Jim McLean

McLean, who played as an inside forward, began his football career with the local junior club Larkhall Thistle. He was the third member of the family to play for Larkhall, after his father – who appeared for them in a Scottish Junior Cup semi-final in 1932 – and his brother Willie. In 1956, he started his senior career with Hamilton Academical. He made more than 125 league appearances for Hamilton before leaving in 1960 to join Clyde. After playing in over 100 league games for Clyde, McLean was transferred to Dundee for £10,000 in 1965. This move meant him becoming a full-time professional footballer for the first time in his career, aged 27. His debut for Dundee came at Dens Park on 11 September 1965 when Dundee were beaten 5–0 by Dundee United, their heaviest ever defeat in a Dundee derby. In his first season with Dundee, McLean scored eight goals, and he became their principal threat in attack after Charlie Cooke was sold to Chelsea in April 1966. McLean scored 17 goals for Dundee during the 1966–67 season, which made him the club's leading scorer. He followed this by scoring 18 goals in the 1967–68 season, during which Dundee reached the Scottish League Cup final (losing 5–3 to Celtic) and the Fairs Cup semi-final (losing 2–1 on aggregate to Leeds United). Following the signing of George McLean from Rangers, Jim McLean was used more in a midfield role. He was not always popular with the Dundee supporters; McLean later attributed that to him having had to follow…

McLean was first team coach at Dundee for 18 months. In November 1971 the club's manager John Prentice announced that he would resign at the end of that year; many outside observers assumed that McLean would become their manager. Instead he became manager of their local rivals Dundee United, where he replaced the retiring Jerry Kerr. McLean immediately started a co-ordinated youth policy which was to produce many fine young players over the two decades which followed; he had personally visited Ralph Milne, John Holt, and Davie Dodds to encourage them to sign for United rather than for Celtic, Aston Villa, and rivals Dundee respectively. In the short term, he used his knowledge of the Scottish scene to buy experienced players who would allow him to re-shape both the squad and the style of play in line with his approach to coaching. Initially, the club's league form was average, remaining mostly mid-table for the next few years. McLean's first hint of the success he would later achieve was leading the club to its first Scottish Cup final in 1974, which they lost to Celtic. It proved an important psychological step in McLean's and the club's development. The success of the Cup run was built upon the following season with a finish of fourth place, the club's best finish in the Scottish league to date. As the Scottish leagues were restructured after this season, this position qualified United for the new Premier Division. They struggled in the first season of the new setup, and…

James Yuille McLean was born into a working-class family in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, on 2 August 1937, the second of three sons of Tom and Annie McLean, and grew up in the nearby village of Ashgill. His maternal grandfather William Yuille had been a professional footballer, playing for Rangers before the First World War. Tom McLean, a baker, had been a promising junior footballer before joining the Plymouth Brethren when he married. The three brothers, Willie, Jim and Tommy, who all went on to become professional football players and managers, had a strict religious upbringing. After leaving school McLean served an apprenticeship as a joiner, a vocation he continued to pursue for much of his playing career.

Player

Clyde

Scottish Division Two : 1961–62 Glasgow Charity Cup : 1960–61 (shared) Dundee

Forfarshire Cup : 1965–66, 1966–67

Manager

Dundee United

Scottish Premier Division : 1982–83 Scottish League Cup : 1979–80, 1980–81 UEFA Cup : runner-up 1986–87 Forfarshire Cup: 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88

Individual

SFWA Manager of the Year: 1987 Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2005 Dundee United Hall of Fame: 2015 SFA Special Merit Award: 1985 Honorary Doctor of Law from University of Dundee: 2011 Scottish Personality / Manager of the Year: 1980–81, 1986–87