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Icons of Football

Series 2

Frank McAvennie

Duration: 29 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC ScotlandLatest broadcast: on BBC Scotland HD

Available for years

A look at how Frank McAvennie became one of the most colourful characters in Scottish football.

Frank McAvennie was the accidental footballer; someone who never would have laced a pair of boots. However, when fate intervened, Frank was in the right place at the right time to embark on a meteoric rise that led to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

After a late emergence at junior level, Frank would take Scottish football by storm as a dazzling box-to-box midfielder with St Mirren, before catching the eye of West Ham. His first season in London was remarkable as he hit the net and the headlines with regularity, making him a cult hero as the Hammers came close to winning the Football League First Division, finishing third behind Liverpool and Everton.

His brief spell at Celtic from 1987 to1989 will forever be etched in the club’s history when, despite off-field antics that amused and frustrated his teammates, Frank scored the iconic goals that clinched the centenary double for the club he loved.

However, despite it all, Frank put up a veneer of confidence that was sometimes at odds with his inner feelings and, when his career trajectory began to slow down, his inner demons came out. Frank opens up with extraordinary honesty about how this affected him.

Featuring contributions from Bill McMurdo, Tony Cottee, Bianca Westwood, Mick McCarthy and Alan Rough. Show less

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