JOHN ALWAYS PLAYED IT COOL

COOLSER CELEBRATES HIS MATCHWINNING GOAL IN THE 1987 JUNIOR CUP FINAL AGAINST KILBIRNIE

If it is your impression that John McCool is someone with a special place in the annals of Junior football, you’d be right on the money.

No less than the legendary Billy Patterson is mentioned in the book 100 YEARS The History of Junior Football for having won the Scottish Junior Cup nine years apart with Cambuslang Rangers (1971) and Bailleston (1980) ,an achievement matched in more recent times by Auchinleck Talbot goalkeeper Andy Leishman from picking up winners gongs in the Covid affected period of 2011 v Musselburgh Athletic and 2022 v Yoker Athletic ( well the competition was suspended for two years?).

So it follows that any re-write of sorts by co-author David McGlone is sure to list McCool out on his own seeing as a 10 year span exists between him getting his hands on the game’s No 1 silverware prize , firstly as a Kilbirnie Ladeside player (1977) and more memorably Auchinleck (1987) when netting the only goal of a replayed Final against his former club lost him all of his Garnock Valley friends overnight.

Coolser has fond memories of being reared in Barrhead and consequently attending St Lukes Secondary in the East Renfrewshire town whose school team, despite also boasting the talented likes of Gordon Boyd (later of Rangers) and John Connolly (St Johnstone, Everton , Newcastle United), achieved nothing more notable than a couple of Renfrewshire Schools Cup triumphs during his school years.

But whereas Messrs Boyd and Connolly opted for crack Boys Club side Glasgow United as the next step on their twin footballing ladders, teenage prospect Coolser electing to join Gourock Parish Church Y.M. left close friends scratching their heads in bewilderment.

He laughed “ I can understand why because Gourock was a bit out of the way for someone from Barrhead and as you might imagine the Parish Church Y.M were not exactly one of the big names in Boys Football back then .

“Their pitch and training ground facilities were second to none however, so I roped my pal Michael McDevitt into going there with me even though one of the odd stipulations for playing with them was you had to attend Gourock Church at least once a month!

”Our team was made up of three of us from St Johns Church and the rest from Gourock but we still managed to win the Paisley and District League as well as a couple of Cup competitions in my first season,

“The following year aged just 17, I was asked out on trial with Arthurlie whose Match Secretary wanted to sign me but so too did their local rivals Neilston whose manager (Peter or David Orr going by memory? ) put up a very good argument as to why a move to Brig O’Lea would be a better option than Dunterlie by warning me `Anyone playing for their home town team comes in for absolute pelters whenever there’s a bad result `?”

Coolser was to spend a solitary and fairly uneventful season with the Farmers Boys other than getting to play in the same team as Jimmy McQuade prior to the acclaimed midfielder’s transfer to Cambuslang Rangers while his own departure ahead of the 1974/75 season came about following a chance conversation in his day job as an apprentice toolmaker with Chrysler U.K. in Linwood.

He takes up the story, “A journeyman when I was serving my time, Tommy Storrie, was also on the Committee down at Kilbirnie Ladeside and he talked me into going along to meet their team manager Sconie Davidson whose persistence (he didn’t take Maybes Aye let alone Maybes No for an answer) were always going to ensure my name was on a form before I was allowed to go home that night.

“In fairness ,the Kilbirnie team he sold me on was all he said and more besides, comprising as it did of terrific players such as George McFarlane, Jim Marner, Bobby Davidson, John Leslie, Davie McIlroy, George Kane, Ian Baillie ,Ronnie Cooke and not forgetting Ian `Thatch` Kerr, so nicknamed because of an unforgettable mass of hair on his head.

“ Our team were Ayrshire Cup winners that season yet the biggest feat was undoubtedly reaching the Scottish Junior Cup semi-finals ,all of 24 years after a Kilbirnie team had previously got to the last four stage.

“ We were strong favourites to go all the way not least because the semi-final against Rutherglen Glencairn was to be played at Rugby Park where our fans outnumbered theirs ten to one but unfortunately a Willie Woods goal decided the game 3-2 in Glencairn’s favour.”

