This was the second in the BBC Scotland series of thirty minute profiles which selects six well-known personalities of Scottish football from the recent past.
This episode focussed on the talismanic Dundee United striker Paul Sturrock or "Luggy" as he became known to his teammates and fans, obviously due to his protruding ears for those who don't know the Scottish dialect.
He was the main striker in the great Dundee United team of the mid-eighties, which along with Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen challenged and defeated the established status quo of Scottish dominance enjoyed up till then by the Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic. Managed by the diminutive but often tyrannical and hard-to-please Jim McLean, United confounded the skeptics by winning the Scottish League in 1983 and subsequently going on a number of successful runs in Europe, getting as far as the semi-finals of the European Cup beating the celebrated Barcelona along the way.
United were no team of superstars but had a number of excellent players including Hamish McAlpine, Maurice Malpas, David Narey, Eamonn Bannon and Ralph Milne, consistently punching above their weight for several years in the '80s. The great irony of course is that only this season just padt, United have just been relegated to the lower division, on what was actually the 40th anniversary of the one time they won the title. How are the mighty fallen, indeed.
After he retired from the game through injury Sturrock turned to a successful managerial career especially in the English lower divisions, on several occasions getting teams promoted up the leagues, although he was sadly never to manage in the money-spinning Premiership.
Back in the present, it was sad to see him struggling against the Parkinson's Disease with which he has lived for over 20 years now. Nevertheless he was in good humour throughout and I hope appreciated all the nice things said about him which it seems clear were well-merited, including fulsome praise by esteemed rival players like Willie Miller and Gary Lineker.
Despite his health setbacks Sturrock seems happy with his lot. Now retired and living in the south of England, he's retained his modesty, self-effacement and cheerfulnus and genuinely seems to be as good a guy as he was a player.
Good luck to him in his future battles ahead.
This episode focussed on the talismanic Dundee United striker Paul Sturrock or "Luggy" as he became known to his teammates and fans, obviously due to his protruding ears for those who don't know the Scottish dialect.
He was the main striker in the great Dundee United team of the mid-eighties, which along with Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen challenged and defeated the established status quo of Scottish dominance enjoyed up till then by the Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic. Managed by the diminutive but often tyrannical and hard-to-please Jim McLean, United confounded the skeptics by winning the Scottish League in 1983 and subsequently going on a number of successful runs in Europe, getting as far as the semi-finals of the European Cup beating the celebrated Barcelona along the way.
United were no team of superstars but had a number of excellent players including Hamish McAlpine, Maurice Malpas, David Narey, Eamonn Bannon and Ralph Milne, consistently punching above their weight for several years in the '80s. The great irony of course is that only this season just padt, United have just been relegated to the lower division, on what was actually the 40th anniversary of the one time they won the title. How are the mighty fallen, indeed.
After he retired from the game through injury Sturrock turned to a successful managerial career especially in the English lower divisions, on several occasions getting teams promoted up the leagues, although he was sadly never to manage in the money-spinning Premiership.
Back in the present, it was sad to see him struggling against the Parkinson's Disease with which he has lived for over 20 years now. Nevertheless he was in good humour throughout and I hope appreciated all the nice things said about him which it seems clear were well-merited, including fulsome praise by esteemed rival players like Willie Miller and Gary Lineker.
Despite his health setbacks Sturrock seems happy with his lot. Now retired and living in the south of England, he's retained his modesty, self-effacement and cheerfulnus and genuinely seems to be as good a guy as he was a player.
Good luck to him in his future battles ahead.