Eric Caldow (14 May 1934 – 4 March 2019) was a Scottish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played for Rangers, Stirling Albion and

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 ...

. Caldow played as a full back and captained both Rangers and Scotland.

Early life and career

Caldow attended Cumnock Academy and after leaving school became an apprentice painter with Cumnock Burgh Council. He started his football career with the local Glenpark Amateurs club, then Muirkirk of the Western Junior League.

Rangers

Caldow was signed by Rangers manager Bill Struth in 1952 and made his first team debut on 12 September 1953 in a 4–2 win over Ayr United at Ibrox. He made a total of 13 appearances in his first professional season with Rangers and continued to make progress the following season, playing in 12 of Rangers' 41 matches. He became a regular in the Rangers team following the suspension of Willie Woodburn and George Young changing position to compensate. In 1955–56 Caldow made 35 appearances, mostly at right back, as Rangers won the League title for the first time in two seasons. Rangers retained the League title the following season, 1956–57, and Caldow was once again an important member of the team, making 40 appearances, this time mostly at left-back. Caldow continued to be an integral member of the Rangers team, featuring 49 times in 1957–58, including four

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

matches against

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

and

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. Caldow also played in all of Scotland's three

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

matches against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. After finishing third that season, Rangers regained the League title in 1958–59, with Caldow missing just one match. Caldow won his first

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1959–60, and despite failing to retain their League title, Rangers reached the semi-final of the

, defeating

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, Cervena Hviezda Bratislava and

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

before eventually losing to German club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

. European success continued for Rangers the following season as Caldow captained Rangers to the inaugural

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

, defeating

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

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 ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

before losing 4–1 to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

in the two-legged final. Caldow missed just one game that season as Rangers also regained the League title and won the League Cup. Rangers again failed to retain the League title the following season, 1961–62, as surprise package

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 ...

edged out Rangers by three points. However, the League Cup was retained and the Scottish Cup was also won as Caldow played in 52 of Rangers' 58 matches. Rangers reached the quarter final stage of the

1961–62 European Cup The 1961–62 European Cup was the seventh season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Benfica for the second time in a row, beating Real Madrid 5–3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion, ...

, where they lost to Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. Caldow succeeded Johnny Hubbard as the regular penalty taker for Rangers. His fifth and final League championship medal came in 1962–63 where he also won another Scottish Cup medal. Following a long rehabilitation program from a broken leg on international duty, Caldow made only four appearances in 1963–64, as Rangers won a domestic treble. He re-established himself in the team at left-back during the 1964–65 season, playing 34 matches. He helped Rangers to a 2–1 League Cup final success against Celtic and to reach the quarter-final of the 1964–65 European Cup, where they lost 3–2 on aggregate to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

(3–1 defeat away, then a 1–0 win at home). It was a disappointing league season for Rangers, however, as they finished in fifth place in the League with

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

winning the championship. 1965–66 proved to be Caldow's last season at Rangers and he made only three appearances, the last being a 3–2 defeat to

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

on 9 March 1966. During his 13 years with the club, he made a total of 407 appearances.

International career

Caldow won 40 caps for

, 15 of which were as captain, and he also appeared 14 times for the Scottish League XI. He won his first Scotland

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 ...

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 ...

on 6 April 1957 in a 2–1 defeat at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Caldow played that match at right-back, which disappointed him as he had hoped to play at left-back and in direct opposition to

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

. His next cap came in a 1958 World Cup qualifier against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, where he faced

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 ...

great

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as an outside left. A fast runner, Gento was referred to as the "Gale of the Cantabrian Sea" () in reference to his spee ...

. He captained Scotland for the first time in 1961, in a British Home Championship match with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He scored four penalties for Scotland; one of these clinched the 1961–62 British Home Championship, as he scored the second in a 2–0 win against England. His international career came to an end in 1963, after he suffered a broken leg in three places in a 2–1 win against England at Wembley, following a tackle from England's Bobby Smith.

Later life and career

After leaving Rangers, Caldow played for one season with Stirling Albion before moving south in 1967 to become

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Corby Town. He returned to his native

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

in 1970, to become manager of Junior side Hurlford United. In 1973, he was appointed manager of Scottish League side

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, until 1975. Caldow was inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007. He died in March 2019, aged 84.

Career statistics

International appearances

:Source:

International goals