From that team, which also included future national captains Eric Caldow and Dave Mackay, and another future internationalist in Graham Leggat, Parker won his first cap just three months later, in a 3-0 Hampden win over Portugal. He was to add a further 14 caps over the next three years.

Irvine-born, Parker was playing in the Ayrshire junior league with Kello Rovers while fresh out of school when his form attracted the attention of Falkirk. He had been a centre forward at school, was converted to a wing-half by Kello, then converted again to a fullback at Brockville. He had found his true position, forming a highly-effective club partnership with Ian Rae. Indeed, the Parker and Rae combination was held to be the best club pairing in Scotland at the time.

He had made the first of an eventual 151 Falkirk appearances, aged 17, against East Fife, at inside right, in September, 1952. While with the club he also appeared eight times for the Scottish League XI and six times for the under-23s.

His place in Falkirk folklore was assured: he is still the club’s most-capped player, a member of the club’s Hall of Fame and was named in their Millennium XI.

That first cap in May 1955 saw Parker establish himself as Scotland’s first choice right back – wearing the number two jersey in nine of 10 internationals, while the left back place in the same run of games was disputed by four players.

It was something of a surprise, therefore, when the uncapped Eric Caldow of Rangers, Parker’s fullback partner in that inaugural under-23 game two years earlier, was preferred to him for the 1957 Wembley meeting with England.

That snub was a rare disappointment in a great season which saw Parker enjoy Hampden success, as Falkirk beat Kilmarnock in a replay to win the Scottish Cup, while he was voted as the then unofficial Scottish Player of the Year.

Parker sat out five internationals before the pairing of Parker and Caldow was finally chosen for the home international against Northern Ireland, in Belfast, on October 5, 1957. They continued in harness for the Hampden win over Switzerland a month later, which clinched Scotland’s place in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden, and the 1-1 draw with Wales a week later.

But there was to be just one more joint outing for the all-Ayrshire combination, in the disastrous 2-3 Norkopping World Cup loss to Paraguay on June 11, 1958. Parker was one of five players from that match who were never again picked for Scotland.

By then he was an Everton player, his displays in helping the Bairns beat Kilmarnock in the 1957 Scottish Cup Final and his consistent performances in the national team persuading the English club to pay the then not inconsiderable sum of £18,000 to take him to Goodison Park at the end of the 1958 domestic season.

He was to go on to make more than 200 appearances for the club in a seven-year period, during which he was recognised as one of the best and most-consistent fullbacks in England.

He was doing his National Ser­vice with the Royal Scots Fusiliers at the time of his transfer, and a posting to Cyprus meant his Everton debut was delayed until November 1958. At that time the British Army XI was a virtual Great Britain Under-23 XI and, in games for the Army across Europe, Parker did not look out of place alongside such as Cliff Jones of Tottenham and Wales and Bobby Charlton of Manchester United and England.

He was soon an Everton fans’ favourite in a squad with a strong tartan tint. Among his Goodison team-mates were fellow Scotland caps Jimmy Gabriel, Bobby Collins, Tommy Ring, Alex Scott and former Hearts star Alex Young.

His best Everton season was probably 1962-63, when he added an English League Championship-winner’s medal to the Scottish Cup one he had won with Falkirk.

The promise of future England fullback Tommy Wright persuaded Everton to sell Parker to near-neighbours Southport for a token £2000 in September 1965. He spent three years as a player at Haig Avenue before crossing the Irish Sea to become player-manager of Ballymena in 1968. He then moved on to Drumcondra in the League of Ireland before, three months later, returning to Southport as trainer-coach, becoming manager soon afterwards. He only had one full season as manager before severing his ties with the game in May 1971, to take over what became a successful pub, The Swinging Sporran, in Runcorn, Cheshire.

He sold the pub in 1987 and decided to return home to live on the Solway Coast, at Gretna, running the Crossways Inn in that town and later the Coach and Horses in Carlisle, finally retiring two years ago.

He enjoyed living in Gretna and was a regular at Raydale Park, even before the Brooks Mileson revolution. He also followed nearby Annan Athletic and gifted two of his old Scottish international jerseys to both clubs. Ill health dogged his last months, and he had his left leg amputated in April last year. He had appeared to be making a good recovery from this.

Irene, his Irish-born wife of 40 years, spoke warmly of the friendships they made in Gretna and of how well the officials of Annan and his two main clubs, Falkirk and Everton, have supported her, son Gary and daughter Emma, who is expecting what would have been Alex’s first grand-child.

Scottish international footballer;

Born August 2, 1935;

Died January 7, 2010.