Norman Christie, manager of Montrose FC in the 1960s and credited with making the team a credible force in the senior game, has died, aged 85.
“Norman was really the first proper football manager we had and was a true disciplinarian who had a great understanding of the game,” said John Paton, former chairman and now honorary president of the club.
“In the past 40 or 50 years we have maybe had three great teams at Montrose and his was as good as any of them.
“He was Montrose’s first ‘real’ manager. Up to then the board had picked the team. Norman put together an excellent team, one of the best at Montrose since the war.
“It is a sad passing for the club and I think he really will go down as a bit of a legend in our books. He was one of our most successful managers and is still held in high regard.”
Mr Christie was brought up in Invergordon and joined the RAF towards the end of the second world war.
When he left the RAF he trained as a physiotherapist and worked for the NHS at Stracathro Hospital, settling in Brechin and remaining at the hospital until his retiral.
As a junior footballer, playing mainly as a centre-half, he was first spotted by the legendary and now defunct Third Lanark, for whom he signed, and in a 14-year playing career was also with Stirling Albion and Brechin City before finishing in the colours of Montrose in the late 1950s.
After two seasons as a player he was appointed manager.
Mr Paton said, “The last time I saw Norman was at the funeral of our former club trainer John Hannah last year. Although the Alzheimer’s had set in then he could still talk about his team of the 60s at great length.”
The Gable Endies had struggled until Mr Christie arrived for season 1959-60 and matters began to improve. He brought in players like Willie Nicoll, Jimmy Kilgannon, Frank Sandeman, Jimmy and Bobby Kemp, Joe Gilroy, Gordon Wallace, Malcolm Slater and a youngster called Bobby Livingston.
After almost 10 years at Links Park Mr Christie called it a day, although he continued to take referees for training at Glebe Park.
Former centre-half Nicoll said, “When I was captain we talked tactics before the game and during it he respected my position as captain. There was none of the shouting you get now.
“He was a good manager and a good guy.”
Outwith football Mr Christie’s main sporting interest was golf and he was a member of Edzell Golf Club.
Mr Christie is survived by his wife Irene, who he married in Glasgow in 1951, his daughter Janice and son Paul.