McQueen: Gordon

1972-1978 (Player Details)

Centre Half

Born: Kilbirnie, Ayrshire: 26-06-1952

Debut: v Derby County (a): 03-03-1973

6’3 1/2” 13st (1977)

#37 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

At School McQueen was a goalkeeper, following in the footsteps of his father, Tom, who kept goal for Hibernian, Berwick Rangers, East Fife and Accrington Stanley. He switched to the wing before settling down at centre-half where his aerial power made him a formidable opponent. He had unsuccessful trials with Liverpool and Rangers before joining St Mirren from Largs Thistle in 1970 at the age of eighteen. He attracted the attention of several clubs, but Leeds, looking for a successor to Jack Charlton, signed him for £30,000 in September 1972. Charlton played for some of the 1973 season, but had decided to quit as it drew to a close. McQueen played six times in his first season at Leeds but missed out on the FA Cup Final, with manager Don Revie preferring the experience of utility player Paul Madeley. It was never in doubt that McQueen would not appear, and he also was not selected for the European Cup Winners Cup final against AC Milan a few days later, which Leeds lost by the same scoreline. With Charlton gone and Madeley used as the team's player-of-all-positions, McQueen was in the team for most of the 1974-75 season. Leeds won the League Championship, going twenty-nine games without defeat at the start of the season, and McQueen played a crucial part as Norman Hunter’s defensive partner. He developed into an outstanding central defender and in June 1974 he won his first Scottish cap, in Brussels in a 2-1 defeat by Belgium. McQueen and Hunter excelled at the back in the following season, notably in Leeds' campaign in the European Cup, during which McQueen scored three goals. However, he was suspended for the final after being sent off in the semi-final against Barcelona, and in the final Leeds lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich. With Revie gone and the mentors around him starting to leave or retire, McQueen found himself growing up in the game quickly, labelled as one of the bright prospects for Leeds' post-Revie future. It never happened. Leeds declined into mediocrity as a team while McQueen's standing as a player increased. A first goal for Scotland had come for McQueen against Romania in 1975. His second came in 1977 against Northern Ireland during the annual Home International tournament involving the four United Kingdom nations. Three days later, he scored his most famous goal for his country. It came against England at Wembley with a passionate, loud and mildly inebriated Scotland following loyally cheering their team on. McQueen rose above the England defence to head home a corner in the first half; a second goal from Kenny Dalglish sealed a 2-1 win. Such was the joy of the Scots, not to mention their lack of respect for their opponents, that they invaded the pitch on the final whistle, ripped up the turf and broke one of the crossbars. It cost a then British record fee of £495,000 to take him to Manchester United in February 1978. On signing he famously stated that '99% of players want to play for Manchester United and the rest are liars'. McQueen helped Manchester United reach the FA Cup Final in 1979, scoring a late goal as Manchester United came back from 2-0 down against Arsenal to level the scores, only for their opponents to wrestle the Cup back with a last-minute winner. McQueen was a first team regular in the first half of the 1980s, finally winning an FA Cup-winners’ medal in 1983 after a replay against Brighton and Hove Albion. He also was in the team which lost the League Cup Final to Liverpool in the same season. He took his haul of full international appearances to thirty, a figure that he would surely have increased had it not been for a spate of injuries at Manchester and a bad Achilles tendon injury at Leeds in 1975-76. McQueen was a regular for Scotland, when not injured. He was in the 1978 World Cup squad in Argentina but did not play due to injury. He played his last match for Scotland in 1981, having scored five goals for his country. McQueen stayed at Manchester United until 1985, leaving after the arrival of Paul McGrath, who took his place in the centre of defence. He made one hundred and eighty-four appearances and scored twenty goals for Manchester United. In August 1985 he was appointed Player-Coach at Seiko FC (Hong Kong). He took over as Manager of Airdrieonians in June 1987 but resigned in May 1989 because the majority of the players would not play full-time on the contracts offered. McQueen then ran a greetings card shop in Paisley and in June 1989 he coached St Mirren and was match analyser for Scottish Television, before re-entering the English game as Reserve team Coach at Middlesbrough in July 1994 under his former Manchester United collegue Bryan Robson. He left the club when Robson did, and has since become a pundit for Sky Sports.