Revered in the town, ‘Crunchie’ was admired by many fans across Scottish football for his wing trickery – but famously never capped. The south stand at The Falkirk Stadium will be re-branded and dedicated to his Bairns career in a friendly match with Kilmarnock on June 24.
He was not the only surprise omission from squad-after-squad as many prominent players’ careers ended without international appearances.
Inexplicable, surprising or just plain unlucky, some, like the famous case of Tosh McKinlay at Hearts, had to move clubs to be noticed. Others were not so fortunate.
Here we look back on 10 of the best uncapped Scottish players – two who DID gain honours as ‘over-age players’ but many more from bygone eras are missing from our short list, as well as the SFA roll call.
9. Andy Halliday
Utility man for Hearts and previously Rangers Halliday never quite made a squad during his peak era - either due to the strength of the selection pool or the level he was paying at with Rangers, Middlesbrough or Hearts in a different early-00s era he’d have surely picked up a few from friendlies. Photo: Alan Harvey - SNS Group
10. Andy Ritchie
A maverick worshipped by Morton fans, in a similar vein to Falkirk’s adoration of McAllister, Ritchie is a cult hero in Greenock despite his career ending at just 28 - with one Scotland cap aged 23... for the under-21s as an over-age player. Renown for his ball mastery and goal-scoring corner kicks, his talents more than made up for his work-rate and his dead ball specialism contributed more than 100 goals for the Ton and also led the league in 1979. Retiring at 28 retains an air of mystique of what could have been for one of the most technically gifted players of his or many other generations. Photo: SNS Group
11. Hamish McAlpine.
Another cult hero, another long association with a club and another overlooked. Dundee United stalwart McAlpine, like Ritchie, was capped at under-21 level as an overage player but, with Alan Rough established international number one, the famous goal-scoring goalie was never capped. Photo: SNS Group