Daniel Fergus McGrain MBE (born 1 May 1950) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played for Celtic, Hamilton Academical and the Scotland national team as a right back.
"[5] McGrain began his career at Celtic and was one of the "Quality Street Gang", a group of young players that emerged in the late 1960s.
Born in Glasgow and raised in the city's Drumchapel area,[6][7] McGrain played for Queen's Park Strollers and also featured for the Scotland Schools team, where he was scouted and signed for Celtic in May 1967, aged 17.
[7] He became one of the so-called 'Quality Street Gang', the great Celtic reserve team that also included players such as Kenny Dalglish, Lou Macari, Paul Wilson, Davie Hay and George Connelly, who eventually took the places of the ageing Lisbon Lions.
[8][7] He had a spell at Junior club Maryhill to gain experience playing with adults, and also made a fruitless attempt at a college course in engineering prior to becoming a full-time professional.
[8][9] McGrain was used sparingly by manager Jock Stein in his first couple of seasons in the first team, but the young full-back played well in these games.
[11] McGrain picked up his first winner's medal at the end of the season when Celtic clinched their eighth successive league championship title.
[5] His abilities included a burst of speed, skill and control on the ball, vision and anticipation and, when required, a strong but fair sliding tackle.
[11] However, McGrain was diagnosed with diabetes immediately after the World Cup, but with the benefit of medication and a controlled diet and lifestyle, continued to play without adverse effect.
However, a troublesome foot injury that medical staff struggled to identify or treat adequately saw McGrain miss most of the season with Celtic.
[21][22] McGrain eventually recovered from his mystery foot injury[20] and after a tentative re-introduction into the Celtic team, now managed by Billy McNeill,[23][24][25] played in the club's last 18 league fixtures of the season in the spring of 1979.
[34] McGrain made his full international debut for Scotland on 12 May 1973, in a British Home Championship tie against Wales at Wrexham, winning 2–0.
[36] The game against England saw McGrain fielded in an unfamiliar role at left-back to accommodate another highly rated right-back, Sandy Jardine of Rangers.
[16] McGrain played in eight consecutive internationals for Scotland[11] and was selected by Willie Ormond for the 22 man squad travelling to West Germany for the 1974 World Cup.
[38] McGrain played in all three World Cup group matches (Zaire, Brazil and Yugoslavia), but despite being undefeated Scotland returned home having failed to qualify for the next phase.
[11][41] McGrain is a member of the Scotland national football team roll of honour, courtesy of the 62 caps he won during his career.
He had just returned home from playing for Scotland in the World Cup in West Germany, where he had displayed an excessive thirst and lost 2 stones (12 kg) in weight.
In March 2002 McGrain was found by police in the south side of Glasgow, slumped unconscious in the driver's seat of his car.
"[54] In the 1983 New Year Honours, McGrain was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to association football in Scotland.