His forward line partnership with the prolific scoring Kane ,so pivotal in Kilbirnie’s wonderful Cup run, had also attracted the attention of a multitude of Senior scouts ,leading to an unsuccessful outing for Coolser with St Mirren (when Alex Ferguson was manager) in an Ibrox staged Reserves game against Rangers prior to the Kilbirnie duo finding themselves invited South to take part in trials for English clubs,

COOLSER (third from right seated) AS A NOTTS COUNTY PLAYER

He recounted,” My first stop was Norwich City where John Bond was managing a team containing the England World Cup winner Martin Peters and Scotland internationalist Ted McDougall among others.

“I remember appearing in a Grays Cup Final against Ipswich Town where I somewhat bizarrely featured as a Norwich player in the first half before changing sides (and jerseys) to turn out and score a goal for the 2-1 victorious Ipswich in the second and before you ask?… I got both winners and runners-up medals afterwards.”

When no signing approaches were imminent, Coolser moved on for a previously arranged stint at Notts County where he joined forces again with Kane as they sought to try and impress fellow Scot and one time Celtic signing Jimmy Sirrell, in charge of Magpies` playing matters back then.

McCool bagging a hat trick in a 3-2 Reserves game victory did the trick to secure a contract offer for him while Kane was likewise snapped up and they entered into a Meadow Lane dressing room inhabited by notable worthies Ian Scanlon (soon to join Aberdeen) goalkeeper Eric McManus , Dave Needham ( a future Brian Clough signing for Nottingham Forest) and Republic of Ireland internationalist full back Ray O’Brien.

Kane found it difficult to settle into his new surroundings and a short time later was heading back up the road on a free transfer while Coolser ‘s preference for staying the course and fighting for a jersey was to have repercussions as he found out to his cost.

“ Breaking into Notts County’s first team , even one battling against relegation was no easy ask and I was only too happy to go out on loan to Grimsby Town whose manager Tommy Casey was keen on arranging a more permanent deal but Notts County wouldn’t play ball and refused to release me unless I was moving to a Scottish club.” he revealed.

“They held all the cards and I felt there was nothing for it other than to come back up to Scotland where I ended up working my trade as a Toolmaker and taking almost a year out of football.”

Word of his return to these parts was warmly welcomed by former gaffer Sconie, whose overseeing Kilbirnie’s second successive Junior Cup semi-final defeat (a 2-1 beating by Darvel) had him doubly determined to bring Coolser back to Valefield as the replacement for his Shrewsbury Town bound freescoring front man Paul McGuire.

The team boss needn’t have been over-concerned as the lure of a Valefield reunion with fitness coach and close friend Hughie McDonald as well as a highly regarded collective of his former team mates in Ada McLaughlin, Davie McIlroy, Marner, Baillie and Kerr to name but a few, proved irresistible for Coolser but little did he know his signing on the dotted line for a second time would prove third time lucky for the Ayrshire club and its supporters .

Kilbirnie remarkably made it through to the Holy Grail’s penultimate stage yet again only this time Jim Inglis & Co ran out 1-0 replay winners over Lesmahagow thus setting up a Hampden Park showpiece finale against Rob Roy which saw Ladeside recover from falling a goal behind to win 3-1 thanks to goals from Bobby Davidson, Tam McGill and Ronnie Harvey.

McCOOL (second from right sitting) WITH KILBIRNIE LADESIDE’S CUP WINNING TEAM

His displays in spearheading Kilbirnie’s forward line also gained overdue recognition from then Junior Scotland boss John Binnie and Coolser was to be the recipient of four caps against Wales(2) and England(2) playing alongside the respected Junior likes of Dennis Gray(Auchinleck Talbot ),Frankie Quinn (Rutherglen Glencairn), Tommy Ure (Linlithgow Rose) Cammy Hitchell (Kello Rovers) Pat O’Hara (Shettleston), and Joe McGoldrick (Kilbirnie).

