Andrew Paton (2 January 1923 – 8 February 2014) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. A

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, Paton played primarily for

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

, with a short spell at

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

late in his career, and he then managed Hamilton for nine years. He won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...

and

Scottish Division Two 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 k ...

with Motherwell – having joined as a teenager from the Junior level during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

– and in 2006 was voted the club's 'greatest ever player'. On 10 November 2020, it was announced that Paton was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame. He appeared three times 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 ...

; his debut came in January 1946 against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(considered official by the national associations, unlike two other fixtures he played in the same immediate post-war period) and his second and third appearances were made on a summer 1952 tour of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. At the time of his death in 2014 (aged 91), he was the oldest surviving Scotland international.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, Andy 1923 births 2014 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire Men's association football central defenders Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers Motherwell F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish football managers Hamilton Academical F.C. managers Kello Rovers F.C. players Irvine Meadow XI F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Men's association football player-managers People from Dreghorn