Andrew McLaren (24 January 1922 – 14 December 1996) was a Scottish 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 lea ...

who played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. He was on the books of a number of teams in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

Career

He started as a youth player with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

in 1937, serving on the ground staff at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

with

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of England' ...

and playing with him in the B team. He played for Preston in the

Football League War Cup The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...

in 1940–41 when they won the league and cup. He served in the army during the war, with some service in Egypt. In 1947 he played in four international matches for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, scoring four goals.

International goals

:''Scotland score first''

Personal life

McLaren's father George was also a footballer. He was found dead alone at his home in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

. Police believed that he had been dead for some days before his body was discovered. He was estranged from his wife at the time of his death. A collection of McLaren's medals and a team photograph were featured on the ITV antiques-based television programme '' Dickinson's Real Deal'' in 2018 after being found during a property renovation. They were subsequently sold at auction for £1000.

References

External links

* * 1922 births 1996 deaths Footballers from Larkhall Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football inside forwards Preston North End F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Southport F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players English Football League players Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Hamilton Academical F.C. wartime guest players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-forward-1920s-stub