Maurice Elliott (23 November 1942 – 19 October 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer who was a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Elliott was born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and played for his home town club Queen of the South and went on to play for Heart of Midlothian, Montrose and

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Youth career

Elliott played for

Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...

and Collin Boys Club.

Queen of the South (1st Spell)

Elliott began his senior career with ''Queens'' when he signed at the start of the 1960-61 season. In his first spell at

Palmerston Park Palmerston Park is a association football, football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Queen of the South F.C., Queen of the South, who have played there ...

, Elliott scored 16 goals in 23 league appearances for the club. During that season he attracted the attention of the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

club Hearts who play at Tynecastle.

Heart of Midlothian

On 1 March 1961, after only seven months at the ''Doonhamers'', Elliott signed for Heart of Midlothian who were at that time the

Scottish League Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tw ...

Champions. Elliott's debut for the ''Jambos'' was on 18 March 1961 in a 1–0 defeat at home versus

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 ...

. Elliott scored in a 2–1 home win versus

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

on 21 October 1961 and also played in a 1–1 draw versus

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in the 1961 Scottish League Cup Final and the Ibrox club went on to win the replay 3-1 without Elliott featuring for the ''Jam Tarts''. Elliott then played in both legs versus

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 ...

in the second round of the 1961 Fairs Cup. Despite these laudable achievements, Elliott was unable to secure a regular first-team place never played for the first-team after the completion of the 1961-62 season. Elliott departed Hearts midway through the 1963-64 season having scored two goals in ten league appearances for the club.

Queen of the South (2nd Spell)

George Farm George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager. Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...

then signed Elliott for his second spell in

on New Year's Day 1964, for the second half of the 1963-64 season. Elliott played in five league matches without scoring a goal and in total Elliott scored 16 goals in 28 league appearances with ''Queens'' and in all competitions Elliott scored 22 goals in 40 games.

Montrose

Elliott then moved onto

Links Park Links Park is a football stadium in Montrose, Scotland. It has been the home ground of Montrose F.C. since 1887. Links Park was opened in 1887 on land rented from the ' Auld Kirk'. To help finance the new ground, Montrose F.C. rented the pitch ...

to play for Montrose at the start of the 1964-65 season and stayed for two seasons, where he scored 25 goals in 50 league appearances.

Stenhousemuir

Elliott then moved onto

Ochilview Park Ochilview Park is a association football, football stadium in Stenhousemuir in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Stenhousemuir F.C., Stenhousemuir. The stadium has a c ...

to play for

at the start of the 1966-67 season and also stayed there for two seasons, where he scored 16 goals in 57 league appearances.

Broxburn Athletic

Elliott then quit the professional ranks when he went on to play for SJFA club Broxburn Athletic for the 1968–69 season and he retired from football completely after requiring a second cartilage operation after the completion of that season.

Life after football

Elliott had a career as a surveyor after playing football and eventually was in charge of the firm Kean Kennedy, before moving to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

in Portugal in the early Nineties, where started up a property management company.

Death

Elliott then died suddenly from a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

, aged 53 on 19 October 1996 and was cremated in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, with his ashes then being scattered in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Queen of the South F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Montrose F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players 1942 births Scottish Football League players People educated at Dumfries Academy Footballers from Dumfries 1996 deaths Broxburn Athletic F.C. players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen