Brian McGinlay (born 24 August 1945) is a retired football referee from Scotland, who officiated in 98 European club competition and international matches.

Refereeing career

At the domestic level McGinlay has refereed 21

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

derbies, during which he never sent off a player, but he considers his most nerve-racking match to be the Rangers–

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

title decider match at the climax of the 1990–91 season. In European club football he judged his most exciting match to be the

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

–

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

third-round second-leg

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match. In international football he has taken charge of matches at the 1980 European Championships, the Home Championship and the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

. He was placed on the referees' list for the 1986 World Cup but was later removed after being struck off the SFA list for personal reasons.

Personal life

In 1991 McGinlay was banned from driving for a year and fined £250 for failing to provide a sample when stopped on his way home from the Scottish Cup Final.

Retirement

Since retirement as a referee McGinlay has been a director of Stenhousemuir Football Club, an after-dinner speaker, and a columnist for the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'', the '' Daily Record'' and the '' Sunday Mail''.

References

External links

* * * 1945 births Scottish football referees Living people Olympic football referees 20th-century Scottish criminals UEFA Euro 1980 referees Scottish Football League referees {{scotland-footy-bio-stub