Cup, 11 titles, eight Scottish Cups, four League Cups. Capped 10 times.

Class is permanent: There is an oft-quoted line about Celtic winning everything in 1967 bar the Greyhound Derby, and they would have won that if they had entered Lennox. His pace was blistering but Lennox, too, was a fine finisher with a tally of 273 goals in 571 appearances for Celtic, many as a winger. His best testimonial came from Bobby Charlton, who played alongside the Celtic player in a testimonial. Lennox was the best forward he had played with, he said. But Mr Charlton you played with Geoff Hurst who scored a hat trick in a World Cup final. Okay, he replied, the best Scottish striker I played with. But Mr Charlton, you played with Denis Law. Cue raucous laughter. All right, said Charlton, but I'd have loved to have had Bobby Lennox in any team.

View from the terracing: He has just caught that pigeon.

19. Sandy Jardine 1948-

Show me your medals: With Rangers, European Cup-Winners' Cup, three titles, five Scottish Cups, five League Cups. 38 caps.

Class is permanent: Racked up more than 1000 matches at club level, starting in midfield and moving back to defence where he gained fame as a skilful and enterprising full-back. On the waiting for a bus theory, Jardine was an exceptional full-back in the era of Danny McGrain and this gave the national team pacy, inventive and committed players out wide as McGrain switched to the left for the 1974 finals where Scotland returned home unbeaten. Jardine enjoyed success with Rangers before moving to Hearts where his experience and skill galvanised the Gorgie Road side. His resilience to the demands of the game is illustrated by his winning the Scottish player of the year award in 1986 with Hearts at the age of 37.

View from the terracing: I watched him as a boy. And as a pensioner.

18. Jimmy McGrory 1904-1982

Show me your medals: With Celtic, two titles, four Scottish Cups. Seven caps.

Class is permanent: There are some stories that are told best with figures rather than words. This is one. Jimmy McGrory scored 410 goals in 408 appearances for Celtic, he notched eight alone against Dunfermline Athletic in 1928 and scored a hat trick in three minutes against Motherwell in 1936. He is also credited with starting the Hampden roar with his goal eight minutes from time against England in 1933. He was stocky, powerful with a strong shot but his heading ability was prodigious. He could score with his napper from the edge of the 18-yard box and this when a sodden ball weighed more than a fully-laden Ford Transit van. The only tally that was pitiful was that of seven Scotland caps. Courted by English clubs, particularly Arsenal, he stayed on to set unsurpassable records at Celtic.

View from the terracing: He's having a nightmare. Ten minutes gone and he's not scored once.

17. Hughie Gallacher 1903-1957

Show me your medals: Scottish Cup with Airdrie, English title with Newcastle United. 20 caps.

Class is permanent: The death of Hughie Gallacher by stepping in front of a train followed a life of triumph and tragedy. The circumstances of his death are pitiful, following as it did an altercation with his son and the death of his wife. His career, though, was glorious. At 5ft 5in, Gallacher was hardly a target man and he used his skill and guile to create space and opportunity. Gallacher, too, was extraordinarily quick and linked well with his colleagues. He led Newcastle United to a league championship, was one of the Wembley Wizards, and scored 23 goals in 20 internationals, five in one game against Northern Ireland. Life afterwards was troublesome, ultimately tragic.

View from the terracing: Geez, the mascot is bigger than the centre-forward.

16. Alan Morton 1893-1971

Show me your medals: Won nine titles with Rangers and two Scottish Cups. Played for Scotland 31 times.

Class is permanent: The best outside-left ever produced by Scotland? Scholars give an emphatic yes and his statistics make it a persuasive argument. Small, quick and elusive, Morton was a fine crosser of the ball and practised to make his left foot as formidable as his natural right peg. A Wembley Wizard, he was nicknamed the Wee Devil and inflicted diabolical punishment on a series of defences. His career at Rangers produced enough medals for an individual hall of fame and he maintained his connection with the club as a director. He scored 115 goals in 495 appearances for Rangers where he played for 13 years. Has lived on in the lore of the Ibrox club.

View from the terracing: He crosses, we score.

