Derek Grierson


Derek Dunlop Grierson was a Scottish football player best known for his time with Rangers and Falkirk.

Career

Club

Grierson started out at Queen's Park before manager Bill Struth brought him to Rangers in 1952. He made his competitive debut in a 5–0 defeat against Heart of Midlothian on 9 August. He scored his first and second goals for the club a week later in a League Cup match against Aberdeen.
In his four seasons at Rangers, Grierson scored 59 goals in total. He won the Scottish league championship and Scottish Cup in his first season, and was the club's top scorer, with 31 goals. He also won a Glasgow Cup in 1953. He is noted as scoring the first ever live goal on Scottish television.
He left Rangers in 1956 and joined Falkirk, where he won the Scottish Cup in 1957. He scored 23 league goals for them before leaving in 1960 to join Arbroath. He later had short spells with Stirling Albion and Forfar Athletic, then with Coleraine in Northern Ireland, before ending his career at Cowdenbeath.
Grierson retired to Newton Mearns, in East Renfrewshire. He died on 7 September 2011, aged 79. At the Falkirk v Rangers Scottish League Cup third round match on 21 September 2011, Grierson was remembered during a minute's silence at the beginning of the match, in memory of his contribution to both clubs.

International

He also played at Wembley for Scotland Amateurs and scored in a 2–1 win to clinch the British Championship. He won seven amateur caps. As an amateur, he was selected for trials for the Great Britain side that was to take part in the Helsinki Olympic Games of 1952. Manager Walter Winterbottom was duly impressed and Grierson made the squad - one of three Scots selected.