He recalled , “Scotland also played a couple of Ibrox warm-up games against a Rangers X1 containing first teamers Derek Johnstone and Johnny Hamilton games and one of the occasions we came out on top which caused Jock Wallace to go ballistic and scream at his players for being second best to `A Bunch of F…… Juniors` even though our line-up did include more players with Senior experience than his.“

Kilbirnie’s outstanding Cup triumph gave rise to thoughts of better to come particularly after Coolser and his team mates signed back on again however there was no other logic to expectations of a follow-up silver lining campaign so the disappointing season that ensued was the cause of various behind-the-scenes fall-outs, one of which between Coolser and Sconie contributed to the striking ace submitting a transfer request and subsequently moving to Irvine Meadow .

He reminisced , “Jock Minford was the Medda manager at the time and was building a team around tried and trusted types Peter Monan, Frankie Clarke, Stevie Logan and Ronnie Adams so I took it as a massive compliment that he saw me as another of that ilk.

“Unfortunately we went on to underachieve big style in winning only the Jackie Scarlett Cup and another local Ayrshire competition in the two years I spent at Meadow Park which were scarred somewhat by a dodgy Alan Craig tackle in a game against Beith.

“Badly torn ankle ligaments meant I was sidelined for a lengthy period and I played no more than a couple of games on my comeback before Medda accepted a bid from Kilwinning Rangers where my long time mucker Hughie McDonald had been pushing for me to be signed .”

Coolser recalls playing alongside George Wall and former Kilbirnie Ladeside team mate John Leslie in a Buffs side that were to be crowned Ayrshire Second Division champions and pick up another three pieces of local Ayrshire silverware (at the very least he thinks) during a two year long Abbey Park sojourn which came to an abrupt halt when he elected to take up a day-job at Glasgow Airport necessitating him working shifts as well as one Saturday in three.

An airplane aisle would have been required for Coolser to juxtapose all the gongs won during his chequered footballing career though there was one notable omission from the 32 year old’s prized haul …a West of Scotland Cup medal (more of that later) .

He reminisced,” I had more or less resigned myself to bringing the curtain down until Hughie (McDonald), by now having become an integral part of Willie Knox’s backroom team at Auchinleck, said I was welcome to come along, whenever my shifts allowed, and train alongside the Talbot players to keep my fitness levels up.

“The prospect appealed but I also took to watching the guys in a few of their pre-season games as you do, and it was before one of them that Knoxy firstly asked me to play because of a shortage of numbers and afterwards said he wanted to sign me to provide extra cover notwithstanding the fact I was only going to be available 3 out of 4 weekends.

“Our arrangement saw me get very little game time throughout the season but I did come off the bench for 20 minutes in our Junior Cup quarter final with Irvine Meadow as well as 10 minutes in the 1-0 defeat of Kilbirnie in the semi-finals.

“We now had a Scottish Junior Cup Final v Pollok on the horizon along with a traffic jam of League and Cup games needing fulfilled before then, so three games (and sometimes four) per week became the norm and I was called into playing action more often than not.

“ Nevertheless, I was totally unprepared (probably shocked is a better description of how I felt) when the day of the Cup Final saw us gather together in an Ayrshire hotel for lunch and Knoxy proceeded to read out his starting X1 which had me in central defence in place of Jock McNeil who had played in each and every one of Talbot’s Cup ties up to then!

“To say it was a bombshell would be putting it mildly.”

COOLSER(right) PARADES THE HOLY GRAIL SILVERWARE AROUND HAMPDEN PARK (with one of his younger team mates) AFTER THE 1986 VICTORY OVER POLLOK

Coolser got over his surprise to serve up the kind of stirring defensive display that anyone in his shell-shocked shoes would have craved particularly throughout Hampden Park’s second 45 minutes when he masterfully swept up behind George Gemmell, Billy Young and the sadly deceased Sam McCulloch in putting up the shutters as Pollok unsuccessfully attempted to get back on level terms from a 3-2 half time deficit .

And amid the crazy and unrehearsed celebrations out on the pitch at the final whistle , he still had the decency and presence of mind to think of team mate McNeil whom he’d replaced at the eleventh hour by magnanimously offering him the winners medal (Jock said Thanks but No Thanks) he’d just received from SJFA Secretary Willie Blaney

Thoughts of his second open-top bus ride through a wildly celebrating Ayrshire town are forever ingrained in the nowadays 69 year old’s memory as are recollections of Talbot mounting a glorious treble finish to that 1985/86 season thanks to Ayrshire First Division Championship and West of Scotland Cup successes.

