Frank McGarvey

Frank McGarvey

Personal information
Full name	Francis Peter McGarvey
Date of birth	(1956-03-17) 17 March 1956
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Colston Y.C.
1974–75	Kilsyth Rangers F.C.
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1979	St Mirren	132	(52)
1979–1980	Liverpool	0	(0)
1980–1985	Celtic	168	(78)
1985–1990	St Mirren	134	(20)
1990–1991	Queen of the South	19	(2)
1991–1993	Clyde	46	(22)
1993–1995	Shotts Bon Accord
1995–1996	Troon
Total		499	(174)
International career
1978	Scottish League XI	1	(0)
1979–1984	Scotland	7	(0)
Managerial career
1990–1991	Queen of the South
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frank McGarvey (born 17 March 1956, Glasgow) is a retired footballer. He played as a striker, mostly for Celtic and St Mirren; he also played seven times in international matches for Scotland.

Career

McGarvey was signed from Colston Y.C. by Kilsyth Rangers for the start of the 1974–75 season. He finished the season as top scorer with 21 goals. He was signed by Alex Ferguson for St Mirren after a tip off from Willie Thornton the ex-Rangers player and assistant manager. He made his debut for St Mirren on 26 April 1975 and soon became a first team regular, scoring 17 times in the 1976–77 season and helping the club win the Scottish First Division.

His form attracted the attention of Bob Paisley and, in May 1979, McGarvey signed for Liverpool for £270,000. However, his tenure with the club lasted only 10 months. Unable to break into the first team, he sought a transfer. Liverpool accepted a bid of £270,000 by Celtic in March 1980, and for a short time McGarvey became Scotland's most expensive footballer.

McGarvey played 245 times for Celtic over five years, scoring 113 goals. In that time he won two League Championships, two Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup. However, Celtic manager David Hay decided Mo Johnston and Brian McClair would be his forward line for the 1985–86 season and declined to offer McGarvey an extended contract. In his final game for Celtic, he scored the winning goal six minutes from the end of the 1985 Scottish Cup Final.

In June 1985 McGarvey rejoined St Mirren for £80,000. Two years later, he won a third Scottish Cup with them. In total he played 387 times for St Mirren, scoring 125 goals. Later in his career, McGarvey had spells with Dumfries club Queen of the South (where he was player-manager), Clyde (with whom he won a Second Division Championship title at the age of 37) before a stint in the Juniors with Shotts Bon Accord and Troon.

Having retired from the game before footballers began earning high salaries (he notes that he "took home £190 a week after tax" while playing for Celtic) McGarvey now works as a joiner in Scotland. In 2008, McGarvey wrote an autobiography called Totally Frank in which he described the highs and lows of his career and revealed how he overcame a long-time gambling addiction.

In 2009, Celtic were drawn with Rapid Vienna of Austria in a Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup) tie – 25 years after a controversial Cup Winners' Cup game at Parkhead when a Rapid Vienna player claimed to have been hit by a bottle thrown by a Celtic fan. Celtic were in the lead, but UEFA ordered a replay of the match at a neutral venue – and the Austrian side ultimately won the re-match at Old Trafford, Manchester. McGarvey sparked controversy among Rapid Vienna officials and fans by urging the club to apologise for what he classed as "completely disrespectful" and a "hornet's nest" in the form of their fans behaving in a manner which caused the game to be cancelled in hope of being able to get through to the next stage of the competition.

In 2016, McGarvey was still playing football at the age of 60, in a five-a-sides league, when he was struck by an opponent's elbow and lost four teeth. He stated at the time that the incident had made him decide to finally give up playing the game at a competitive level.

External links

• Profile as a St Mirren player
• Career statistics
• Profile as a Celtic player