who do u think is the best player to have played junior football?

start this one off robert prytz?? any others

dave mckay ex hearts, spurs , derby county and NEWTONGRANGE STAR

Andy Mclaren (Medda)

Rab Chapman when he was at Dalkeith.

Gordon Smith
Dundee North End/Montrose Roselea & Hibs Hearts Dundee Scotland

Paul Sturrock Bankfoot/Dundee utd

Lex Sheilds. Legend

All great shouts but before my time. Best player i have ever seen in the juniors is Brian Carrigan

Tommy Walker OBE

Linlithgow Rose
Hearts
Chelsea
Scotland

A legend of the Scottish game - another of those whose career suffered because of the war.

a legend in his own living room more like .....

Recently - Carrots
Of all time - probably agree with HTG (Tommy Walker) if what your told as a laddie is anything go go by...

Lex Sheilds only had 1 eye and still ripped the piss!!! just watch they goals in the scottish final!!!

Bobby Russell played with Shettleston, I think.

jim baxter crossgates primrose without doubt the best ever to have played junior.

I would agree with that.

Kenny Dalgliesh was at Cumbernauld for while, I believe

is it not his statue outside the hill o beath ground

Agree theres not any linlthgow players who are good enough to lace his boots

I think Tommy Walker left Rose when he was 16/17.

Maybe this thread is meant to be about players who have played a significant chunk of their careers at Junior level? rather than Seniors who were farmed out or spent very little time in the Junior game.

Lex Shields is a good shout, or maybe even Jim Docherty at Whitburn.

Gin N Juice
remember Lexie ended up at Rose as did Temps and Sinnet and Andy Dunleavie
they all saw the light eventually

No doubt he was a class act in his prime
not even a rose die hard could deny that

but we have had our fair share
Tommy Ure or Robert McMeechan both defenders but bloody good at it
and of course Carrots who was a modern day Lex Shields with some of his play

Stevie Crawford - Rosyth




Yup

Whatever happened to Carrots?

He's in the background at Hamilton. It's the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer syndrone. Do you want a game every week or are you prepared to wait in the reserves with a chance of scoring the winner in the Champions League Final? Not that Carrots will be in that situation but if he hangs around, he might just get to play in the Premier League for a bit. As stated elsewhere though, he's quite far back the queue for a game.

Edited to add - I can really only comment on Rose players but, on his game, he's about the best I've seen in the jersey, a real match-winner on a number of occasions.

george connelly wouldnae be far away : sauchie and tulliallan.

I agree with that, I thought that's what the thread meant aswel.

I would say Martin McGarvey, still playing at Beith, a class act.

nobby mcnab, hill of beath

Only on the pitch.

The title is best junior player ever. So surely if a player has played junior he qualifies??

However, if we are talking about players who chose to sign junior, I have never seen anyone who could offer the skill level that Carrigan brought to Linlithgow. And in spite of his reputation, he never let us down through lack of effort on the pitch. I'd love to see him get his game at Hamilton. Having watched him and Corcoran in recent times there's no comparison. Carrots is streets ahead in all round ability.

Perhaps a different way to approach a thread like this would be to consider the GREATEST Junior player ever, as opposed to the greatest player to have played Junior football. Kenny Dalglish was only 16 or 17 at Cumbernauld - how good was he then and how much of an impact did he make?

Former Lok manager Rab Sneddon recalls playing with Iain Ferguson at Cambuslang Rangers when he was loaned out by Clyde and regarded him as the best player he played with. There are however plenty of players to play Junior who became better players late on in their career, or were better before they played Junior. George Shaw played well over 200 SPL and Division 1 games in his career but very few people will remember his game for Lok after dropping down, while conversely Andy Millen had a superb journeyman career but few will recall his half dozen appearances for us as a 17 year old.

I'd say Robert Prytz was a very good Junior in his 18 months at Lok.

so was he better at crossgates or HOB?

yes its outside the ex-servicemans club

nobby was a class act worth a million pounds

If it is for having just played Junior then it can only be Jim Baxter for me.

