Willie McLaren

William "Willie" McLaren (born 6 November 1984) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Scottish Junior club Forth Wanderers, who plays as a midfielder. He has played for several Scottish clubs throughout his career which started in 2003.

Willie McLaren
Personal information
Full name William McLaren
Date of birth (1984-11-06) 6 November 1984
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Forth Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2006 Airdrie United 85 (22)
2006–2008 St Johnstone 33 (3)
2008–2009 Clyde 24 (6)
2009–2011 Queen of the South 60 (15)
2011 Hamilton Academical 13 (0)
2011 → Airdrie United (loan) 16 (3)
2011–2012 Airdrie United 34 (8)
2012–2013 Airdrieonians 23 (2)
2013-2015 Irvine Meadow 41 (10)
2015-2017 Bo'ness United 29 (3)
2016 Kilwinning Rangers (Loan) 15 (4)
2017 Forth Wanderers 20 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:36, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Career

Airdrie United

Born in Glasgow, McLaren had been at Benburb and Hamilton Accies u19s before signing professional at Airdrie in 2003.

St Johnstone

After catching the eye of many clubs, he signed for St Johnstone, in a reported five-figure deal in August 2006.[1] He scored his first league goal for the Perth club in a 3–2 league defeat at Livingston on 13 January 2007.[2] A week later, he scored the winner against his former club.[3] On 30 January 2008, McLaren was released by St Johnstone.[4]

Clyde

McLaren signed for Clyde on 2 June 2008, after impressing in a trial period at the tail end of the 2007–08 season, including when he scored against former club St Johnstone in a reserve cup semi final, and was on the winning side in the final.[5] He made his Clyde début in July 2008, in a 2–0 victory over Annan Athletic in the Scottish Challenge Cup.[6] McLaren was named Scottish Football League player of the month in January 2009, after scoring 3 goals in consecutive games.[7] McLaren's contract was terminated in June 2009, following Clyde's relegation and financial troubles.[8]

Queen of the South

McLaren was signed by manager Gordon Chisholm for Dumfries club Queen of the South in June 2009 from Clyde,[9] as was his teammate, goalkeeper David Hutton.

McLaren's first goal for Queens came in the 2–0 home win against Ayr United on 29 August 2009. He also set up Rocco Quinn for Queens second goal of the game.[10]

The departure of Chisholm and strikers' coach Billy Dodds from Queens on 22 March 2010, along with the promotion of Kenny Brannigan to the manager's position, coincided with the beginning of a surge in form from McLaren.[11] McLaren's second goal for Queens was at Palmerston on 27 March 2010 against Dunfermline in another 2–0 home win, when he scored in first half injury time. David Weatherston scored Queens second goal of the match in the second half.[12] McLaren's third goal for Queens was at Palmerston Park on 10 April 2010 against Inverness Caley Thistle, when he gave Queens the lead after 10 minutes.[13] McLaren's fourth goal for Queens was at the Excelsior Stadium on 12 April 2010 against Airdrie United, when he scored the only goal of the match after 88 minutes to give Queens a 1–0 win.[14] McLaren's fifth goal for Queens was in the 3–0 home win against Raith Rovers on 17 April 2010. McLaren scored in the 80th minute and also crossed for Derek Holmes (22 mins) and Paul Burns (25 mins) to score and was rewarded with the man of the match award.[11][15]

McLaren's sixth goal for Queens arrived after 54 minutes in the 1–0 home win against Ross County on 20 April 2010.[16] This gave McLaren a tally of five goals in a seven-game spell.

After missing much of the early 2010/11 season McLaren returned to the first team on 22 August for the club's third league game of the season, the 3–1 away at Cowdenbeath. This was Queens' first league win of the season.[17] He scored in his next game, the 4–1 League Cup win against Forfar Athletic on 25 August.[18] His excellent form under Brannigan continued in his next game, the 3–0 home league win against Ross County. Collecting the ball at the halfway line, McLaren set off on a dribble and run before scooping the ball over the keeper's head to score.[19]

McLaren was announced by the club on 19 May 2011 as having been released.[20]

On 26 May 2011 McLaren was awarded divisional goal of the season for his counter against Dunfermline Athletic in October.[21]

Hamilton

McLaren joined relegated SPL club Hamilton Academical on 27 May 2011.[22]

Return to Airdrie

In November it was announced that McLaren was joining Scottish League Second Division side Airdrie United on loan until January 2012.[23] In December Airdrieonians (then known as Airdrie United) signed him on a deal until the end of season 2011–2012. In April 2012, he was sent off for violent conduct against East Fife F.C. He and East Fife player David White were both sent off in the incident.

Having been released by Airdrie at the end of the season, McLaren resigned for them again at the end of July 2012. In the summer of 2013 Airdrie United reverted to the clubs traditional name Airdrieonians. McLaren departed the club in January 2014.[24]

Junior football

After leaving Airdrieonians, McLaren signed for Junior club Irvine Meadow.[25] He then signed for Bo'ness United in June 2014 and in January 2015, moved to Kilwinning Rangers.[26][27] McLaren joined Forth Wanderers in the summer of 2015.

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See also

References
  1. "St Johnstone add McLaren & Lawson". BBC Sport. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  2. Soccerbase match report
  3. Soccerbase match report
  4. "Saints part company with two" – St Johnstone's official website
  5. Clyde give McLaren fresh chance BBC Sport – Retrieved 4 June 2008
  6. Clyde 2–0 Annan Athletic BBC Sport – Retrieved 26 July 2008
  7. McLaren reward for triple strike BBC Sport – Retrieved 20 March 2009
  8. "Club Statement – Players Contracts". clydefc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  9. "Willie McLaren joins Queens". Queen of the South Official Website. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
  10. Queen of the South 2–0 Ayr United on www.qosfc.com
  11. "QoS vs Raith Rovers" on www.qosfc.com
  12. "Queen of South 2–0 Dunfermline". BBC News. 27 March 2010.
  13. "Queen of South 1–3 Inverness CT". BBC News. 10 April 2010.
  14. "Airdrie 0–1 Queen of the South". BBC News. 12 April 2010.
  15. "Queen of South 3–0 Raith Rovers". BBC News. 17 April 2010.
  16. QoS v Ross County match report on www.qosfc.com
  17. "Cowdenbeath 1 – 3 Queen of the South" Queen of the South official website
  18. "Queen of the South 4 – 1 Forfar Athletic" on the official Queen of the South website
  19. "Queen of the South 3 – 0 Ross County" www.qosfc.com
  20. "Three players released" www.qosfc.com 19 May 2011
  21. "News in brief" www.qosfc.com 27 May 2011
  22. "Hamilton Accies sign winger Willie McLaren". BBC Sport. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  23. "Airdrie United sign McLaren on loan; Malone out". Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  24. "TWO MORE DEPART THE CLUB". airdriefc.com. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  25. "McLaren joins Irvine Meadow". SPFL. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  26. "Winger McLaren heads for Bo'ness". Scottish Professional Football League. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  27. McGowan, Eric (16 January 2015). "Kilwinning Rangers snap-up former St Johnstone and Airdrie winger". Daily Record. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
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