David Prophet McLean (13 December 1890 – 21 December 1967) was a Scottish

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

striker. He scored over 150 goals in each of the Scottish and English football leagues. At club level he represented

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 Foot ...

, Preston North End,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, Third Lanark, Rangers, Bradford (Park Avenue),

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and Forfar Athletic. He had one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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 ...

Football

Celtic

McLean moved from

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

to join

as a 16-year-old; he quickly won a Glasgow Cup medal, being selected to make his debut in the replayed final against Rangers and scoring the decisive goal in a 2–1 victory. Though understudy to the established centre-forward Jimmy Quinn and out of favour for a spell after expressing anger at criticism from manager Willie Maley after a poor team performance, he was involved in

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

title wins in his first and second seasons, including a significant part in Celtic's 'famous fortnight' in April 1909, when they played eight games in twelve days to retain the championship.The Celtic Miscellany (Davie McLean)
David Potter, The History Press, 2011; However, he was not able to displace Quinn and moved on to Preston North End while still a teenager.

The Wednesday, Rangers loan

In England he was the top scorer twice in successive seasons in England's top flight when playing for The Wednesday, as the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

club were then named. He shared the distinction with two others on the first occasion, all with 25 strikes, before he was outright winner in 1912–13 on 30. In 1915,

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

halted league football in England, but not in Scotland, and McLean was permitted to play for Third Lanark, where he scored 70 goals in less than three seasons, and for Celtic's cross-town rivals, Rangers. In his sole season with the Ibrox club he was top scorer in the Scottish League in 1918–19 (29 goals in 24 matches); he thus became the first player to be outright top scorer in the top divisions in both England and Scotland. The feat has since only been matched by McLean's future teammate at Dundee, Dave Halliday.Dave Halliday on Queens Legends, www.qosfc.com
/ref> He also won another Glasgow Cup, eleven years after his first, with a win over his former employers Celtic; however, they claimed the league title over Rangers by a one-point margin. At the end of the war in 1919, McLean returned to Wednesday but was soon transferred to Bradford (Park Avenue) where he spent three years.

Dundee

McLean joined

in 1922 where in his first season he was a teammate of Alex Troup. Dave Halliday was top scorer in Dundee's run to the 1925 Scottish Cup Final, in which McLean's goal had Dundee leading at half time. Celtic's Patsy Gallacher equalised before Jimmy McGrory headed a last minute winner for the Glasgow club. After his Dundee spell, McLean closed out his career back home with five more years at Forfar Athletic.

International

McLean received one cap for

, in a 1912 British Home Championship match against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. While based in England, he took part in five Home Scots v Anglo-Scots trial matches between 1910 and 1920, scoring four times, with further international opportunities limited by the war.

IFFHS recognition

In the International Federation of Football History & Statistics updated 2008 list of the world's most successful top division goal scorers (1888–2008), McLean was placed at 43rd equal with 316 top division strikes.

Cricket

McLean also played cricket for Strathmore C.C. and played in the game in June 1930 at The Hill in

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir ( , ; ), sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'', is a burgh in Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom. The playwright J. M. Barrie was born and buried here and a statue of Peter Pan is in the town square. History Some of th ...

when J.M. Barrie opened the pavilion, and two members of the touring Australian side, one of them the great Macartney, played before a packed crowd.

Personal life

He was the elder brother of footballer George McLean who was also a forward.SFAQs: Davie McLean
ScottishLeague.net They were teammates at Bradford for one season ( 1921–22, David's last of three campaigns at the club and George's first of nine) and both closed out their careers at Forfar, but David (eight years older) had retired by the time George came 'home'. Apart from when his footballing career took him elsewhere, he lived in

all his life. He frequently attended football matches and was often invited to be the guest of Celtic at games in which they were involved. He died in December 1967.

References

* * *Forfar Greats - David Potter 2009

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mclean, David 1890 births 1967 deaths Men's association football forwards Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players First Division/Premier League top scorers Forfar Athletic F.C. players Footballers from Forfar Preston North End F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish men's footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players Scottish league football top scorers