Colin McAdam

Colin McAdam, who has died suddenly following a heart attack aged 61, was a former footballer perhaps best-known for his spell with Rangers during the club's dark days in the early 1980s.

Colin and his brother Tom, who was three years younger, both began their senior careers with Dumbarton. From there Colin, at the time a big "target man" type of centre forward, moved on, firstly to Motherwell, then to Partick Thistle, who paid £25,000 for his signature. At Firhill, he formed a muscular and effective strike force with Doug Somner.

Colin McAdam never thought of himself as anything other than a good, journeyman"professional, but, in 1978, he won his solitary representative honour, when he was chosen for the Scottish League XI for their match with the Irish League, at Fir Park, on 1 November, 1978.

League internationals were being phased out around this time and were no longer as important as they had once been - when to win a League cap and impress was seen as a stepping stone to the full Scotland team. Perhaps the game, which finished in a 1-1 draw, did not go as well for him as McAdam might have hoped; he was substituted - by Thistle team mate Somner, during the second half.

A Rangers fan since boyhood, his goal-scoring form for Thistle - hitting the net 34 times in 114 starts for the club - persuaded John Greig to invest £165,000 in taking him to Ibrox as a striker in June 1980. This was a good result for Rangers, not so good for Thistle, who had sought a higher fee and McAdam's transfer value was the first in Scotland to be set by a transfer tribunal.

He was thrust into his first Old Firm game in August that same year, fate taking him head-to-head with his brother Tom and, although he didn't score, the elder McAdam had the satisfaction of helping Rangers to their first Old Firm win in eight starts.

Even better was to come in November of that year, when, again going head-to-head with his brother, Colin McAdam scored twice in a 3-0 Ibrox win over their fiercest rivals, a much-needed boost for a club still reeling from midweek defeat to lowly Chesterfield in an Anglo-Scottish Cup tie. The brothers faced each other seven times in Old Firm games, with Tom emerging a 4-3 winner.

Colin played some 100 games for Rangers, scoring 32 goals - quite a few powerful headers - a good return considering an injury crisis had seen him converted to a centre-half and he did not always play up front.

With Greig's departure and the return to the club of Jock Wallace, however, McAdam's star wained and he was allowed to leave the club in 1985.

His next stop was Adelaide City in Australia, but he was back in Scotland for the start of the new season, signing for Hearts, for whom he made a mere six appearances, all off the bench.

He then returned to Firhill, where he played out his senior career, before joining Ayrshire junior side Irvine Meadow. His debut for the Meadow, at local rivals Kilwinning Rangers' Abbey Park, put a few punters on to the gate to see him playing in midfield. Afterwards, he told former Rangers team mate Jim Stewart, who lived in Kilwinning: "You could play midfield in this league for a season and never kick a ball - it simply sails over your head all the time."

He wasn't finished with Thistle's Maryhill heartland, however, going from Irvine to Maryhill Juniors, where he wound down his playing career.

Colin McAdam the footballer was seen by some as somewhat unsophisticated. The fans dubbed him The Beast, for instance. This impression belied an intelligent, erudite non-drinking man; he was a qualified PE teacher. Gaining his qualifications perhaps helped delay his entry to the senior ranks - he continued to teach while playing and, once he put active football behind him he enjoyed a long career in education, mainly working with troubled youngsters in Glasgow.

He is survived by his wife Celia, sons Kenneth and Ross, daughters Carol-Anne and Melanie and grand-children Morgan and Jackson. He will be cremated, at Clydebank's North Dalnotar Crematorium, at 10.30am on Friday..