Revered in the town, ‘Crunchie’ was admired by many fans across Scottish football for his wing trickery – but famously never capped. The south stand at The Falkirk Stadium will be re-branded and dedicated to his Bairns career in a friendly match with Kilmarnock on June 24.
He was not the only surprise omission from squad-after-squad as many prominent players’ careers ended without international appearances.
Inexplicable, surprising or just plain unlucky, some, like the famous case of Tosh McKinlay at Hearts, had to move clubs to be noticed. Others were not so fortunate.
Here we look back on 10 of the best uncapped Scottish players – two who DID gain honours as ‘over-age players’ but many more from bygone eras are missing from our short list, as well as the SFA roll call.
. John Brown
Rangers and Dundee defender was a lynchpin of the 1990s at Ibrox under Walter Smith, competent and tough in every defensive area with whole-hearted commitment guaranteed. Versatility would usually be a boon in an international squad - just ask Scott McTominay - yet ‘Bomber’ was never selected to take his rugged, no-nonsense style to the Tartan Army. Photo: SNS Group 0141 221 3602
. Kevin McAllister
The inspiration for this delve into the archives and the one that rankles for Falkirk fans. McAllister was the typical Scottish winger and one of the last tanner-ba players, even to the point of winning a man-of-the-match award as a losing semi-finalist in 1998. Tricky rather than silky, tough and tenacious - why wasn’t he picked? Was Crunchie from Camelon simply not glamorous enough? He was for Chelsea and his play more than merited at least a look. Photo: HAMISH CAMPBELL
1. John Brown
Rangers and Dundee defender was a lynchpin of the 1990s at Ibrox under Walter Smith, competent and tough in every defensive area with whole-hearted commitment guaranteed. Versatility would usually be a boon in an international squad - just ask Scott McTominay - yet ‘Bomber’ was never selected to take his rugged, no-nonsense style to the Tartan Army. Photo: SNS Group 0141 221 3602
2. Kevin McAllister
The inspiration for this delve into the archives and the one that rankles for Falkirk fans. McAllister was the typical Scottish winger and one of the last tanner-ba players, even to the point of winning a man-of-the-match award as a losing semi-finalist in 1998. Tricky rather than silky, tough and tenacious - why wasn’t he picked? Was Crunchie from Camelon simply not glamorous enough? He was for Chelsea and his play more than merited at least a look. Photo: HAMISH CAMPBELL
3. Scott Allan
Talent-wise, at his peak, Allan was within the pool of the best 24 Scottish players of his time during the last decade. Yet he was never picked for Scotland beyond under-21s, and rarely picked at all when signed with Celtic. Stuck on the sidelines he later proved himself all over again at Hibs but illness and injury interrupted his recent years which has seen his time almost certainly pass. Photo: Ewan Bootman - SNS Group
4. Alan Main
St Johnstone and Dundee United goalkeeper is close to being ineligible for this list - had it not been for a bad back. After taking over from Hamish McAlpine at Tannadice - co-incidentally another highly regarded player without international recognition - Main eventually received a call-up - only to pick up an injury in training and withdraw from the squad. Back injury healed he was back involved later under Craig Brown but couldn’t dislodge Andy Goram or Jim Leighton at the peak of their selection battle in the mid-1990s and fell down the pecking order when Neil Sullivan and others emerged on the scene. Photo: SNS Group