Andrew McCulloch (footballer)
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Andrew McCulloch is an English former professional
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 for
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
, Cardiff City,
Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
, Brentford,
Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
,
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
and
Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...
. He played a total of 475 games in all competitions for his seven league clubs, scoring 153 goals in a career which lasted from 1970 until 1985. McCulloch was a centre forward in the "target man" mould, being 6 ft 2in (1.88 m) tall, he was good in the air, using his strong physique to hold off defenders and lay the ball off to teammates. He made one appearance for the Scotland national under 23 team. McCulloch was born in Northampton on 3 January 1950. He was the son of Adam McCulloch who played over 200 league games for
Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
,
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
and Aldershot. Andy was brought up in Hampshire, the family moving there when his father signed for Aldershot in 1953. On leaving school he attended university and obtained a
Civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
degree before playing full-time football.


Playing career

Andy McCulloch first made a name for himself as a teenager playing for Fleet Town in the
Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides of ...
and was subsequently invited for a trial at
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
. However nothing came of the Tottenham connection and he signed for
non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
Walton & Hersham being part of the team which won the
Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...
title in the 1968–69 season. McCulloch was spotted by Queens Park Rangers manager
Les Allen Leslie William Allen (born 4 September 1937) is an English former football player and manager who played as a inside forward. Playing career Allen started his playing career at amateur club Briggs Sports where he helped them to reach the ...
and he signed for Rangers in October 1970.


Queens Park Rangers

The 20-year-old McCulloch made his Rangers debut immediately, replacing Frank Saul in the team, playing in a 5–2 home win over
Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...
on 17 October 1970 and scoring the fifth goal. He did not actually get paid for that debut match as he was still registered as an amateur, his professional registration coming through a few days later. McCulloch was never a regular member of the Rangers team over the next two years, making 30 starts in League matches. His days at Rangers were numbered when they bolstered their forward line by signing Stan Bowles and
Don Givens Daniel Joseph "Don" Givens (born 9 August 1949) is an Irish former footballer and coach. A forward, Givens played club football for Manchester United, Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City, AFC Bournemouth, Sheffield United and ...
for the start of the 1972–73 season and he was sold to Cardiff City for a fee of £45,000 in October 1972.


Cardiff City and Oxford United

In his two years with Cardiff City, the team had a fairly mediocre time finishing near the bottom of Division Two in both seasons. McCulloch however, had good form, top scoring in both seasons, notching 30 goals in 68 matches in all competitions. It was at this time that he was called up for his only cap for the Scotland under-23 team, his Scottish parentage making him eligible even though he was born in England. Cardiff won the
Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...
in both seasons that McCulloch played there, qualifying them for the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...
and in September 1973 McCulloch played against Sporting Clube de Portugal in the two-legged first round tie of the cup which Cardiff lost 2–1 on aggregate to give him the only experience of European football in his career. In July 1974, he moved to another Second Division side,
Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
in a £70,000 deal, he had a fairly disappointing time at Oxford with the team relegated in his second season (1975–76) and McCulloch making only 12 League appearances. A botched recovery process from a cartilage operation saw McCulloch nearly lose a leg.


Brentford

With his career stalling McCulloch was forced to drop down to
Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...
in his next move when he joined Brentford in March 1976 for a then club record fee of £25,000. His move to The Bees rejuvenated his career although it was not until his second full season ( 1977–78) that things really started to happen when Brentford achieved promotion with McCulloch scoring 22 goals in 45 League appearances and forming a fine striking partnership with Steve Phillips, who contributed an excellent 32 goals. In the summer of 1978 McCulloch was loaned out to Oakland Stompers of the North American Soccer League where he made 18 appearances, scoring three goals with one assist. Back at Brentford for the 1978–79 campaign, the team consolidated their position in
Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...
with McCulloch contributing 13 goals.


Sheffield Wednesday

McCulloch's time as a Brentford player came to an end in May 1979 when he was persuaded to join Third Division Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday manager
Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...
was looking for a target man to partner Terry Curran in The Owls forward line and saw McCulloch as the ideal man. Charlton was working as a pundit for ITV on the
1979 FA Cup Final The 1979 FA Cup Final was a football match played on 12 May 1979 at Wembley Stadium. The match was contested by Arsenal and Manchester United. It is regarded as one of the greatest-ever finishes in an FA Cup final. For over 85 minutes the gam ...
and met McCulloch on the
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
gantry and agreed a deal which went through officially the following month. Jack Charlton, who had a tendency to get mixed up over his player's names often referred to McCulloch as "Ian", confusing him with
Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
's Scottish winger
Iain McCulloch John Balfour "Iain" McCulloch (born 28 December 1954) is a Scottish former footballer. Playing as a winger or forward, McCulloch began his career with his hometown club Kilmarnock before joining Notts County in 1978. He won promotion with the M ...
. The McCulloch-Curran partnership contributed 34 goals in the following 1979–80 season as Wednesday were promoted. 1980–81 saw McCulloch as Wednesday's top scorer in their return to Division Two. In his final two years at Hillsborough he acted as a foil for Gary Bannister in the Wednesday attack, with Bannister scoring most of the goals and taking much of the glory, however McCulloch contributed seven goals in both campaigns. McCulloch played in the 1983
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
semi final at
Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...
when Wednesday were defeated by Brighton. In August 1983, McCulloch was sold to
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
for a fee of £20,000 as new manager
Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...
brought in
Imre Varadi Imre Varadi (born 8 July 1959) is an English former professional footballer, known as a journeyman forward who appeared for 16 different clubs at all levels of professional football in England. Playing career Varadi was born in Paddington, L ...
to partner Bannister.


Latter career and retirement

At the end of his contract at Sheffield Wednesday McCulloch returned to the south of England to play for Crystal Palace for one season. In April 1984 he returned to Hillsborough to play for Crystal Palace in a League match and received a standing ovation from the home supporters, with McCulloch saying this is one of the fondest memories of his playing days. He played the 1984–85 season with Aldershot but picked up a bad knee injury and this forced him to end his playing career at the age of 35. On retiring he worked for a company that cleaned household upholstery and hotel rooms and in 1989, opened his own cleaning business, Cardinal Cleaning in
Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...
, Surrey doing the same line of work. The firm is still flourishing today having contracts to clean many big London hotels as well as individual customers. McCulloch still involved himself in football being the manager of part-time Esher United of the Kingston District League, which ended in 2017 but the team still trains together.


Personal life

McCulloch is married and has a daughter. He was born to Scottish parents; his sister married footballer Ernie Howe.


Honours

Brentford * Football League Fourth Division fourth-place promotion: 1977–78 Individual * Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year: 1977–78 * Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 1977–78


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCulloch, Andrew Walton & Hersham F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Oakland Stompers players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players 1950 births Footballers from Northampton English footballers Association football forwards Living people Scotland under-23 international footballers Fleet Town F.C. players English people of Scottish descent Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate footballers