Scot 100: Shaughan McGuigan's Greatest Scottish Football XI

If he can stay clear of injuries that have hampered him over the last couple of years then he can become one of Scotland's greats, no mean feat in the modern era.
 
Full backs: Danny McGrain and Maurice Malpas.
 
While most of the players involved in this team are ones that I've been lucky enough to witness first hand, these two Scottish lynch pins are good enough to be compared to any Scottish full back of any era.

 

McGrain was voted one of Celtic's best ever players and played over 600 times for the Parkhead club. Capped 62 times for Scotland he was sorely missed by the national side during the debacle of Argentina '78.

Malpas was part of the greatest Dundee United side of all time. While sentences such as Dundee United win the league or Dundee United triumph over Barcelona may seem ridiculous now, its important to remember that in the 80's these were surprises rather than genuine shocks.

 

Dundee United's best ever left back, he made his Scotland debut while a part time player, the last man to do so, and went on to play 55 times for his country. Both men were the last great full backs this country produced.
 
Central defenders: Willie Miller and David Narey.
 
Its normally suggested that if you pick Miller in a best of XI then you have to pick his centre back partner Alex McLeish alongside him but I disagree, admittedly however I may be slightly biased. Narey is the only player on this list that I managed to watch week in, week out albeit just for one season.

 

Even in his final playing year in the first division with Raith Rovers though it was obvious he should have been playing at a higher level, culminating in a man of the match award in the 1994 league cup final.

 

Described by the Dundee United web site as the greatest footballer the city of Dundee ever produced, he played over 860 games but is most famous for a certain toe poke.

Willie Miller led Aberdeen to their finest two hours in Gothenburg against Real Madrid in 1983 and was once described by Sir Alex Ferguson as "the best penalty box defender in the world", high praise indeed. While Sir Alex's sustained achievements at Manchester United are incomparable, there's an argument that his single greatest achievement was winning a European trophy at Aberdeen and it's doubtful it could have happened without Miller's presence.

 

While Scotland now struggle to pick two centre halves who can even remain upright for 90 minutes its incredible to think that during Miller and Narey's heyday the nation had such an embarrassment of riches in this position. In my opinion the two men just edge out McLeish and Gough.
 
Wingers: Jimmy Johnstone and Jim Baxter
 
Jimmy Johnstone has been described as a genius and that he was blessed with skill but in reality neither is true.

 

As Johnstone readily admitted he was obsessed with football and practised morning, noon and night, honing his skills by dribbling round empty milk bottles. As a result, while the modern day Scottish player may need two touches to control the ball, Johnstone would beat his marker after his first. Arguably the greatest player Scotland ever produced but almost certainly our most exciting.

If Johnstone was our best right sided player then Baxter was the left sided equivalent. Fondly remembered for his keepie uppie in the 3-2 victory over world champions England in 1967, Baxter himself was more proud of his two goals against the same country in 1963 when ten man Scotland won 2-1.

 

Although he never represented Scotland in the world cup he was part of a Rangers side that won ten trophies in just five seasons as well as reaching the European cup winners cup final in 1961. Its incredible to think that if both men could have resisted off field temptations then they could have been even better. Here's hoping we see their like again.
 
Central midfielders: Graeme Souness and Brian Laudrup
 
I almost didn't include Graeme Souness. His playing career in Scotland was fleeting and at the end of his career when he was player manager of Rangers. The more I thought about it however the more I felt his ability and achievements warranted a place. Souness didn't just win European cups at Liverpool, he was one of the main reasons they did so. While his self bravado meant that some people struggled to warm to him there's no doubting he was a colossus on the field.

Whilst I would have preferred to keep this an all Scottish XI Brian Laudrup's contribution to Rangers during the 90's just cannot be overlooked. Signing for £2.3 million pounds in 1994 he was voted Rangers greatest ever foreign player and was arguably Walter Smith's best ever signing. His partnership in midfield with Paul Gascoigne became a weapon that every team in Scotland proved unable to defend against. In just four seasons in Scotland he went onto win five trophies before departing in 1998 to join Chelsea.
 
Strikers: Kenny Dalglish and Henrik Larsson
 
In my opinion the only two players who could conceivably fill the forward positions in any Scottish league eleven are Dalglish and Larsson. The reason is simple, they're the only two world class strikers to have played in this country in the last 40 years.

 

Ally McCoist was an unbelievable goal scorer and his achievements are incredible but his all round game wasn't good enough for him to be described as top drawer.

 

Mo Johnston and especially Charlie Nicholas had the talent to become as big as Dalglish but didn't have the aptitude to focus on the game.

 

Dalglish however never wavered in form and never deviated from what he was best at, namely scoring goals for himself and creating chances for others. Whilst his career really took off at Liverpool he done more than enough at Celtic to justify his inclusion.

Football writers outwith Scotland and Sweden probably don't give Henrik Larsson the respect he deserves, simply because he played for so long in the Scottish league. However his contribution in international competition with Sweden as well as a tournament winning cameo for Barcelona in the Champions league final is more than enough to prove any doubter wrong.

 

Martin O'Neill put it best in reply to Alan Shearer when he suggested the Swede was over rated when he was on loan at Manchester United, pointing out to Shearer that if Larsson had played his entire career south of the border then he'd have scored a lot more goals than the England man.