15. Danny McGrain 1950-

Show me your medals: With Celtic six league titles, five Scottish Cups and two League Cups. Capped 62 times.

Class is permanent: A player of profound gifts. He had the dribbling ability of a winger, the pass of a refined midfielder and the awareness of a No.10. He also tackled with a force reminiscent of the splitting of the atom. McGrain, too, was brave. He fought back from diabetes and a fractured skull and was generally accepted as the best full-back in the world. He is a modest man, underplaying his achievements and his abilities but his displays over a prolonged period mark him as a defender of the highest class. He was gently teased about his lack of goals, being called the jigsaw because he went to pieces in the box. He was a genuine great, however, who was valued by team-mates and revered by the Celtic support.

View from the terracing: Shoot, Danny, shoot.

14. Willie Waddell 1921-1992

Show me your medals: With Rangers, four league titles, two Scottish Cups. 17 caps.

Class is permanent: A junior with Forth Wanderers, Waddell arrived at Ibrox in 1938 as a powerful and resilient right-winger. He had all the qualities associated with the best wide men of the era but he also had the ability to score goals, with 153 in 558 games. He remained with Rangers for the entirety of his playing career and then became a manager who led both Kilmarnock and Rangers to historic triumphs, a championship for the Ayrshire club and a European Cup-Winners' Cup for the Ibrox side. Showed a shrewdness in discovering and playing on the weaknesses of the opposition. The truth is, of course, that Waddell could be unplayable even against the best of defences.

View from the terracing: It's a deedle dawdle wi' Waddell.

13. Billy Bremner 1942-1997

Show me your medals: With Leeds United won the second division title, two first division championships, one FA Cup, one League Cup, one Inter-City Fairs Cup. Won 54 caps.

Class is permanent: Another Scot who led a great English club side, Bremner was a feisty, carnaptious presence in the Scotland team but his aggression was also underpinned by a formidable technique. He was an indefatigable leader, a fine passer and capable of scoring the memorable goal. His opener in the European Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden was both marvellous in audacity and execution. He was a master of much in the game but his reverse pass was not so much his signature as his flourish. He was aggressive as only a small Scot – and a hungry wolverine – can be but he was a performer of prodigious gifts. With Johnny Giles, he dominated the midfield battle areas of English football for an era that should have brought Leeds United even more glory than what eventually accrued.

View from the terracing: If crabbitness could be distilled.

12. Bobby Murdoch 1944-2001

Show me your medals: Eight Scottish titles, four Scottish Cups, five League Cups, one European Cup. 12 caps.

Class is permanent: One of the minor delights of a new season was to watch Bobby as he stretched the Celtic strip with his summer "conditioning". He was a thoroughbred who used the sections of the League Cup to bring him to something approaching his imperious powers. Once in his stride he would carry Celtic to glory. He was so good he could marshal a European Cup final playing off his left foot because his right foot, his preferred option, was rendered largely inoperative because of an ankle injury. He could tackle forcefully, pass accurately and inventively and score goals. He was also minder to His Imperial Jinkiness (aka Jimmy Johnstone). Jock Stein simply called him "a player". Sore and ageing, Murdoch went to Middlesborough where he nurtured Graeme Souness in a side that sprinted to promotion.

View from the terracing: An awed silence broken with the observation that Bobby might look better in stripes.

11. Alex James 1901-1953

Show me your medals: Four titles and two FA Cups with Arsenal. Eight Scottish caps.

Class is permanent: The Wembley Wizards would have doubled as stand-ins for the Munchkins given their diminutive size. James, known as the Wee Wizard, was yet another of those small Scotsmen with a large talent. Starting with Raith Rovers before progressing to Preston North End, James was the guiding force in an Arsenal team that won four titles. He looked like a bank manager of a small branch in Peebles but he was an authentic celebrity. His skill was all-encompassing but his passing became the vital component of the great Arsenal side. James turned defence into immediate attack with his long-range and accurate through balls. His paucity of caps is explained by his falling out with the SFA. James was a man rightfully assured of both his ability and his opinion on football matters.

View from the terracing: This side is so small we should play Snow White up front.

Taken from the Herald