Danny Malloy

Born: November 6, 1930

Died: January 14, 2015.

DANNY Malloy, who has died aged 84, was one of the unluckiest footballers in Scottish football history. Towards the end of the 1950s, with Willie Woodburn suspended sine die, and George Young approaching the end of his long international career, Malloy was seen as the heir apparent to the Scotland centre-half position.

He was capped at B level, played for the Scottish League XI against the English League and made several appearances for Scotland XIs in trial games and unofficial friendlies, but he never made that final step up to the full Scotland team.

Born in the Stirlingshire village of Longcroft, Malloy left school at 14 to work in a local ironfoundry. He was already playing football, for the village boys team - LBH, from where he moved seamlessly to his works' team, Wellstood Juveniles. From there he moved into the junior ranks with Camelon, before going upstairs to Dundee, who won a tug-of-war with East Fife for his signature.

Malloy had played well for Camelon in a local cup final at Brockville, and, on the final whistle, the East Fife scout vaulted the barrier and rushed onto the park to speak to Malloy. Unfortunately, Dundee's scout was already in negotiations with the Camelon committee, and he was on his way to Dens.

However, his senior career had to go on hold while he did his national service with the Royal Artillery at Salisbury. He played for the regiment and for the British Army, but, on joining up at Dundee, he had to serve his time in the reserves, unable to get a first-team game because of the stellar Gallacher, Cowie and Boyd half-back line which was such an integral component of the Dundee team of the time.

Alan Boyd's return to South Africa opened the door for Malloy, with Doug Cowie, who was a great supporter of the young centre-half, moving to left-half. Once installed, Malloy quickly impressed, leading to his selection for the Scotland XI which faced Hibs and Falkirk in trial games, designed to prepare the full Scotland side for the mammoth task of facing the mighty Hungarians, at Hampden, in December, 1954.

Malloy was the only member of the defence in both games not to be picked for the international, with Partick Thistle's Jimmy Davidson getting the number five shirt.

He was centre-half in the Scottish League team which beat the English League at Hampden, in March 1955. This game was seen as a rehearsal for the full international at Wembley two weeks later, but, fortunately as things turned out, Malloy failed the test and was not in the team thrashed 7-2.

By now big English clubs were sniffing around the Dundee centre-half, but, newly-married, and with cash-strapped Dundee keen to cash in on their brightest young star, Malloy surprisingly signed for Cardiff City, then in the top-flight in England - a £500 signing-on fee clinching the deal for the Bluebirds, who paid £17,000 to take him to Wales, in December 1955. He had played a mere 80-odd games for the Dens Parkers.

He was back at Dens on Leap Year Day, 1956. making his Scotland B debut in a 2-2 draw with England. A year later, he captained the B team, as they lost 4-1 to the Auld Enemy, at Birmingham City's St Andrew's. It was his final representative honour.

Cardiff had only just avoided relegation the previous season. They improved to 17th in his first half-season, but the following season, 1956-57, they were relegated to the Second Division, now the Championship.

Malloy was club captain when City were promoted back to the top-flight, finishing second to Aston Villa, in season 1959-60. They finished a mid-table 15th in their first season back, but Malloy had a dispute about wages with the club and during the 1961 close-season, he agreed to join Fourth Division Doncaster Rovers as player-manager.

This was the wrong move, at the wrong time. Family legend has it, Malloy returned from his first training session at Belle Vue, to tell wife Margaret: "Don't unpack - we will not be here long". Mind you, his time at Doncaster did see him form an intimidating central defensive partnership with future comedian Charlie Williams, a man who said of his footballing credentials: "I were never much of a player, but I could kick them as were."

Malloy was right to have misgivings about the club. Rovers finished third-bottom, in the season during which Accrington Stanley resigned from the league. The Malloy family returned to Scotland, as Danny signed for Clyde. Johnny Haddow, the man who had masterminded Clyde's 1958 Scottish Cup win was in-charge when Malloy signed, but, when he resigned, with the Bully Wee struggling at the foot of Division One, to be succeeded by John Prentice, Malloy knew his days were numbered. He had never got on with Prentice when playing against him and within weeks, he had hung up his boots.

Malloy was a hard but fair player. He rather enjoyed being considered an old-school centre-half of the "if it moves, kick it; if it doesn't move, kick it till it does" variety. He brooked no nonsense on the park, once famously responding to some Brian Clough verbals in a game against Middlesbrough, by laying out Old Big 'Ead with a single punch. However, he was only sent off once, playing in a reserve game for Dundee, at Brechin.

To his credit, Malloy was ashamed of himself for his response to Clough's taunting. Clough's Middlesbrough team mates felt rather differently, congratulating him on temporarily shutting up their mouthy captain.

He also had something of a reputation as a goal-scorer, at the wrong end, netting 14 own goals during his six years at Cardiff, including two in one game, as the Bluebird beat Liverpool's Reds 3-2 in 1959.

After football, he joined the Denny building firm run by his brother James, where he worked away quietly until he retired at 65.

He took up golf and became a single-figure handicap man, while he kept himself fit by lengthy walks with a succession of dogs, the last of which, a Scottie named Kirstie, died just before her master.

His final years were dogged by poor health, heart, kidney and gallstone problems seeing him frequently hospitalised. His beloved Margaret died in 1993 and he is survived by son Andy, daughter Linda and seven grand-children.

Danny Malloy is almost forgotten now, but his story was told in the book: Memoirs of a Hard Man - the Danny Malloy Story, co-written with son Andy. His passing has been marked by sadness in Cardiff, where he remains a hero to the older Bluebird fans.

MATT VALLANCE