The club is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former player Gordon Whitelaw. He was 86 years of age.
Gordon, also a talented basketball player growing up, signed for St Johnstone in the summer of 1964 when manager Bobby Brown was looking to add much-needed fire power to the forward line.
He arrived at Muirton Park from Airdrie in what was hailed as a very shrewd piece of business. Prior to his time at Airdrie, Gordon had started his career at Partick Thistle.
His first team debut for Saints was, unfortunately, delayed for a few months as he sustained a bad ankle ligament injury playing for the reserves at Paisley in the first match of the season.
Gordon eventually regained full fitness and made his first start on October 7th, 1964, against Rangers at Muirton Park. He would make 26 appearances and score nine goals in that first season (1964/65).
It was the 1966/67 campaign where Gordon emerged as a ‘clinical’ goalscorer. In 40 starts he hit 20 goals and, along with John Kilgannon, scored nearly half of the team’s total goals for that season.
A memorable occasion was Christmas Eve 1966 when Gordon netted a brilliant hat-trick in a 5-2 victory against Hibs at Easter Road.
Into the Willie Ormond era and the 1967/68 season started well for Gordon, including netting yet another hat-trick in a 5-0 League Cup quarter-final win against Queen’s Park at Hampden.
Gordon would again finish the season as top scorer – one ahead of Alex MacDonald – with 15 goals from 39 starts.
The 1968/69 season would see Saints finish in sixth place in the league. Sadly, it also saw Gordon sustain a serious knee injury in a Scottish Cup tie at East Stirling.
Patience was required to get back into the team following his return from injury and especially as the partnership of Henry Hall and John Connolly flourished.
But Gordon, who came off the bench in the 1969 League Cup final against Celtic, continued to work hard and moved back into more of a midfield role in 1970/71.
This move to midfield seemed to revive his career and he played an integral part in the UEFA Cup campaign in 1971/72. He started five of the six matches and scored a fabulous goal in the 3–0 win over SV Hamburg at Muirton.
You might think that it would be impossible to top the Hamburg match but, for Gordon, the pinnacle of his career with St Johnstone came in another European match – albeit in a friendly, of sorts.
This was the famous occasion when Saints were asked to go to play Real Madrid at the Bernabeu so the Spanish giants could get some practice against a British-style team prior to playing Chelsea in the European Cup Winners Cup final of 1971.
Gordon opened the scoring with a lovely strike and always laughed: “Every time I talk about the goal, it gets further out!”
His final Saints appearance was on September 2, 1972, at Tynecastle. In total, he made 225 appearances for the club and scored 70 goals.
He gave his all for the team wherever he was asked to play and clearly had a positive influence on the careers of many young players.
Gordon was still a regular and very welcome visitor to McDiarmid Park in recent years and, during the Covid pandemic, took time to phone supporters for a chat about their favourite Saints memories.
Our thoughts are with Gordon’s family and friends at this sad time.
Once a Saintee, always a Saintee.
