After reading the Frank McAvennie phone message post whilst trawling old threads on Cybertims I thought I would start off the first entry to former players with good old Frank.
Frank was born in 1959 and grew up in Milton, an area on the North side of the City. He started playing football at school level for Saint Augustines before making the step up to Junior Football. It was rumoured that the St Mirren manager saw Macca playing football at the pitches near St James interchange in Paisley and signed him on the spot. Frank was working as a Street Sweeper at the time and didn't sign his first professional contract until he was in his early twenties. In fact Frank was 21 before he began playing football professionally, with proteges being signed now as young as nine, this notion that seems a little crazy only a quarter of a century ago!
The circumstances surrounding Frank's induction into the beautiful game are also worth a mention "One day the Celtic match was iced off - they had no underground heating in those days," McAvennie explained. "A couple of mates persuaded me to go with them to a game they were playing. The manager asked if I was any good and next minute I was in midfield.
"The kid I was playing opposite was being watched by five scouts but by the end of the game they wanted me. Honest, if I'd known I'd have made the kid look good.
"I wasn't playing regularly but Johnstone Burgh, one of the best junior sides in Scotland, said I could play for them and go on trial to League clubs. They offered me £500. I asked, cheekily: 'Is that cash?' When they said yes I couldn't sign quick enough. I was unemployed."
After winning the Young Scottish Player if the year award in 1982, West Ham United came calling and Frank headed off to London where he would make an impact, not only on the football pitch. Frank describes the seminal moment he turned to the entertainment industry for solace.
"I hated London. I had such a strong Scottish accent that no-one knew what I was talking about. When I was shouting in training the other players thought I was trying to pick a fight. The boss had put me up miles out of London to stop me getting into any trouble and I was isolated. A single man with nothing to do.
"I went to see John and told him I wanted to go home. He asked me to give him three months and if I still felt the same he'd let me leave. And, being a lovely man, he arranged for the boys to take me on a night out and cheer me up. We went to Stringfellows and that was it. The place buzzed, the booze was all there and so were the birds. I was hooked."
Part 2 will follow later today.......or if you cant wait that long, try our Messageboard for the full article right now!