3/1 To Win
Former title-winning Derby County midfielder John McGovern has been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.
The Rams won promotion in his first season at the club, before he went on to win his first piece of silverware as Derby clinched the First Division title just four years later in 1972, a triumph that was also Brian Clough’s first major trophy.
McGovern has been inducted this year along with Celtic’s Lisbon Lions, Queen’s Park’s 1884 side, former player Allan McGraw and broadcaster Archie Macpherson.
The likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish are among past inductees, and the accolade comes as deserved recognition for a fantastic career.
He began his career as a teenager at Hartlepools United in 1965, and it was at the Pools that his relationship with the legendary management duo of Clough and Peter Taylor took off.
McGovern played under the pair at four different clubs, and it was them who brought him to the Baseball Ground in 1968 for a fee of £7,500.
He left Derby in 1974 to reunite with his old boss for his ill-fated 44-day spell at Leeds United, before following Clough to Nottingham Forest in January 1975.
It was at Forest where McGovern enjoyed his greatest success, as he won six major trophies before moving on to Bolton Wanderers to become player-manager, where he then ended his playing career in 1984.
McGovern played 239 times for the Rams in total, scoring 21 goals, and the part he played in the club’s first ever top-flight title means that his legacy at Pride Park Stadium will forever be secure.
