Peter McCloy
Encyclopedia
Peter McCloy is a retired football goalkeeper who played for Motherwell
and Rangers
. He was a member of the Rangers team which won the 1972 Cup Winners Cup
, and was Rangers' first-choice goalkeeper for most of his 16-year spell at the club despite competition from players such as Gerhardt Neef
and Stewart Kennedy
.
he was nicknamed "The Girvan Lighthouse", due to his birthplace and the fact he stood at 6' 4" tall. He played under three different Rangers managers: Willie Waddell
, Jock Wallace
(in both of his spells as manager), and John Greig
. He won multiple honours in his Rangers career: two Scottish League
titles, four Scottish League Cup
s, four Scottish Cup
s and Rangers' only ever European trophy, the 1972 UEFA Cup Winners Cup. He was one of only five players who featured in every match of the latter campaign, alongside Sandy Jardine, Willie Mathieson
, Alex MacDonald and Colin Stein
. He made 535 appearances for Rangers, and played for Scotland
on four occasions.
After retiring as a player in 1986, McCloy went into coaching, firstly during Graeme Souness
' spell as Rangers manager, until 1988. He went on to work with a number of clubs and goalkeepers including Andy Goram
and Jim Leighton
.
He was on the bench for Hearts in the two games vs Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup Quarter Final.
McCloy is also a keen golf
er and has represented Scotland at amateur
level.
Motherwell F.C.
Motherwell Football & Athletic Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. The club compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of only seven teams to have remained in this league since it was founded in 1998...
and Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
. He was a member of the Rangers team which won the 1972 Cup Winners Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1971-72
The season 1971-72 of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers in a final victory against FC Dynamo Moscow.- Preliminary game :-First round:-First leg:-Second leg:Torino won 5–0 on aggregate....
, and was Rangers' first-choice goalkeeper for most of his 16-year spell at the club despite competition from players such as Gerhardt Neef
Gerhardt Neef
Gerhard "Gerry" Neef, often known as Gerhardt Neef was a German professional football player. -Club career:...
and Stewart Kennedy
Stewart Kennedy
Stewart Kennedy is a retired Scottish professional football goalkeeper who played for clubs including Dunfermline, Stenhousemuir, Rangers and Forfar....
.
Career
McCloy, the son of a former professional footballer who had played for St Mirren, joined Motherwell from Crosshill Thistle in 1964. He stayed there for six season before joining Rangers in a player exchange deal in 1970. At IbroxIbrox Stadium
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium located on the south side of the River Clyde, on Edmiston Drive in the Ibrox district of Glasgow. It is the home ground of Scottish Premier League club Rangers and has an all-seated capacity of 51,082...
he was nicknamed "The Girvan Lighthouse", due to his birthplace and the fact he stood at 6' 4" tall. He played under three different Rangers managers: Willie Waddell
Willie Waddell
Willie Waddell is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Aberdeen and Kettering Town. Waddell played for Aberdeen in the 1947 Scottish Cup Final victory against Hibernian.- Notes :...
, Jock Wallace
Jock Wallace
John "Jock" Martin Bokas Wallace was a professional Scottish football player and manager. His father, Jock Wallace, Sr., was a goalkeeper for Raith Rovers, Blackpool and Derby County....
(in both of his spells as manager), and John Greig
John Greig
John Greig MBE is a Scottish former professional football player who, despite his boyhood allegiance to hometown team Heart of Midlothian, spent his entire career in Glasgow with Rangers as a player, manager and director.Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the Rangers supporters...
. He won multiple honours in his Rangers career: two Scottish League
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...
titles, four Scottish League Cup
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
s, four Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...
s and Rangers' only ever European trophy, the 1972 UEFA Cup Winners Cup. He was one of only five players who featured in every match of the latter campaign, alongside Sandy Jardine, Willie Mathieson
Willie Mathieson
Willie Mathieson is a Scottish former professional footballer who played in the left-back position for Rangers, amongst other clubs. He was included in the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame on February 5, 2007....
, Alex MacDonald and Colin Stein
Colin Stein
Colin Stein is a former Scottish football player.-Career:Stein began his career with Armadale Thistle, and went on to play for Hibernian, Rangers and the Scottish national team during the 1960s and 1970s. He also had a spell in England with Coventry City...
. He made 535 appearances for Rangers, and played for Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
on four occasions.
After retiring as a player in 1986, McCloy went into coaching, firstly during Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...
' spell as Rangers manager, until 1988. He went on to work with a number of clubs and goalkeepers including Andy Goram
Andy Goram
Andrew Lewis Goram is a former Scotland international association football goalkeeper. He started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Rangers during the 1990s, when he earned the moniker "The Goalie"...
and Jim Leighton
Jim Leighton
James "Jim" Leighton MBE is a Scottish former football goalkeeper. Among the clubs he played for are Aberdeen , Manchester United, Arsenal, Dundee and Hibernian.-Club:...
.
He was on the bench for Hearts in the two games vs Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup Quarter Final.
McCloy is also a keen golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er and has represented Scotland at amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
level.