Ian Westwater Inducted

Pars goalkeeper with 361 appearances inducted into the Club's Hall of Fame.

For the best part of fifteen years from 1985 until 2000, Ian Westwater's name was synonymous with the success that Dunfermline Athletic enjoyed over that period. His talisman qualities should not be taken for granted, when he did leave the Club briefly in 1991, Athletic were relegated. On the other hand he broke all records as a member of five different promotion winning squads with the Pars.

"It is really humbling to be part of a fantastic night honouring players who played in the halcyon days in the sixties and Stevie Crawford who has 25 caps. Then there's me who was signed for £4000 when we were in the Second Division as was. I was very lucky to play in a few teams who had a lot of good players but no superstars. That was the crux of the whole thing, we all played together.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Dunfermline, there is no secret that the only reason I left when Iain Munro was the manager was because he favoured Andy Rhodes and that wasn't getting me into the team. Otherwise I would never have left. Likewise when I left in 2000 to go to Hibs. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for me just to stay at Dunfermline as a coach. Like in a lot of jobs when you are making the transition from a player to a coach it is easier to go to somewhere where you don't have the potential baggage of being a player and one of the boys on the Friday and then one of the gaffers on the Monday."

It was a difficult decision but an easy decision that worked out well for Westy. Despite returning to Edinburgh he is still a big Pars fan.

"Dunfermline is my team, always has been since 1985 and always will be my team. I live in Dunfermline now and I have a little more time now that I have qualified with my MBA so I go to East End on a Saturday when I get the chance to go. Sometimes with the ex players and sometimes with a couple of my mates."

Work now is general manager of a large facilities management company, FES working out of their Loanhead office. His role is to control over 120 staff, very different from football but he still reflects fondly on his footballing career that spanned 20 years as a player and another five as a coach.

"I had the best job in the world for 20 years, then I had the second best job in the world for another five. I consider myself very lucky that I had that football career which I can look back on with fantastic memories. It helps too in my new career; it creates a conversation and it gives you a confidence. It teaches you relationship building and personalities."

Westy compartmentalised his Dunfermline days into three particular eras:-

"We had come from the depths of Dunfermline's history and managed to win promotion and again less than twelve months later. They were a fantastic bunch of guys; I was very very fortunate to play in three eras at Dunfermline. I played in the part time side but when we got back into the Premier League we went full time after that. Some of the part time lads like Grant Jenkins had good jobs and so they decided to stay part time but most of us went full time. Then when I came back from my two and a half years on the 'dark side' I had another team to play in and it was just a fantastic time to get promotion."

The achievement of successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 is hard to comprehend something that only Gretna did in recent times:-

"The slight difference with that was Brooks Mileston was putting a bit of cash into Gretna whereas Dunfermline was very much run as a local football club there was no benefactor. Everybody associated with the Club should be proud of what we did, not just the players. It was a fantastic achievement."

That rapid promotion meant that there was a sharp improvement in the quality of players Westy was facing:-

"It is the oldest cliche in the world but you have to pinch yourself sometimes. I was up against international players especially when Graeme Souness first took over at Rangers - Terry Butcher, Ally McCoist, Mo Johnston, Richard Gough, Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne. Then if you go to the other side of the city you had Van Hooijdonk, Paul McStay, Cadette, Di Canio - all world class players. No disrespect to the lads playing in the Scottish Premier League at the moment but I genuinely feel that era was maybe a touch above what gets played at the moment and I was fortunate enough to play in that era."

Even when playing as a 14 year old with Salveson Boys Club in Edinburgh Ian knew that he was going to be a professional footballer. 13 of the 15 squad went on to become professionals. Hardly surprising for Westy won everything going with Salveson in every one of the five seasons there - Edinburgh Juvenile League, East of Scotland Cup and the Scottish Cup. Contemporaries included Gary MacKay, David Bowman and John Robertson.

In April 1979 Ian won his first international honour when he represented Scottish Schools Under 15s and then a year later represented Scotland in the Centenary Under 18s Schools international against England. In June 1980 Ian joined Hearts and on 1st November 1980 he became the Premier League's youngest ever goalkeeper when he started a match against St Mirren. A regular member of the Scottish youth team, Ian was a member of the squad that won the UEFA Youth Championship in Helsinki in 1982, and then reached the quarter finals of the FIFA World Youth Championships in Mexico in 1983.

Ian was injured while with the Scottish Youth team and was told that he would never play again. On the strength of that Hearts signed another goalkeeper Henry Smith who went on to play 745 games for the Jambos but Westy came back and was signed from Hearts by Jim Leishman.

"I couldn't get back into the Hearts first team so when Leish came in for me I didn't need to think twice. It was the best move I ever made in my football career.

"Norrie McCathie had a big influence on me, we were shoulder to shoulder at every stage, Big Dave Young was a big contemporary as well and Paul Smith. Wee Jackie McNamara, Ross Jack, George O'Boyle, John Watson, Ziggy Bowie - they were all good lads and I was very fortunate to play with them. I genuinely got on with every single one of them.

"Norrie was a good footballer, not a great footballer, not an ultra talented guy but oh my God he had a heart the size of a lion and was an influence on you by how he played and how he conducted himself - a massive influence on Dunfermline Football Club. Sorely missed, I get a lump in my throat just talking about him yet he has not been with us for 14 years. He was one of Dunfermline's greatest players because of his abilities on and off the park."

Other memories touched on by the goalkeeper included the 1996 victory at Tannadice:-

"A young Stewart Petrie scored in the first minute and then it was a bit busy down my end. With about ten minutes to go Stewart got sent off for a really unlucky tackle on Maurice Malpas. But not only was it a fantastic achievement to win promotion that day, that was the one and only time that I have been kissed on a football pitch. It was the last minute of the game; Dundee United had three corners on the bounce. The last corner I managed to hold on to it. Toddy came flying over the top of me and while lying on top of me kissed me full on on the forehead."

On one occasion Westy played outfield for Dunfermline. This happened in a match against Airdrie when they were in temporary accommodation at Broadwood:-

"Airdrie were one of our main rivals at the time and I was on the bench. Bert Paton was the Manager and Marc Millar had been sent off early in the game. We were winning 2-1 and had used two subs so in the last minute of the game Bert turned round to me and asked 'Westy do you mind going on just to waste time?' Now my dad was a goalkeeper and I have only ever been a goalkeeper. A lot of goalies would have played outfield at their school team. I had never played outfield in my life in a competitive match. I agreed and ran about daft but unfortunately instead of being just 30 seconds to go there was about six minutes to go. I was blowing rather heavily when I discovered the need for a completely different kind of fitness. We managed to hang on and win 2-1 so it turned out well in the end. I have never been asked to play outfield again."

In May 2000 Ian Westwater played his last game for Dunfermline against Morton - his 361st appearance. He achieved 115 shut outs and summed up his feelings about his induction into the Hall of Fame:-

"Dunfermline has a fabulous place in my heart and always will be my team. It is really humbling being here because we have heard about Cammy Fraser - a legend, Jackie Sinclair - another legend and we are about to hear about another legend - Stevie Crawford. I am quite humbled for the small part that I played in Dunfermline's history and I'd just like to thank every one of you because this has been very emotional."