Andrew McCulloch (footballer)

The 20-year-old McCulloch made his Rangers debut immediately, replacing Frank Saul in the team, playing in a 5–2 home win over Birmingham City on 17 October 1970 and scoring the fifth goal.[5] He did not actually get paid for that debut match as he was still registered as an amateur, his professional registration coming through a few days later.[6] McCulloch was never a regular member of the Rangers team over the next two years, making 30 starts in League matches. His days at Rangers were numbered when they bolstered their forward line by signing Stan Bowles and Don Givens for the start of the 1972–73 season and he was sold to Cardiff City for a fee of £45,000 in October 1972.

In his two years with Cardiff City, the team had a fairly mediocre time finishing near the bottom of Division Two in both seasons. McCulloch however, had good form, top scoring in both seasons, notching 30 goals in 68 matches in all competitions. It was at this time that he was called up for his only cap for the Scotland under-23 team,[2] his Scottish parentage making him eligible even though he was born in England.[3] Cardiff won the Welsh Cup in both seasons that McCulloch played there,[7] qualifying them for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and in September 1973 McCulloch played against Sporting Clube de Portugal in the two-legged first round tie of the cup which Cardiff lost 2–1 on aggregate to give him the only experience of European football in his career. In July 1974, he moved to another Second Division side, Oxford United in a £70,000 deal, he had a fairly disappointing time at Oxford with the team relegated in his second season (1975–76) and McCulloch making only 12 League appearances. A botched recovery process from a cartilage operation saw McCulloch nearly lose a leg.[8]

With his career stalling McCulloch was forced to drop down to Division Four in his next move when he joined Brentford in March 1976 for a then club record fee of £25,000.[9] His move to The Bees rejuvenated his career although it was not until his second full season (1977–78) that things really started to happen when Brentford achieved promotion with McCulloch scoring 22 goals in 45 League appearances and forming a fine striking partnership with Steve Phillips, who contributed an excellent 32 goals.[10] In the summer of 1978 McCulloch was loaned out to Oakland Stompers of the North American Soccer League where he made 18 appearances, scoring three goals with one assist.[11] Back at Brentford for the 1978–79 campaign, the team consolidated their position in Division Three with McCulloch contributing 13 goals.

McCulloch's time as a Brentford player came to an end in May 1979 when he was persuaded to join Third Division Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday manager Jack Charlton was looking for a target man to partner Terry Curran in The Owls forward line and saw McCulloch as the ideal man. Charlton was working as a pundit for ITV on the 1979 FA Cup Final and met McCulloch on the Wembley gantry and agreed a deal which went through officially the following month.[12] Jack Charlton, who had a tendency to get mixed up over his player's names often referred to McCulloch as "Ian", confusing him with Notts County's Scottish winger Iain McCulloch. The McCulloch-Curran partnership contributed 34 goals in the following 1979–80 season as Wednesday were promoted.[13]

1980–81 saw McCulloch as Wednesday's top scorer in their return to Division Two. In his final two years at Hillsborough he acted as a foil for Gary Bannister in the Wednesday attack, with Bannister scoring most of the goals and taking much of the glory, however McCulloch contributed seven goals in both campaigns. McCulloch played in the 1983 FA Cup semi final at Highbury when Wednesday were defeated by Brighton. In August 1983, McCulloch was sold to Crystal Palace for a fee of £20,000 as new manager Howard Wilkinson brought in Imre Varadi to partner Bannister.[14][15]

At the end of his contract at Sheffield Wednesday McCulloch returned to the south of England to play for Crystal Palace for one season. In April 1984 he returned to Hillsborough to play for Crystal Palace in a League match and received a standing ovation from the home supporters, with McCulloch saying this is one of the fondest memories of his playing days.[12] He played the 1984–85 season with Aldershot but picked up a bad knee injury and this forced him to end his playing career at the age of 35. On retiring he worked for a company that cleaned household upholstery and hotel rooms and in 1989, opened his own cleaning business, Cardinal Cleaning in Molesey, Surrey doing the same line of work. The firm is still flourishing today having contracts to clean many big London hotels as well as individual customers. McCulloch still involved himself in football being the manager of part-time Esher United of the Kingston District League, which ended in 2017 but the team still trains together.[16]