MAURICE MALPAS - SFA HALL OF FAME MEMBER

Maurice Malpas is the joint 13th most capped Scotland player of all time, a position he shares with Denis Law. To put this incredible achievement is some kind of perspective, Maurice has won more caps than Scotland luminaries such as Billy Bremner, Graeme Souness, Joe Jordan, Gordon Strachan and Colin Henry.

As a member of the SFA's Hall of Fame Maurice received a gold medal, his portrait is hung at the SFA offices at the National Stadium, Hampden Park and he receives an invitation for life to all Scotland's home matches.

MAURICE MALPAS - INTERNATIONAL RECORD

Scotland Under 21's (Eight caps)

• 1982/83 v Belgium, Switzerland (2)
• 1983/84 v Belgium, German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia (2)
• 1984/85 v Spain

• 1983/84 v France 1984/85 v England and Iceland
• 1985/86 v Wales, Australia (2), Israel, Romania, England, Holland, Denmark
• 1986/87 v Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Belgium 1987/88 v Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxemburg, Saudia Arabia, Malta
• 1988/89 v Norway, Yugoslavia, Italy, Cyprus, France, Cyprus
• 1989/90 v Yugoslavia, France, Norway, Egypt, Poland, Malta, Costa Rica, SWEDEN*, Brazil 1990/91 v Romania, Bulgaria (2), USSR, San Marino 1991/92 v Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria (2), USSR, San Marino, Northern Ireland, Finland, United States, Canada (sub), NORWAY**, Holland Germany
• 1992/93 v Switzerland, Portugal, Italy

* 36th cap - new Dundee United record
** 50th cap - became SFA Hall of Fame member

Season 1990/91 provided Maurice with a fourth chance to win a Scottish Cup medal and a sixth opportunity to win one of the national cup trophies. Motherwell were the opposition, the game was rated one of the best-ever finals but for Maurice and his team mates the outcome was the same - another runners-up medal. "It may have been a fabulous game for the neutrals," he said later, "but that made it no easier to accept the defeat."

It was a poor return for yet another season of sustained excellence by Maurice but his high quality performances were not missed by Scotland's football writers who made him their 'Player of the Year'. During the season he also gave an indication of revised longer-term plans when he began coaching United's 'S' signings, having previously stated that after his playing days were over he intended going into electrical engineering. He was still coaching nine years later when he retired, creating in the process some kind of service record as a player-coach.

In 1991 he remained first and foremost one of Scotland's most highly regarded and respected players. Three years later he appeared in his fifth Scottish Cup Final, which must also be a record in modern times for a non-Old Firm player. This time the outcome was to be the high point of a great career.

 

At the seventh attempt, United finally won the Scottish Cup with a 1-0 defeat of Rangers on 21 May 1994. Maurice had played in five finals but the long wait was worth it. "After so many disappointments, holding the cup aloft was the greatest moment of my football career," he recalled in July 2000, "and because I was older and wiser, I savoured the occasion much more than when we won the League."

When the final whistle blew Maurice, not usually demonstrative, sank to his knees. He had one overriding emotion. "Relief, sheer relief is what I felt. I did not enjoy it right away I was just relieved to have won it at last. In the Eighties I thought we would always get back but in '94 I was not so sure. And if I had finished my career without winning the Cup I would have considered it a very big black mark."

There was no black mark. Maurice, captain of Dundee United, had brought the Scottish Cup back to Tannadice for the first time. In doing so he added another 'first' to his glittering career as he became the only Dundee United player in history to win a League Championship medal and a Scottish Cup winners' medal.