Murdo MacLeod

MacLeod was born in Milngavie in 1958 and signed for Dumbarton in the mid-1970s. His younger brother Alastair (Ally) was also signed by the club. Murdo joined the club in 1975 and played 87 competitive first-team league matches in his first spell at the club, scoring 9 goals during a promising period for Dumbarton under managers Alex Wright and later Davie Wilson. By the time of his transfer to Celtic as a 20 year-old in 1978, MacLeod had already played over 100 matches for Dumbarton in all competitions, with his 100th appearance for the club coming in a league match against Clyde in the 1978-79 season. MacLeod was selected by the Scottish League in 1978, playing in a 1–1 draw against the Italian League. Also in 1978, he was selected by Andy Roxburgh for the Scotland Under-21 team, with his first match against the United States at Pittodrie, becoming only the second Dumbarton player to be capped at that level. MacLeod scored in a 3-1 victory.

In 1992, MacLeod returned to Dumbarton as player-manager. With Jim Fallon as assistant manager, and MacLeod’s brother Ally as coach, the team were promoted from League Division 2 at the end of the 1994-95 season after a 2-0 victory over Stirling Albion at Forthbank on the last day of the season. He also guided the club to the Stirlingshire Cup in 1994. MacLeod played 66 times for Dumbarton in this spell, usually in a sweeper role, scoring one goal. Early the following season, MacLeod departed to take up the player-manager role with Partick Thistle in the Scottish Premier League. He made two playing appearances for the club - a 3-0 away defeat in the Premier League against Aberdeen in October 1995, and a 1-0 friendly defeat in Lurgan against Glenavon F.C. in July 1996, his final match as a player.

MacLeod had to wait until late in his career before becoming a Scotland regular. Between 1978 and 1979, he made four appearances for the Scotland Under 21 team, with two goals coming in a friendly against the USA and a European Under 21 Championship win against Norway. MacLeod's contributions helped ensure that Scotland topped their qualification group for the 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, being undefeated in their games against Norway, Belgium and Portugal. MacLeod did not feature in Scotland's subsequent 2-1 aggregate quarter final defeat to England. He made his debut appearance for the full national team as a substitute against England in the 1985 Rous Cup. He made his first starting appearance for Scotland in October 1986, aged 28. MacLeod went on to win a total of 20 full international caps for Scotland, playing in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament where Scotland were drawn against Costa Rica, Sweden and Brazil. During the final group-stage match against Brazil, a free kick from Brazilian midfielder Branco was blocked by MacLeod in the defensive wall, leaving him momentarily unconscious. With MacLeod lying prone in the middle of the pitch and showing obvious symptoms of concussion, referee Helmut Kohl allowed the match to continue, however recognising that MacLeod was in distress, Brazillian player Dunga purposely kicked the ball out of play to allow a pause in the match for MacLeod to receive treatment. After regaining consciousness, he played on for…

After a successful playing career, he returned to Dumbarton as player-coach. He guided the club to promotion from the Second Division with a last day win over Stirling Albion in 1995. In the summer of 1995, MacLeod left the Sons to manage Premier Division club Partick Thistle. MacLeod's tenure at Firhill was unsuccessful, as the club were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season. He re-joined Celtic as assistant coach under Wim Jansen, where he helped the club win a league and Scottish League Cup double in 1997–98, their only season in charge.