Francis Michael "Frank" Munro (25 October 1947 – 16 August 2011) was a Scottish

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

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who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Munro played for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in his native Scotland before moving to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 1968. Here he won a League Cup winners medal while with the club, and played in the first-ever UEFA Cup Final. He was posthumously inducted into the Wolverhampton Wanderers Hall of Fame in 2017.

Career

Early

Munro started his career as a centre-forward with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

at junior and amateur level in 1961–62, after leaving school, but he left without signing professional forms. Following this, he returned home to his native Scotland and signed as a professional for

. He broke into the first team in 1964 and won four Scotland youth caps during his time at

Tannadice Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1 ...

. In October 1966, he moved to fellow Division 1 outfit

for £10,000. His first season proved a success as he collected a runners-up medal as the team fought its way through to the 1967 Scottish Cup Final, losing 0–2 to Celtic at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. This was sufficient to qualify for Europe though, and they competed in the

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 tournam ...

the following season, giving Munro his first – but not last – taste of European football. Munro scored Aberdeen's first goal in

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

competition, in a 10–1 win against

KR Reykjavik KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickoff r ...

. In the summer of 1967, Munro and Aberdeen travelled to America to compete in the newly formed

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

league. Due to the lack of existing teams, the league organisers instead imported several established teams from around the globe to compete under 'franchise' names. Aberdeen competed as the "

Washington Whips The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberdeen F.C. from Scotland. The n ...

", based in the capital. The Whips won the Eastern division and so progressed through to the championship play-off match in July, where they faced the Western champions,

Los Angeles Wolves The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional soccer team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the United Soccer Association, finishing as champions, and in 1968 they were founding members of the North American Soccer Leag ...

(represented by

). The Whips eventually lost 5–6 in extra time, but Munro's performance in scoring a hat-trick, caught the eye of the opposition manager

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 27 ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers

In October 1968, Wolves acted upon this display and signed Munro for £55,000. Munro went on to play 371 times in total for the club, becoming firmly established at centre back, despite signing as a midfielder. He also chipped in with 18 goals in total, including scoring in both legs of the 1972 UEFA Cup semi final defeat of

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

and played in the final, collecting another runners-up medal after a 2–3 aggregate defeat to Spurs. Munro didn't have to wait too long though for a winners' medal as Wolves lifted the 1974 League Cup, after a 2-1 victory over

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

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 ...

. The Wolves also won the

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

in 1971. His performances for Wolves also won him nine

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

caps – as well as four at under-23 level – spread from 1971 to 1975. His full debut coming on 18 May 1971 against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. His last appearance for Scotland was in a 1–1 draw against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

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. Shortly after helping the Midlanders to regain their First Division status in 1976–77 — after a year outside it – Munro returned to Scotland when the lure of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

proved too strong. He signed after a short loan period in December 1977 for £20,000. Munro was the last player

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

signed as Celtic

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Later life

Stein saw Munro as being a replacement for the injured

Pat Stanton Patrick Gordon Stanton (born 13 September 1944) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Stanton played for Hibernian for most of his career, making nearly 400 league appearances. Late in his career, he had a short and successful sp ...

. His time in Glasgow was to prove short-lived, however. Despite picking up another runners-up medal (in the 1978 Scottish League Cup), Celtic only finished fifth in the Scottish Premier Division. Munro was released by Celtic in the summer of 1978 and he headed for a new challenge in Australia by signing for

South Melbourne Hellas South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, with matches played at Lakeside Stadium. ...

, managed by former Wolves goalkeeper

Dave MacLaren David MacLaren (12 June 1934 – 6 December 2016) was a footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Although born in Scotland, he spent most of his playing career in England, before turning to management in Malaysia and Australia. Playing caree ...

. Although initially this was only planned as a short-term arrangement, he ended up moving there permanently. During the 1980s Munro took up a player/coach role at Albion Rovers (Victoria, Australia), before retiring as a player. He later managed Hamlyn Rangers (now known as Geelong Rangers F.C.) and Keilor Park (formerly Keilor Austria). He returned to the UK in 1991 and settled in Wolverhampton, with his partner Naomi. He suffered a stroke in the early 2000s that left him confined to a wheelchair for his remaining life. He died on 16 August 2011 after suffering acute breathing difficulties.

Honours

;with Aberdeen *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

;with Wolverhampton Wanderers *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winner:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

runner-up:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

Champions: 1976–77 ;with Celtic *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munro, Frank 1947 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Dundee Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers National Soccer League (Australia) players Aberdeen F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players South Melbourne FC players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players United Soccer Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Association football central defenders Scotland under-23 international footballers Washington Whips players People from Broughty Ferry Expatriate soccer players in Australia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States