Why isn’t this footballer in the Hall of Fame?

Without wishing to turn this column into a vehicle for forwarding the case for various Scottish footballers to be inducted in the Hall of Fame, there does, as with Jim Holton, proposed by colleague Stephen Halliday several weeks ago, seem to be an urgent need to address Dave Halliday’s exclusion to date.

The striker scored freely for Queen of the South, St Mirren, Dundee, Sunderland, Manchester City and Orient in the 1920s and 30s. He enjoyed success on both sides of the border as both a player and manager. He fired in 38 goals for Dundee in 1923-24 to become top scorer in Scotland’s top tier that season and then hit 43 goals for Sunderland in 1928–29. It means he is the most recent of only two players to have been outright top scorer in the top divisions in both Scotland and England. He was the first manager to guide Aberdeen to a major trophy, when winning the 1947 Scottish Cup. He steered them to their first Scottish title eight years later.

Iain McCartney is leading the bid to ensure the Dumfries-born Halliday receives the recognition he is due. “Halliday’s pedigree is comparable with anyone in both England and Scotland and is only overlooked because it was so long ago,” he says.

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An attempt to right this wrong last year somehow failed to gain traction among the committee, made up of experts from the world of football and the media. Nominations are now open for the 2019 inductees’ dinner. Holton, Halliday…who else?