Paul McStay

Paul Michael Lyons McStay, MBE, nicknamed the Maestro, (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish former footballer who spent his entire career with Celtic, making his senior debut in 1982 and retiring in 1997. He captained both Scotland and Celtic at all age levels. He was capped 76 times for his country and scored nine goals. He helped Celtic win three league titles, the last in 1988.

Paul McStay

Personal information
Full name	Paul Michael Lyons McStay[1]
Date of birth	(1964-10-22) 22 October 1964
Place of birth	Hamilton, Scotland
Playing position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Celtic Boys Club
1981–1982	Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1997	Celtic	515	(57)
National team
1978–1980	Scotland U16	16	(5)
1980–1982	Scotland U18	14	(5)
1982–1984[2]	Scotland U21	5	(1)
1983–1984	Scotland U20	7	(3)
1983–1997	Scotland	76	(9)
1990[3]	SFA (SFL centenary)	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

As a youth, McStay first came to prominence in June 1980 in a schoolboy international match when Scotland played England at Wembley. Then 15, he was the captain. He scored two goals and was awarded the Man of the Match award after Scotland ran out 5–4 winners.[4][5]

McStay signed for Celtic aged sixteen from Celtic Boys Club in 1981. He made his first team debut on 23 January 1982 in a 4–0 win over Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup. A week later on 30 January, he made his first league appearance in 3–1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie. He scored the third goal, taking a pass from George McCluskey, running through the Aberdeen defence and striking a left foot shot past Jim Leighton in goal.[4]

Season 1982–83 saw the young midfielder establish himself as a first team regular,[4] and he picked up his first winners medal on 4 November 1982 in Celtic's 2–1 win over Rangers in the League Cup Final. His performances resulted in media speculation that Inter Milan were considering making a £2 million bid to take him to Italy, a rumour that was emphatically dismissed by the Celtic chairman, Desmond White.[6]

McStay continued to progress at Celtic,[4] and he scored Celtic's equaliser in the 1984 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen to take the match into extra time. However, Celtic had played most of the match with 10 men after Roy Aitken was sent off in the first half, and Aberdeen scored in extra time to win 2–1.

In December 1987, during Celtic's centenary season, McStay signed a five-year contract at Celtic. He went on to enjoy his finest season,[5] winning both the SPFA and Scottish Football Writers player of the year awards as the club won a League and Cup double in 1988.[4]

When Roy Aitken left Celtic Park in 1990, McStay was appointed club captain, a position he retained until his retirement following the 1996–97 season. In his time with the club, Celtic won the League title three times, the Scottish Cup four times and the League Cup once. Although the second half of McStay's career coincided with a time when Celtic performed poorly and struggled financially, in 2002 he was voted a member of Celtic's greatest ever team by the club's fans. He is also a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame, which honours the best players to play in Scotland and is located in the Scottish Football Museum.[7]

International career

In 1982 he captained Scotland to victory in the UEFA European Under-18 Championship, the only major trophy won by any Scottish national football team. He captained each of the Scotland teams from under-16 level through under-18, under-20, under-21 and senior level. McStay made his full national team debut in 1983. He represented Scotland 76 times, including appearances at two World Cups in 1986 and 1990, during a 14-year international career. McStay was also selected for two UEFA European Championships in 1992 and 1996, but withdrew from the latter because of an ankle injury.[8]

Personal life

In 2010, he moved to live in Sydney, Australia with his wife Anne Marie and their six children.[9] McStay now runs Maestro Sports, a startup software company specialising in sport coaching and management.[9][10]

McStay's great-uncles Jimmy and Willie McStay were former Celtic captains, and his brothers Willie and Raymond also played for Celtic. Their father John worked as a scout for the club.[11]

One of his sons, Chris, has played football for Sutherland Sharks in Australia and for Clyde in Scotland.[12][13] His nephew John (Willie's son) played with Celtic Boys Club before moving onto Motherwell under-19s and later played for Ayr United as a defender[14][15] before becoming a Celtic academy coach.[16]

His cousin Jock McStay played for Raith Rovers during the 1990s,[17] and Jock's son Jonny played at Junior level in the 2010s.[18][19]

Career statistics

Club

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Celtic[20]	1981–82	Scottish Premier Division	10	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	12	1
	1982–83		36	6	4	0	9	1	4	0	53	7
	1983–84		34	3	5	2	8	2	6	0	53	7
	1984–85		32	4	7	3	2	0	5	1	46	8
	1985–86		34	8	2	0	2	1	2	0	40	9
	1986–87		43	3	4	0	5	1	4	0	56	4
	1987–88		44	5	6	0	2	0	2	0	54	5
	1988–89		33	5	5	0	3	0	4	0	45	5
	1989–90		35	3	6	1	4	1	2	0	47	5
	1990–91		30	2	5	0	5	1	0	0	40	3
	1991–92		32	7	4	0	0	0	2	0	38	7
	1992–93		43	4	3	0	3	0	4	1	53	5
	1993–94		35	2	1	0	4	0	4	0	44	2
	1994–95		29	1	4	0	5	0	0	0	38	1
	1995–96		30	2	4	0	1	0	3	0	38	2
	1996–97		15	1	4	0	1	0	1	0	21	1
	Total		515	57	66	6	54	7	43	2	678	72
Career total			515	57	66	6	54	7	43	2	678	72

