Ian Wallace (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Ian Wallace, was a professional Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 footballer who had great success in the late-1970s and early-1980s when he played for top flight English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 clubs.

Club career

Wallace was playing for Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 league side Dumbarton
Dumbarton F.C.
Dumbarton Football Club is Scotland's 4th oldest football club – founded in 1872, just after Queen's Park , Kilmarnock and Stranraer...

 - having signed for them from Scottish Junior club Yoker Athletic - when he was purchased for £70,000 by the then Coventry
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...

 manager Gordon Milne
Gordon Milne
Gordon Milne is an English former footballer and football manager.-Personal life:Gordon Milne, was born in Preston, Lancashire, England and is the son of the former Preston player Jimmy Milne, and son to Jesse Milne...

. Wallace soon settled into the Coventry side with his small frame perfectly complimenting his larger strike partner Mick Ferguson
Mick Ferguson
Michael John "Mick" Ferguson is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent the best years of his playing career at Coventry City...

. He was adored by the Coventry City faithful and his heroic antics both one and off the field endeared him to the fans and his classic ginger curly perm haircut made him stand out as much as his acrobatic goals. He emerged from a bad car accident whilst at the club sporting a deep scar on the forehead and also detached a retina whilst playing for Coventry at Norwich
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...

.The 1977-78 saw Ian playing in Coventry's most exciting top flight team. A side containing Ferguson, Tommy Hutchison
Tommy Hutchison
Thomas "Tommy" Hutchison is a Scottish former footballer.-Club career:Beginning his professional career with Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Second Division, being spotted by Archie McPherson...

, Terry Yorath
Terry Yorath
Terence Charles Yorath is a former footballer and has been a manager at both club and international level. He is also the father of television presenter Gabby Logan....

, Graham Oakey
Graham Oakey
Graham Oakey is an English former football player. Oakey made 88 league appearances for Coventry City.Born in Droitwich, Worcestershire in 1954, Graham was a product of Coventry's youth development system. He made his league debut in a home 2-2 draw against Manchester City in September 1974...

, Bobby MacDonald and Jim Blyth
Jim Blyth
For the player of the same name see Jim Blyth James Anton 'Jim' Blyth is a former Scottish football goalkeeper, and current goalkeeping coach at Middlesbrough....

 played a brand of attacking football that swept many teams aside, often by large margins of victory.

He was sold to neighbouring Midlands club (and then European champions) Nottingham Forest in July 1980 for the then massive sum of £1.25 million and went on be Forest's top scorer for two seasons running. He subsequently moved to French club Brest before returning to English football with Sunderland
Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...

 in the years 1985-1986. He had spells with clubs in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 at the end of his playing career.

International career

Whilst a prolific goalscorer with top-flight clubs Coventry City and Nottingham Forest, Wallace surprisingly only played three times for his country. He scored his only international goal in the meeting with Bulgaria
Bulgaria national football team
The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...

 in February 1978, which featured his Coventry team-mate Jim Blyth
Jim Blyth
For the player of the same name see Jim Blyth James Anton 'Jim' Blyth is a former Scottish football goalkeeper, and current goalkeeping coach at Middlesbrough....

 in goal.

Dumbarton manager

He returned to Dumbarton
Dumbarton F.C.
Dumbarton Football Club is Scotland's 4th oldest football club – founded in 1872, just after Queen's Park , Kilmarnock and Stranraer...

 as manager in November 1996 replacing Jim Fallon
Jim Fallon
James "Jim" Fallon is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He played 619 Scottish Football League matches for Clydebank, going on to manage them and also Dumbarton....

. He was dismissed from this job in October 1999 and was replaced by Jimmy Brown
Jimmy Brown (football manager)
Jimmy Brown is a Scottish former association football manager. He was the manager from March 1999 to October 2000 of Dumbarton.Having gone through a mediocre first season in charge, he resigned from his position in the autumn of 2000. Brown was succeeded by his former assistant Tom Carson.-...

.

Personal life

Wallace appeared in Dumbarton Sheriff's Court on a charge of assault after a dispute with his partner. At this time Wallace was an alcoholic and had appeared intoxicated at an earlier hearing.

External links

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