Anniesland where champions are born

During the long summer days your scribe has to be inventive to fill this column on a regular basis.This summer has already seen the site cover tennis and athletics all with an Anniesland connection (Simmers/Wimbleldon history and the unlikely link of Mike Belch to athletics) so I now turn to the other code of football favoured by the Cambridge Rules namely soccer.
Old Anniesland was the birthplace of Alan Morton one of the legendary Wembley Wizards

"Charlie Shaw he never saw
Where Alan Morton put the ba"

He was born in a cottage on Skaterigg Farm (Where now stands the High School Games Hall)which latterly became the home of the Forsyth family and the redoubtable Charley Forsyth the Hawks video man who was one of the first players to join Glasgow High when it went open in 1971

Alan Morton had the finest of football pedigrees--Queens Park--Rangers and Scotland

Alan Lauder Morton was a diminutive Scottish international footballer and 'Wembley Wizard' best known for his stirring wing play as an outside-left and commitment to the administration of Glasgow Rangers F.C. for whom he gave long and devoted service as a director after retiring from active play in 1933. Even today a portrait of Morton in his Scottish strip stands at the top of the marble staircase at Ibrox's Main Stand such is his enduring stature at the club.

Morton began his career in 1914 with Queen's Park, the famous amateur club, of Glasgow, and became William 'Bill' Struth's first signing as manager of Rangers. Morton only measured 5'4'' in height but his talent lay in his physical balance, speed and thought. As a result of this association, Struth's intuitive training and the combination of an array of internationals (not least Bob MacPhail and Davie Meikeljohn), Glasgow Rangers enjoyed a sustained period of success. Highlights included the famous 1928 Scottish Cup triumph against Glasgow Celtic in which Rangers ended a 25-year wait to win the Cup 4-0 (Morton's cross, just after the break, lead to the penalty that set the 'Gers on their way). In addition to this Morton went onto receive winners' medals as Scottish Football League champion in 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927-31 and as a Scottish FA Cup Winner in 1930 and receive a runners-up medals in 1921, 1922, 1929. Morton made his debut for Rangers against Airdrie F.C. on August 17, 1920 and played his last game against the same opposition on January 7, 1933 in between which 'The Wee Blue Devil' played 495 times and scored 115 goals.

Morton had already been capped as an international before joining Rangers (making his debut for the Scotland national team on February 26, 1920 against Wales) but would go on to play in every international against the Auld Enemy, England, from 1920 to 1932 bar the Wembley fixture in 1926, eventually winning 31 caps (29 with Rangers). In addition he made 15 appearances (scoring 1 goal) for the Scottish League (making his debut on February 22, 1919 against the Football League at St. Andrews, Birmingham) and 3 Scotland Victory International appearances (the first of which was on April 26, 1919 at Everton's Goodison Park, in front of 45,000 in a 2-2 draw).

It was in the 1928 full international in London where Morton was to achieve mythical status when part of an under-rated Scottish side that beat England 5-1 in driving rain to record a famous triumph that exhibited wonderful combinations of football and the legendary moniker the 'Wembley Wizards'. Three of Morton's crosses were converted by Huddersfield Town's Alec Jackson. Ivan Sharpe, the ex-player and writer, commented on the victory: 'England were not merely beaten. They were bewildered – run to a standstill, made to appear utterly inferior by a team whose play was as cultured and beautiful as I ever expect to see.'

After retiring Morton's impact was felt as an administrator becoming a powerful figure within Scottish sport and, further a-field, demonstrated an inclination toward Unionist politics in reaction to the rise in post-War Scottish nationalism.

This article was originally posted on 19-Jul-2006, 13:51 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 19-Jul-2006, 15:00.