Full name Joe McBride Name Joe McBride Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland Role Footballer | Place of death Glasgow, Scotland Height 1.73 m 1953–1957 Kilmarnock | |
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Date of birth (1938-06-10)10 June 1938 Date of death 11 July 2012(2012-07-11) (aged 74) Died July 11, 2012, Glasgow, United Kingdom | ||
Joe McBride (10 June 1938 – 11 July 2012) was a Scottish footballer who played for clubs including Celtic, Hibernian, Motherwell and Dunfermline Athletic. He was a prolific striker and has the third highest tally of goals in the Scottish league since football resumed after the Second World War. McBride also represented both Scotland and the Scottish League.
Career
McBride was born in Govan, just 200 yards from the home of Rangers. He attended St. Gerard's RC Secondary, Govan and was a prolific goalscorer for their teams.
He signed for Kilmarnock when he was 15, and was loaned out to Kirkintilloch Rob Roy. He made an immediate impact when he was brought into the Kilmarnock first team, and was sold to Wolves for £12,500, a significant transfer fee at the time. McBride failed to settle in England, however, and his career only really took off when he signed for Motherwell.
McBride was Motherwell's top goalscorer in three successive seasons, which attracted the attention of new Celtic manager Jock Stein, who signed him for a fee of £22,000 in 1965. Along with Alex Ferguson of Dunfermline, McBride was the top goalscorer in the 1965–66 Scottish League with 31 goals. He again scored prolifically during the 1966–67 season, but suffered a serious injury in December 1966. This injury meant that although McBride was part of the Lisbon Lions squad, he did not play in the 1967 European Cup Final.
He never regained a regular place in the Celtic side, and subsequently transferred to Hibernian in 1968. McBride quickly regained his goalscoring form with Hibs, scoring on his debut, against Rangers, a hat-trick in his second match, against Lokomotive Leipzig, and four goals in his third match, against Morton. He was Hibs' top goalscorer in both the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons, and scored a second European hat-trick for Hibs, against Malmö FF.
McBride left Hibs in 1971, apparently because the club were unhappy that he did not want to move from his home in Glasgow. He ended his playing career in 1972 after short spells with Dunfermline and Clyde. McBride's son, also named Joe, also became a professional footballer.
He won two caps for Scotland, both in 1967 British Home Championship matches. McBride also scored eight goals in just four appearances for the Scottish League XI.
McBride died on 11 July 2012, days after suffering a stroke at his home in Glasgow.