Stuart Samuel Baird (13 May 1930 – 21 April 2010) was a Scottish football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

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 football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

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

, Hibernian,

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scotti ...

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 Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

. He won three Scottish league titles (

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

1957 1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, t ...

and

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

) 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 * J ...

) 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. It remains the reco ...

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 once again reached the final, but lost again over two legs, this time to Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Aust ...

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

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

from 1956 to 1958. He scored on his debut against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

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

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in the

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

. 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. 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 be ...

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

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

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

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpo ...

. As preparation for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

, 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

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 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

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) was a 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 km sout ...

: 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 rul ...

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

Scottish Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a 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 km sout ...

: 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 Viaplay 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 exist ...

: ** Runner-up: 1957–58 *

: 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959–60 Hibernian * East of Scotland Shield: 1960–61 Third Lanark *

: 1962–63

Manager

Stirling Albion *

: 1964–65

References

External links

* *
Stirling Albion profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Sammy 1930 births 2010 deaths People from Denny, Falkirk Association football utility players Scottish footballers Scotland 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 Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League managers Association football inside forwards Association football wing halves