Herald and Times Sport writers have put their heads together during lockdown and come up with the five players they believe have been the eminent exponents of their craft in their position since the Premier Division was formed 45 years ago - and selected one for the starting line-up.
Craig Brown, the former Scotland, Motherwell and Aberdeen manager, and Archie Knox, the ex- Aberdeen, Rangers and Scotland assistant, have coached many of those in contention for a place and have also pitched in with their expert opinions.
Our decisions have been based on three criteria - ability, longevity and success.
There’s just one place left in the Greatest Premier XI. So who will partner Henrik Larsson up front?
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5
Name: John Robertson.
Clubs: Hearts (1981 to 1988 and 1988 to 1998).
Titles: None.
John Robertson is the only player to get a Greatest Premier XI call-up not to have won the Scottish title. But how could we leave out the man who is Hearts leading scorer in the modern era, (271), leading league scorer (214) and leading European scorer (seven)?
Nobody has been on target on more occasions in the history Edinburgh derby either. He found the net 27 times in the fixture and earned himself the nickname The Hammer of the Hibs.
The Edinburgh-born forward represented Scotland on 16 occasions and netted three times as well.
Robertson was small in size, but big in stature and remains a giant down Gorgie way to this day.
4
Name: Charlie Nicholas.
Clubs: Celtic (1979 to 1983 and 1990 to 1994) and Aberdeen (1988 to 1990).
Titles: Two (1981 and 1982).
Champagne Charlie. His playing days never quite reached the heights that his early performances, which had led to comparisons with a young George Best, suggested they might.
His £750,000 move to Arsenal, who weren’t exactly renowned for their flamboyance, at the age of just 21 in 1983 probably prevented him from going on and attaining the world-class status many thought him capable of.
But he remains one of the most naturally gifted and exciting goalscorers that Scotland have ever produced and makes it onto the shortlist on ability alone. Charlie Nicholas played with a swagger. But he could back up his self-confidence. He was fast, had a deft first touch, a powerful shot, possessed incredible vision and was ruthless in the final third.
He scored 28 goals in the 1980/81 season, his first, and then, after recovering from a broken leg, hit the target 48 times in the 1982/83 campaign. He was the unanimous choice for both the PFA Scotland and SFWA Player of the Year awards.
Nicholas scored five goals in 20 Scotland appearances. He enjoyed a long and successful career. But he never quite managed to fulfil his enormous early potential.
3
Name: Paul Sturrock.
Clubs: Dundee United (1974 to 1989).
Titles: One (1983).
It was Paul Sturrock’s misfortune to play at the same time as Kenny Dalglish was at his peak. He won 20 caps for Scotland, featured twice at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, and scored on three occasions. But he estimated he was in the national squad on around 60 occasions in total. He could, like his famous contemporary, have been a national hero in different era.
But Sturrock is certainly worshipped on Tayside. He is Dundee United’s second top scorer ever with 171 goals to his name. He is the all-time top scorer in the Dundee derby, too, having netted 14 in that fixture. He played up front in the top flight for 15 consecutive seasons at his only club. His remarkable length of service to the Tannadice club made him impossible to ignore.
But he was more than just a United stalwart. The similarities with Dalglish were uncanny. He could receive the ball and spin away from his marker in a flash. He was fast, direct, skilful and a lethal finisher.
With his shirt hanging out and his socks rolled down by his ankles, there were few scarier sights for defences in the 1970s and 1980s than Paul Sturrock advancing towards them.
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2
Name: Leigh Griffiths.
Clubs: Hibernian (2011 to 2014) and Celtic (2014 to the present day).
Titles: Seven (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020).
Celtic have always had brilliant strikers. From the great Jimmy McGrory in the 1920s and 1930s, to Stevie Chalmers, John Hughes, Bobby Lennox and Willie Wallace in the 1960s and 1970s, to Frank McGarvey and Brian McClair in the 1980s, to Henrik Larsson in modern times, they have never struggled for free-scoring forwards. Leigh Griffiths is well on his way to being as revered as any of his predecessors.
Griffiths has scored 115 goals in all competitions for the Parkhead club in the past six-and-a-half seasons, more than McGarvey, John Hartson and Chris Sutton did, and has won the Premiership seven times, the League Cup four times and the Scottish Cup twice.
If he can rediscover his best form in the coming campaign – and there were signs he was getting back to his very best after a difficult year off the park before football was suspended back in March – he can move alongside and overtake some true Hoops greats in the scoring stakes.
But Griffiths isn’t just idolised in the East End of Glasgow. In Leith he is rather highly regarded too. He spent two seasons on loan at Hibernian, his boyhood heroes, and ran riot. He picked up the first of his two SFWA Player of the Year awards during his time at Easter Road.
Scotland fans are rather fond of Griffiths too. His two long-range free-kicks against England in a Russia 2018 qualifier at Hampden in 2017 may not have won the game for his country, but they endeared him to members of the Tartan Army forever.
His professionalism has been frequently questioned, not least by his former manager Brendan Rodgers, but when he is fit and focused he is phenomenal. He can bury the chances his team mates supply him with close in, but he can find the target from outside the box in spectacular fashion too.
1
Name: Ally McCoist.
Clubs: Rangers (1983 to 1998) and Kilmarnock (1998 to 2001).
Titles: Ten (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997).
Last, but by no means least, Super Ally.
Where exactly do you start with Alistair Murdoch McCoist? Best to let the stats do the talking.
For a start, McCoist is, with 355 goals in 581 appearances, Rangers’ all-time record goalscorer. He has netted more times in the league (251) and Europe (21) than any other Ibrox player as well.
He claimed 28 hat-tricks for the club he had supported as a boy growing up in East Kilbride. He plundered five hat-tricks in a single season twice.
He became the first Scottish footballer to win the European Gold Shoe, given to the player who is the leading marksman in league football during a season, in 1992 after hitting the target 34 times. He promptly retained the award the following year after matching that tally.
He won 10 Scottish titles in his 15 years in Govan and was one of only three players – the others were Ian Ferguson and Richard Gough – to feature in every one of their Nine-In-A-Row campaigns.
Oh, and he scored 27 times against Celtic, more than any other individual in the post-war era.
On top of all that, he was half-decent for Scotland too. He netted 19 times in 61 appearances for his country and featured at Italia ’90, Euro ’92 and Euro ’96.
Is there really any need to go on?
“Why was McCoist so good?” said former Scotland manager Craig Brown. “He was an instinctive scorer. Ally was brilliant and brave one-touch finisher. When the ball came in to him he put it in the back of the net with one touch. He was good with both feet, had a decent shot, was very good in the air. He was brave and strong. He had every attribute you could want in a striker.”
UNLUCKY TO MISS OUT: The selection committee’s decision is final.
GREATEST PREMIER XI LINE-UP
1 - Andy Goram (goalkeeper).
2 - Danny McGrain (right back).
3 - Maurice Malpas (left back).
4 - Alex McLeish (centre back).
5 - Willie Miller (centre back).
6 - Scott Brown (defensive midfielder).
7 - Paul Gascoigne (attacking midfielder).
8 - Brian Laudrup (right winger).
9 - Davie Cooper (left winger).
10 - Henrik Larsson (striker).
11 - Ally McCoist (striker).
TOMORROW: The manager.
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