Allan McGraw, former Hibs forward and Morton legend, dies at 83

Greenock Morton legend and former Hibs striker Allan McGraw has passed away at the age of 83, the Cappielow club has confirmed.

Allan McGraw, better known as 'Mr Morton', has died at the age of 83. Picture: Michael Gillen

Known affectionately as ‘Mr Morton’, McGraw had two spells as a player with the club, his first beginning in 1961 after coming through the ranks with Renfrew. With the team in Division Two, McGraw set a Scottish record for most goals scored in a season – 61 in 52 appearances in all competitions during the 1963/64 campaign – and finished as the club’s top goalscorer five years running, helping them win promotion to the top flight for the first time in more than a decade in 1964 and notching 117 goals in just 136 league games. He also played in Morton’s 1963 League Cup final defeat at the hands of Rangers, having scored the goal in the semi-final replay that knocked out future employers Hibs.

McGraw left Cappielow after more than 100 league goals, making the move to Easter Road under Bob Shankly for a fee of £15,000 – £223,000 in today’s money. He scored eight goals in his first 11 games for Hibs including a brace in a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock in the League Cup group stages and a goal in a 3-2 win against Rangers in the same competition. He scored on his league debut in a 3-1 Edinburgh derby victory against Hearts and followed that up with a double in a 6-5 win against Dunfermline seven days later.

McGraw also appeared for Hibs in their guise as Toronto City in the 1967 United Soccer Association league competition and featured in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, playing against Porto, Napoli, and Leeds. He missed the 1969 Scottish League Cup final through injury as Hibs lost 6-2 to a Bobby Lennox-inspired Celtic, having booked Hibs’ place in the final with an unusual winner against Dundee in the semis.

McGraw, wearing No.10, wheels away after scoring the winner against future employers Hibs in the League Cup semi-final replay in 1963. Picture: TSPL

He had been carried off with a leg injury with 15 minutes remaining but with Jimmy O’Rourke having already replaced Pat Quinn, Hibs would have been down to ten men with the score tied. McGraw bravely returned to the pitch and bundled in Eric Stevenson’s corner in the last minute to secure passage to the final.

McGraw’s final game in a Hibs shirt came in a 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Easter Road on March 29 1969. In all he played 95 times for Hibs, 90 as a starter, and scored 22 goals but the pain-killing injections he took in his knee in order to play while injured left lasting damage and he walked with sticks for the remainder of his life. He had a brief period with Linfield in Northern Ireland before finishing his career back at Morton although he didn’t feature in any league games.

He returned to Morton as manager in 1985, winning the First Division in 1986/87 and scooping the manager of the year prize. He repeated the feat in the Second Division in 1994/95, with the Ton missing out on promotion to the top flight by a single goal the following season.

The main stand at Cappielow was recently renamed in his honour and he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2017. Son Mark also played for Morton and Hibs, and was part of the Skol Cup-winning squad in 1991.