Sandy McNaughton
Born: Motherwell, 1st December 1953
Signed: 24th July 1979
Position: Centre Forward
Previous Clubs: Queen`s Park, Clydebank, Clyde, Stenhousemuir
Later Clubs: Ayr United, East Stirling, Stenhousemuir
In November 1973 Sandy was capped by Scotland Amateurs in a 3-1 defeat by the Netherlands at East End Park.
Following Dunfermline’s promotion on 1979 manager Harry Melrose spent £6000 on Stenhousemuir’s Sandy McNaughton, a player who had made his name at Queens Park but had endured unhappy spells at Clydebank and Clyde before resurrecting his career at Ochilview.
A physical education teacher by profession, Sandy was renowned for his fitness. He made a fairly slow start at East End but as his confidence grew, the goals son followed. He was the club’s top goalscorer for three successive seasons, a period in which no other player came close to reaching double figures.
In 1980/81 Sandy actually scored half of the Athletic’s total of 44 goals, a feat that earned him a place in the Scotland semi professional squad for the Four Nations Tournament in Italy.
Sandy’s relationship with manager Pat Stanton began to deteriorate during 1981/82 and he requested a transfer after being left out of the team. One of Stanton’s last acts as manager before resigning in September 1982 was to accept Ayr’s offer of £16,000 for a player who had scored 56 goals in 126 appearances.
Sandy never recaptured the form he had shown with the Pars netting just eight times in 50 matches for Ayr. Briefly with East Stirlingshire, he finished his senior career at Stenhousemuir.
Views : 1,743
