Stuart Samuel Baird (13 May 1930 – 21 April 2010) 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

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Career

During his playing career he played for Clyde,

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

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 ...

, Hibernian, Third Lanark and

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

. He won three Scottish league titles (

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

and

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

) and one

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

) with Rangers. Baird won the Division Two title in 1951–52 with Clyde. Baird scored five times for Rangers as they reached the

1959–60 European Cup The 1959–60 European Cup was the fifth season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 in the final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 18 May 1960, th ...

semi finals and was influential for Hibernian on their run to the

1960–61 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The third Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the first to be played over a single season, namely the 1960–61 season. Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as ...

semi finals. Preston paid £12,000 for his signature and Rangers paid £10,000 for his services. Hibs then forked out £5,000 for him.

International career

He earned seven international

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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 ...

from 1956 to 1958. He scored on his debut 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 ...

, and also in his last match, a 2–1 defeat by

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 ...

in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

. The latter goal was the first time a Rangers player scored in a World Cup Finals match. He remains the only Rangers player to do so for Scotland in open play. Additionally, Baird represented the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

on five occasions. He scored in his last appearance against the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

at Ibrox in 1958. He earned earlier representative honours with Clyde. In 1953 against the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, Baird converted a penalty for Scotland XI in 2–2 draw at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

. As preparation for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, Baird played for a Scotland XI in a couple of trial matches in 1958.

Manager

As Stirling Albion manager, Baird led the team to promotion to Division One winning the Division Two title in 1964–65. His Albion team became the first

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and first professional team to tour Japan in 1966. The results of the two-match tour were 3–1 against a Japanese All Stars XI and 4–2 against the Japan national team. He was later sacked in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

because the club were heading for relegation back to Division Two.

Personal life

Baird died on the morning of 21 April 2010.

Honours

Player

Clyde *

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 ...

: 1951–52 * Supplementary Cup: 1951–52 *

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

: 1951–52 ** Runner-up: 1949–50 * Glasgow Charity Cup: 1951–52 Rangers *

Scottish Division One 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 ...

: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1958–59 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1959–60 *

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 ...

: ** Runner-up: 1957–58 *

: 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959–60 Hibernian *

East of Scotland Shield The East of Scotland Shield is a Scottish football trophy awarded by the East of Scotland Football Association. The only older cup competition in Scottish football is the Scottish Cup. The tournament is the third-oldest in world football st ...

: 1960–61 Third Lanark *

: 1962–63

Manager

Stirling Albion *

: 1964–65

References

External links

* *
Stirling Albion profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Sammy 1930 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Denny, Falkirk Men's association football utility players Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Stirling Albion F.C. managers Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Men's association football inside forwards Men's association football wing halves 20th-century Scottish sportsmen