Dave McPherson (footballer)

McPherson began at amateurs Gartcosh United before starting his professional career with boyhood favourites Rangers in 1980,[4] breaking into the first team while still a teenager.[5]

His impressive form ensured he achieved Under 21 recognition, as well as a place in the Rangers first team, by 1983; that year he scored four goals in one match against Malta's Valletta in the 1983–84 European Cup Winners' Cup,[6] the first Rangers player to achieve that goalscoring feat in a European fixture. However, by their own high standards Rangers were enduring a mediocre spell, limiting McPherson's initial success at Ibrox to one league title in 1986–87 (his final season, in which he played in 42 of the league fixtures)[5] and two League Cups in March 1984[7] and October 1984 (after the schedule was changed from a spring final to autumn).[8] He missed the 1986 showpiece due to suspension.[4]

The revolution brought about by the arrival of Graeme Souness (and numerous new signings) at Rangers led to McPherson being deemed surplus to requirements, and he was sold to Hearts for £325,000 in 1987.[8] He soon became a regular in the Tynecastle line-up, helping Hearts achieve regular high league finishes while enhancing his own reputation. Within two years he became both a Scotland international and club captain.[8] However, despite several close calls, the Jambos were unable to break their trophy famine and when debts began to rise, McPherson, by then the club's most valuable asset, was sold back to Rangers in 1992, for £1.3m.

McPherson's second spell at Rangers was much more successful than the first, as he helped Walter Smith's dominant side achieve the treble in 1992–93, then a double in the 1993–94 season. McPherson started each of those finals[9][10][11] (as well as the 1994 Scottish Cup Final which was a rare defeat, McPherson partly culpable for Dundee United's winning goal),[12] totalling 90 appearances over the two campaigns.[5] The flipside to this success, however was the continual arrival of internationally renowned players competing for positions, and McPherson again found himself relegated to the bench by 1994.

Financial troubles at Hearts dictated McPherson's next move, as he returned to the Edinburgh club in part exchange for Alan McLaren, Rangers also paying Hearts £1.25m. By now approaching the veteran stage, McPherson played an important role in nurturing Hearts' next generation of defenders such as Paul Ritchie and Gary Locke. He also helped the club to victory over Rangers in the 1998 Scottish Cup Final, their first silverware in 36 years,[4][8][13] having lost the 1996 Scottish Cup Final to the same opponents.[14] He is ranked as 20th on Hearts' all-time appearances list (375 matches) despite only having spent half of his career with the club.

After leaving Tynecastle in the summer of 1999, McPherson wound down his playing career in Australia with Carlton S.C. in Melbourne, and back in Scotland with Greenock Morton, where he combined playing with a coaching role for one season in 2001–02 before concentrating on coaching.