Personal
Fullname: Dugald McFarlane McCarrison
aka: Dugald McCarrison
Born: 22 December 1969
Birthplace: Lanark, South Lanarkshire
Height: 5′ 8” (173cm)
Signed: 1985 (Celtic BC); 17 Oct 1987
Left: 26 February 1993 (to Kilmarnock)
Position: Forward
Debut: Celtic 1-2 Dundee Utd, League, 24 Oct 1987
Internationals: Scotland youth
Biog
“I wish I could turn the clock back.”
Dugald McCarrison (1996)
Dugald McCarrison worked his way through the Celtic youth ranks to make his senior debut in the double winning Centenary season of 1987-88. He had originally been sourced from Kirkfield Bank BC in Lesmahagow.
Lanark-born Dugald McCarrison’s debut came in place of the suspended Frank McAvennie but it was not a dream start to his first team career as Celtic suffered a 2-1 home league defeat to Dundee United in October 1987. Still he got to play for Celtic in what was to be a dream season in the club’s centenary season, winning the league and Scottish Cup, and at this point he was still very young with time on his side.
When Celtic had all their regular strikers fit and available Dugald McCarrison was well down the pecking order and the forward spent the vast majority of his Parkhead career in the reserves. Those who saw him in the reserves rated his ability and potential, and he had an exceptional record with the reserve team.
He was only given a single appearance each season, and even then three were from the bench. He scored his only goal for Celtic in a 3-0 win away in February 1989 v Dundee.
After loan spells with Ipswich and Darlington, he eventually left in a £100,000 move to Tommy Burns‘ Kilmarnock in February 1993. He had scored one goal in four games as a Celt. He left on the day that Liam Brady re-engaged talks with Frank McAvennie, which was a backwards step for Celtic.
Must add that this was to be a difficult time to be at Celtic. After the centenary season, Celtic sunk and would not fully recover for around ten years, with the club stuck in the rut in the battle to ‘Sack the Board’ in what is known as the Celtic Takeover era (ending in 1994). Both team and board management was mostly poor during this time, so aspiring players like Dugald McCarrison suffered in this environment.
He began well at Kilmarnock but disaster struck that summer when he badly broke his leg playing at a village fête in Kirkmuirhill. He missed two years of action and by admission was never the same player again.
He later admitted a lot of regrets and frustration, but this is par the course for many in all walks in life. Sadly football is a short window in which to achieve anything.
A short term deal with Hamilton Accies followed, before he signed for Glentoran in December 1995. The Irish club axed him after a few months because they went off the idea of paying his air fares. From here Dugald McCarrison dropped into the Junior ranks and gave many years service to his local team Lesmahagow, before playing a few games for Shotts Bon Accord in 2002/03.
He was later in life in bother with the police in 2016, charged with theft of engineering equipment items around £50-100k and was sentenced to serve 15mths. It was quite a fall, but we wish him all the best in turning his life around.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1987-93 | 1 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (3) |
| Goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Honours with Celtic
Pictures
Twist of fete stopped me being a star like my old Celtic mates; Says DUGALD McCARRISON.
Luckless Dugald McCarrison is sick at watching his old pals take the football world by storm.
The former Celtic kid has seen Simon Donnelly help the Parkhead side charge to the brink of a league and cup double.
He’s looked on in envy as Gerry Creaney has grabbed big moves to Portsmouth and then to Manchester City.
And he knows he could be making a name for himself if he hadn’t broken his leg in a kickabout at a fete.
The 26-year-old striker seemed set for a glittering future when he was youngster at Paradise.
Now McCarrison’s out of the game after being freed by Irish side Glentoran.
And last night he sighed: “I wish I could turn the clock back.”
The player had just left Celtic for Kilmarnock when he suffered his horror injury.
McCarrison recalled: “I was a young lad at Celtic around the same time as Gerry and when Simon was coming through.
“Everything seemed to be great and I thought I had a tremendous future.
“But it all started to go wrong when I began to get frustrated that I couldn’t get into the first team.
“I went to see Liam Brady, the boss at the time, and told him I wanted away.
“He let me join Kilmarnock where Tommy Burns and Billy Stark were in charge.
“I got a game there and was doing well. But it was nearly the end of the season and it was in that summer that I made my biggest mistake.
“I played in a gala day game in Kirkmuirhill and ended up breaking my leg so badly I was out for a couple of years.
“I should never have done it. It was a disaster for my career and for my finances.
“I had two and a half years at Kilmarnock and then I ended up at Hamilton, but that didn’t work out.
“In fact, it was so bad I was on the move again after just six weeks.”
He crossed the water to sign for Glentoran and felt his career was on the up again – until he was dumped.
McCarrison said: “They did the dirty on me.
“I had a contract until the end of the season, but they told me it was too expensive to keep taking me over there and that I was being freed.
“So that’s me, back to square one. But I’m only 26 and feel as good as I ever have.
“A few junior clubs are interested in me, but I know I can still do a senior club a right good turn.
“Mind you, it’s a long way from being a Celtic player – and I can’t help but be envious of guys such as Gerry and Simon.
“I can’t tell you how much I regret playing in that bounce game, but it’s too late to do anything about it now.”