Having established himself as Talbot’s first choice `libero`, Coolser duly played his part in a 2-1 title-clinching win over Cumnock yet was arguably more delighted to finally get his hands on the West of Scotland Cup prize he had long coveted, not least because the 3-2 Final victory over Rutherglen Glencairn also allowed him a semblance of retribution for his Kilbirnie side’s Scottish Junior Cup defeat at the hands of the Ru’Glonians back in 1976.

The defensive mainstay must have known his Talbot appearances were about to be numbered after Knoxy reinstated the vastly experienced Derek McDicken at the start of the following season and the passage of time only reinforced this notion as Coolser assumed more of a player/coach role.

That said , a dearth of trusted defensive alternatives ensured he was always in and around the wizened Talbot gaffer’s thoughts , somewhat fortuitously as it turned out after Auchinleck again made it through to the Scottish Junior Cup Final where Coolser’s former team Kilbirnie provided the Rugby Park opposition .

His worth as one of the named substitutes was never better flagged up than when McDicken unluckily broke his leg with 13 minutes on the clock and his ready- made replacement McCool was introduced to `steady the ship ` and enable Talbot to play out a hard fought 1-1 draw.

Not surprisingly , he was on from the start in the replay just three days later and this time Coolser’s cameo was to be prove even more telling after he was given licence to step forward and blast home a fabulous free kick score for what was the only goal of the game.

COOLSER WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A SERIAL TROPHY WINNER AT AUCHINLECK

He was to remain at Auchinleck for another five years and three more Scottish Junior Cup victories, albeit more as Knoxy’s No 2 than in any playing capacity, and the long list of his achievements over his 22 years in the game marks him out as someone who was never likely to be one of those former players that upon reaching the end of his career thinks “I could and should have done so much more.”

Not Coolser …and football’s loss (he is rarely seen as a spectator, not even when Kilbirnie or Auchinleck are playing) is golf’s gain as he openly admits his motivation nowadays comes from trying to better the 5.5 handicap conferred upon him at Cochrane Castle Golf Club in Johnstone where he tees off most Saturday mornings.

Few would bet against him doing it?

FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY26^th AUGUST (Kick Offs 2 PM unless stated): P.D.M HUWS GRAY Premier Division. Pollok v Largs Thistle, Arthurlie v Hurlford Utd, Darvel v Benburb , St Cadocs v Glenafton, Troon v Rob Roy, Beith v Auchinleck Talbot, Clydebank v Cumnock. P.D.M HUWS GRAYFirst Division. Maybole v Neilston, Renfrew v Ashfield, Drumchapel Utd v Kilbirnie Ladeside, Cambuslang Rangers v Johnstone Burgh ,Petershill v Kilwinning Rangers, Shotts Bon Accord v Thorniewood Utd, Blantyre Vics v Rutherglen Glencairn, Whitletts Vics v St Rochs. PDM HUWS GRAY Second Division. Maryhill v Forth Wanderers, Cumbernauld Utd v Larkhall Thistle, Craigmark v Yoker Athletic, Ardrossan Winton Rovers v Bonnyton Thistle, Kilsyth Rangers v Glasgow University, Wishaw v Glasgow Perthshire, St Anthonys vMuirkirk,Vale of Clyde v Caledonian Locomotives. PDM HUWS GRAYThird Division. Finnart v Ardeer Thistle, Port Glasgow v Dalry Thistle, Threave Rovers v Bellshill Athletic, Lemahagow v Glasgow Utd, ,Lanark Utd v Kilsyth Athletic ,Greenock v Girvan,West Park Utd v Vale of Leven. PDM HUWS GRAYFourth Division. Newmains Utd v Lugar Boswell, BSC Glasgow v Rossvale , Easterhouse v Glenvale, Eglinton v St Peters, Thorn Athletic v Campbelltown Pupils, Knightswood v Giffnock S.C., Royal Albert v East Kilbride Thistle, Saltcoats Vics v Carluke Rovers .

Regards Jim O’Donnell