Footballer.
Born: July 23, 1942
Died: February 23, 2015.
ANDY King, who has died suddenly aged 72, was, for much of the 1960s thought of by many as the best uncapped right back in Scotland.
He was born in the long-since demolished Grougar Raws, between Crookedholm and Galston, just outside Kilmarnock. As a teenager he played for the famous Saxone Amateurs team, with whom he won Scottish Youth caps, captaining his country.
King was already on Kilmarnock's radar. Indeed, he made his first appearance for the club as a 16-year-old "Trialist", against Celtic Reserves in a Reserve League fixture in March, 1959. Manager Willie Waddell decided the youngster needed toughening-up, so he was farmed out to Dreghorn Juniors in the Western League.
Aged 18, having made his first-team bow against Ayr United in the Ayrshire Cup Final, he was taken to the New York International Tournament in May and June, 1961, making one appearance, against Dynamo Bucharest in New York, and also appearing in a friendly against Turkish side Besiktas. Jim Richmond was, however, seemingly sewn into the Killie number two shirt and King had to bide his time, before making his first league appearance, in a 3-3 draw with Aberdeen, at Pittodrie, in March, 1962. He held onto the jersey for the remaining three matches of that league season.
He made a mere four more appearances in season 1962-63, but, such was his promise, early in the next season, 1963-64, Waddell decided to sell Richmond to St Johnstone and King filled the right-back spot for 32 of that season's 34 league games and for 18 of the 19 cup games Killie played that season.
King also made his Scotland Under-23 debut, when he was chosen at right back for the game against Wales, at Wrexham, on 4 December, 1963. The Welsh won that one 3-1 and King was one of the players jettisoned for the game against England, at Newcastle, in February, 1964.
He was, however, recalled for the 2-0 win over France, in Nantes, in May, 1964, before winning a third and final U-23 cap in a revenge 3-0 win over the Welsh at Rugby Park, on 2 December, 1964.
Also in 1964, he was one of five Kilmarnock players chosen to play in the Scotland v Scottish League game, which was a national trial prior to the big game against England, due at Hampden that May.
Goalkeeper Campbell Forsyth and Brian McIlroy, who scored a goal in Scotland's 3-1 win, were in the "Scotland" team, King, Jackie McGrory and skipper Frank Beattie, who led the team, were in the Scottish League XI. Only Forsyth of the Rugby Park quintet, made the team for the England game. That match was as close as King came to a full Scotland cap.
The best season of his career was just around the corner, as Killie would win the Scottish League for the first and thus far only time in 1964-65. The club played a total of 60 games that season, with King appearing in every one, except the league meeting with Partick Thistle, at Rugby Park, on 10 October, 1964.
He was one of the 11 "immortals" who, on 24 April, 1965, beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle to secure the crown and his untimely death means there will be one-less survivor at the dinner, planned for Rugby Park's Park Hotel, on the 50th anniversary date this year.
King continued to serve Kilmarnock until the end of season 1971-72. He made a mere two substitute appearances that season and, at the end, with Killie cutting back to become a part-time club, not yet 30, King hung up his boots. In all he made 320 appearances for the club, including a record 21 games in European competitions, including the legendary Fairs Cup tie against Eintracht Frankfurt, in 1964, in which Killie overturned a four-goal deficit to win the tie 5-4.
On retiring from the game, he joined the extensive football family who worked at Glacier Metal's Kilmarnock factory, before joining local building company, James Brown & Co, serving them until his formal retirement.
He lived a long free-kick from Rugby Park, coaching Bellfield Amateurs for many years and also following his second sporting passion - racing pigeons. Andy also enjoyed fishing.
Andy was pre-deceased by his wife Agnes in 2006. He is survived by his sons Colin and Niall and his three grandsons.
MATT VALLANCE
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article