International appearances

Scotland national team[21]
Year	Apps	Goals
1983	4	0
1984	5	2
1985	4	0
1986	5	1
1987	8	2
1988	7	1
1989	8	0
1990	9	0
1991	3	1
1992	10	2
1993	5	0
1994	3	0
1995	1	0
1996	1	0
1997	3	0
Total	76	9

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 October 1984	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Iceland	1–0	3–0	WCQG7
2				2–0	3–0
3	28 January 1986	National Stadium, Ramat Gan	Israel	1–0	1–0	Friendly
4	1 April 1987	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Brussels	Belgium	1–1	1–4	ECQG7
5	14 October 1987	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Belgium	2–0	2–0	ECQG7
6	14 September 1988	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Norway	1–0	2–1	WCQG5
7	13 November 1991	Hampden Park, Glasgow	San Marino	1–0	4–0	ECQG2
8	25 March 1992	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Finland	1–0	1–1	Friendly
9	18 June 1992	Idrottsparken, Norrköping	CIS	1–0	3–0	ECGB

Honours

Club

• Scottish Premier Division (3): 1981–82, 1985–86, 1987–88[20]
• Scottish Cup (4): 1984–85, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1994–95[20]
  • Runner-up 1983–84, 1989–90
• Scottish League Cup: 1982–83[20]
  • Runner-up 1983–84, 1986–87 1990–91, 1994–95
• Glasgow Cup: 1982[20][22]

International

• UEFA European Under-18 Championship: 1982
• Rous Cup: 1985[23]

Individual

• SFWA Footballer of the Year: 1988
• Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1988
• Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year: 1983
• Scotland national football team roll of honour : 1990
• Ballon d'Or: 1984 (18th place)[24]

See also

• List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)

References

1. A Record of Post-war Scottish League Players 1946/47 to 2017/18. 7. John Litster and Scottish Football Historian magazine. 2018.
2. Scotland U21 player Paul McStay, FitbaStats
3. On this day, back in 1990, a Scottish League XI beat Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park in the SFL Centenary match with the goal coming from then Aberdeen Football Club star Hans Gillhaus, Scottish Professional Football League via Facebook, 18 August 2016
4. "The Bhoy in the Picture – Paul McStay". The Celtic Underground. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
5. Gallagher, Hugh (18 March 2015). "Celtic's one club men, No.4 – Paul McStay". CQN Magazine. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
6. Young, Chick (18 January 1984). "Paul must stay". Evening Times. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
7. "Scottish Football Hall of Fame – 2010 Inductees". Archived from the original on 30 November 2010.
8. "Scotland's squad for Euro `96 all in US". Irish Times. 30 May 1996. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
   "May 1996". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
9. Macpherson, Graeme (5 September 2014). "It's all about the greats". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
10. "About Us | Maestro – Maestro". Maestrosports.com.au. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
11. Tributes to Celtic scout and true gent John McStay, Evening Times, 10 July 2017
12. "New Signing: Chris McStay". Clyde FC. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
13. Sons of Celtic legends Paul McStay and Peter Grant on handling the pressure and building their own careers at Clyde, Daily Record, 22 February 2018
14. David W Potter, "And they gave us James McGrory and Paul McStay" Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 June 2007.
15. Ayr United land defender McStay, BBC Sport, 16 January 2007
16. Academy Coaches, Celtic FC
17. Pattullo, Alan (7 November 2015). "From infamy to Hall of Fame, Jock McStay finds peace". The Scotsman. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
18. Glenafton 2 Lesmahagow 1, Glenafton Athletic FC, 12 January 2019
19. We're lovin it as Jonny decides on McKenna Park, St Anthony's F.C., 28 June 2019
20. Celtic player Paul McStay, FitbaStats
21. National Football Teams profile
22. Paul, Ian (14 May 1982). "Glasgow Cup for Celtic". Glasgow Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
23. "New Addition: Stanley Rous Cup-Part 1 (1985)". Soccer Nostalgia. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
24. "European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or) 1984". RSSSF. 26 March 2005. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

External links

• Paul McStay at the Scottish Football Association
• International stats at Londonhearts.com
• The Bhoy in the Picture – Paul McStay
• England schoolboys v Scotland schoolboys (1980) 4–5