Gordon McQueen

Gordon McQueen

Personal information
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Position(s)	Defender

Gordon McQueen (born 26 June 1952 in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, Scotland) is a former football player, playing as a central defender for Leeds United, Manchester United and Scotland.

Early career

McQueen was a goalkeeper as a schoolboy, but switched to a centre-back position. He was signed at the age of 18 by St. Mirren. He soon had scouts from other clubs monitoring his progress, and it was Leeds who finally offered £30,000 in 1973, seeing him as a long-term replacement for the ageing Jack Charlton.

Leeds United

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.

With Charlton gone and Madeley used as the team's player-of-all-positions, McQueen was in the team for most of the 1973-74 season. Leeds won the League Championship, going 29 games without defeat at the start of the season, and McQueen played a crucial part as Norman Hunter's defensive partner. At the end of the season, McQueen was called up to the Scotland squad for his debut against Belgium.

McQueen and Hunter excelled at the back the following season, notably in Leeds' campaign in the European Cup, during which McQueen scored three goals. McQueen was suspended for the final after being sent off in the semi-final against Barcelona; in the final, Leeds lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich.

McQueen was now a regular for Scotland; he was in the 1978 World Cup squad in Argentina but did not play due to injury, and played his last match for Scotland in 1981, attaining 30 caps and scoring 5 goals for his country.

Manchester United

In February 1978, McQueen moved from Leeds to rivals Manchester United for £495,000. 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 finally gained an FA Cup winner's medal in 1983 after a replay against Brighton & Hove Albion. He also was in the team which lost the League Cup final to Liverpool in the same season.

McQueen finally left United in 1985, after losing his first team place to Paul McGrath and not being included in the FA Cup final side that beat Everton 1-0.

Post playing career

He coached abroad and then briefly managed Airdrieonians and coached his old club, St Mirren. When McQueen's friend and former team-mate Bryan Robson became manager of Middlesbrough, McQueen joined him as reserve team coach. He left the club when Robson did, and became a pundit for Sky Sports.

It was announced on 29 April 2008 that he returned to Middlesbrough as an assistant scout, along with Boro legend David Mills. Gordon, who still lives in the area, specifically the village of Hutton Rudby in North Yorkshire, and his son and daughter, are also Middlesbrough fans.

Personal life

He became a father in 1979 to Hayley McQueen, who would become a sports journalist on Sky Sports and Manchester United's in-house TV channel MUTV.