Alastair Riddle

1941-2023

The Club was saddened to learn of the death of Ally Riddle last month. Though very much a Montrose legend, for whom the winger made 255 appearances between 1958 and 1967, scoring 39 goals, he did enjoy a brief Tannadice tenure.

His football career started with Arbroath Lads’ Club and Ally and was signed as a schoolboy by Montrose FC in April 1959, when still only 17. After just over three years with Montrose FC, Jerry Kerr brought the 21-year-old right-winger to Tannadice at the beginning of August 1962.

He didn’t have to wait long before making his debut, wearing the number seven jersey in a 2-1 League Cup tie at Dens Park on 25th August, which ended in a 2-1 defeat in front of a crowd of 18,943 – quite a difference from the few thousand that he experienced for his Montrose days.

Having done well enough to keep his place, the Arbroath-born forward made his home debut the following midweek in a 2-0 win over Hearts.

He again also figured in the 0-0 draw that denied Celtic progression to the quarter-finals in the final group match, watched incidentally by a little over 20,000.

Indeed, he featured in the next three fixtures against Queen of the South (A), Dundee (H) and Third Lanark (A) to extend his consecutive games to six before being omitted from the side that hammered Hibs 5-0 at Tannadice.

Though he returned to the side a week later at Firhill, the 3-0 defeat at Partick’s hands proved to be his last first-team action.

After three months of playing reserve team football, he returned to his beloved Montrose in January 1963 where he stayed for four years. Released from Links Park in January 1967, he played four times for Brechin City scoring once, before retiring at the end of that season.

We pass on our condolences to Ally’s friends and family.

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