For being a junior player, Martin McGarvey is certainly up there (a class act on and OFF the pitch)

but I'd probably have to give it to Talbot's Willie Young as he has the credentials that can't be argued with being I believe also the most successful junior player ever - along with also being a class act on and off the pitch. A true legend in the game.

The sort of class act who signs for a team then asks for his contract to be torn up so he can go elsewhere? The sort of class act who re-signs for said team 18 months later in a deal that had to be funded by that club selling someone else only for him AGAIN to ask to leave almost immediately, despite having this time been registered as a player and actually played a game? The sort of class act who, when demanding to leave a 2nd time around, refused to give a reason to his manager?

Cl-ASS act indeed. He has at different points of his career displayed the loyalty of an alley cat, as Joan Burnie might put it.

Totally agree, have never seen a player at this level with his vision or so comfortable on the ball, yup, a class act.

If I was a Pollok fan I'd most likely feel the same way. However when I refer to Off the Park, I mean outwith the football park and I'm better qualified to comment on what kind of person he is in the last two years and you'd struggle to meet a nicer guy. He is regrettable about the Pollok business, and the lure of Pollok to leave us 18 months in is a compliment to your club - but he realised he had made a mistake and how much he enjoyed playing at Beith. The fact Sniffer came back to us as well is a compliment but neither should be taken as an insult to Pollok.

It takes strength of character to do that, but we've all had players who turn out not wanting to play for your club (its happened to us in the last few years as well!) and we just need to accept it - it doesn't mean they are bad people or weasels.

Anyway this thread should be about footballing ability alone.

Jimmy Johnstone, he played for Blantyre Celtic

Maybe in relation to Pollok, but between 1990 and May 2006, Martin McGarvey only played for two clubs, Dumbarton and Arthurlie. I would say that shows a fair degree of loyalty

Paul McGrillen of Bathgate Thistle

When I mentioned his name, I didn't expect any Pollok fans to agree !!
But if you had seen him play regularly over the years, I think most would agree he has been one of the top junior players over the last decade.

He's a superb player and I did say that 10 posts ago.

aye i'll crack the jokes!! now if you had said Graeme Love............

In terms of the best player to play junior football it would have to be Jimmy Johnstone. In terms of the best junior player Robert Prytz from who Ive seen would be in with a shout.

In terms of players I have played against in the 8 years I've been playing juniors, I would put Ray McKinnon up there just ahead of Brian Carrigan. McKinnon was a class act when he was playing regularly for Lochee united. Amazing with both feet and created space in the tightest of positions.

Chic Charnley- Pollock, Tarff, Kirkie
John Martin- Tranent
Almost forgot wee Callum Milne- Whitburn

George Gemmell, Ross Findlay, Kenny Paterson, Tam McDonald, Jim O'Donnel, Gordon Mills, Hugh Lyden, Billy Young

where do I stop all legends in the junior game

But very few of that list had a career at a higher level?

Jamie agree with you about the majority of these players but where does the thread come from is it the best player ever to have played junior or is it the best player who played a career in the juniors

Only one ,,,, frank Mc vennie ,, Johnstone burgh

Well the question was who is the best player to have played Junior football, but as as been discussed, there are plenty who have dropped down well past their prime, while others have played Junior when they maybe were not great players.

For me the answer is someone like McGarvey (grrr) or Martin Nelson who came back to Junior football at a young age and had a great career in the Juniors.

To Steve 1954, how much football did McAvennie play in the Juniors? Another from that era was Frank McDougall, the last player to score a league hat-trick against either of the Old Firm. He stepped up to the 1st Division with Clydebank from the Shire aged 20.

Stevie Mallan's doing well at the talbot considering his "experience" as us older guys like to refer to it.
Not sure he's a great yet but if old father time could be put on hold for a couple of years......