Ian Hector McKechnie (4 October 1941 – 11 June 2015) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Ian McKechnie was born at a maternity unit in Bellshill,

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...

but was raised in the village of

Lenzie Lenzie () is an affluent town by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in the East Dunbartonshire council area of Scotland. It is about north-east of Glasgow city centre and south of Kirkintilloch. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 8,873. ...

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

and later in

Chryston Chryston is a village in North Lanarkshire, around east of Glasgow, in Scotland. It lies north of its sister village, Muirhead, which is on the A80. The village has around double Muirhead's population, although the exact boundary between the ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

, near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. McKechnie signed for Arsenal in September 1958 after being invited to play for a Glasgow amateur side Letham Thistle (a Glasgow club with associations with the Arsenal scouting system). He was signed as an

outside-left Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

, but George Swindin, the then Arsenal manager, saw his potential as a goalkeeper. McKechnie went on to make 25 appearances between 1961 and 1964 for Arsenal. He was the first Scot to be chosen to play for the London Youth XI, playing in the same team as

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

. His first game in goal for Arsenal was a closed-door match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

prior to their

Home International Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

campaign. He then played a friendly in Gothenburg against a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Select XI in 1961, in which he pulled off a succession of acrobatic saves, and he was known henceforth as 'Yuri', after the first man in space,

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

. McKechnie made his competitive debut against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 14 October 1961 and went on to feature in some of Arsenal's major matches of the 1960s. These include the 1962 visit of Real Madrid to Highbury and he also played in goal against Rangers in the

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

for

Jack Kelsey Alfred John "Jack" Kelsey (19 November 1929 – 18 March 1992) was a Welsh international football goalkeeper, who also played for Arsenal. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers to play for Wales. Early life Jack Kelsey was born at ...

. The competition at Arsenal for the goalkeeping position was fierce, with not only Kelsey (before his retirement in 1962) but also Northern Irish international Jack McClelland,

Jim Furnell James Furnell (born 23 November 1937 in Clitheroe, Lancashire) is a former English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Career Furnell started his career at his local club Burnley, signing at the age of 17. As third-choice keeper he only pla ...

and the young Bob Wilson. McKechnie played thirteen of Arsenal's first fifteen matches of 1963–64, but was dropped after Arsenal's first competitive match in Europe at Highbury, against Staevnet in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, on 22 October 1963, which Arsenal lost 3–2. He never played for the Arsenal first team again, and was given a free transfer in March 1964. He joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

two months later and made 62 appearances, before joining

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

in August 1966 where he racked up 255 league appearances until the end of the 1973–74 season. During his stay at Hull the home fans would throw oranges onto the goalmouth as a gesture to the fact that he had been spotted eating an orange after training, many included contact telephone numbers and various messages of good luck. On one occasion a Tigers fan was arrested at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

's ground for throwing an orange to McKechnie; the Sheffield police were not aware of the ritual and McKechnie had to write to the court in defence of the arrested fan. During his time at Hull, McKechnie was the first goalkeeper ever to save a penalty in a competitive

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

in August 1970; he saved from Denis Law. He subsequently took the deciding kick to take the penalty shootout to further five kicks from each side, but his kick flew over the bar and put Hull City out of the competition. He therefore was the first goalkeeper to concede a kick in a shootout (to

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...

), the first goalkeeper to save a kick in a shootout (from Denis Law), the first goalkeeper to take a kick in a shootout, and the first player to miss the deciding kick. McKechnie then signed for the

Boston Minutemen The Boston Minutemen were an American professional soccer team based out of Boston that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1974 to 1976. Their home fields included Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Schaefer Stadium ...

in the North American Soccer League in May 1974, where he was rated one of the top goalkeepers for that season. There was a suggestion of him signing for a season as a goal kicker for an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team, but due to a strike this did not take place. Returning to England, he played for Goole Town and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

, before retiring in 1977. Occasionally in friendly and testimonial games, McKechnie would play in the outside left position and indeed scored in such matches. After retiring McKechnie had a spell in charge of Sligo Rovers in the Republic of Ireland. He lived in

Brantingham Brantingham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, about north of Brough, west of Hull and north of the A63 road. The 2011 UK Census gave the parish had a population of 370, marking a decrease from the 2001 ...

near Brough and worked in Corporate Hospitality at the

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

, the new home of Hull City, on matchdays. McKechnie died on 11 June 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKechnie, Ian 1941 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Bellshill Sportspeople from Lenzie Scottish footballers Association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Boston Minutemen players Sligo Rovers F.C. managers League of Ireland managers Goole Town F.C. players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish football managers