Ernie McGarr

Ernest "Ernie" McGarr (born 9 March 1944) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for several clubs in the Scottish Football League and was capped twice for the Scotland national side.

Ernie McGarr
Personal information
Full name Ernest Andrew McGarr [1]
Date of birth (1944-03-09) 9 March 1944
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Kilbirnie Ladeside
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1971 Aberdeen 43 (0)
1971–1972 Dunfermline Athletic 25 (0)
1972–1977 East Fife 118 (0)
1977–1978 Cowdenbeath 44 (0)
1978–1980 Airdrieonians 75 (0)
1980–1981 Berwick Rangers 6 (0)
Leven Juniors
Oakley United
St Andrews United
Total 311 (0)
International career
1969 Scotland 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

McGarr signed for Aberdeen in 1965 from Junior club Kilbirnie Ladeside, and made his first team debut at the end of the 1965–66 season in a friendly match versus Crystal Palace.[2] The presence of Bobby Clark as his rival for the goalkeeping position at Pittodrie meant that first team opportunities in the early years were limited. It was only during the 1968–69 season, when a loss of form by Clark prompted manager Eddie Turnbull to give him a chance, that McGarr was able to stake his claim and secure a regular starting position.

Such was the impact that McGarr made, Scottish internationalist Clark could not regain his position, even appearing as an outfield player on two occasions.[3] McGarr's form was itself recognised with an international call-up for a friendly game in September 1969 against the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately, he went into the game carrying an injury picked up from a club match the previous day and only lasted 35 minutes before being substituted for Jim Herriot. He made one further appearance for the national team in November the same year, versus Austria in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match however Scotland were already unable to qualify and lost 2–0.

McGarr again lost his place in the Aberdeen side to Bobby Clark in early 1970 and later that year tabled a transfer request, eventually moving to Dunfermline Athletic in January 1971. From Dunfermline, McGarr moved to East Fife where he spent five seasons. A highlight of his spell at Bayview was a game against title chasing Celtic in February 1973 where he saved three penalty kicks in an entertaining 2–2 draw.[4] He later played for Cowdenbeath, Airdrieonians and Berwick Rangers before finishing his career in Fife Junior football.

References
  1. London Hearts profile
  2. Ernie McGarr profile thedons.co.uk
  3. Two's a crowd Archived 2 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine afc.co.uk
  4. East Fife history Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine eastfife.org
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