10 Greatest Scotland Goalkeepers in Football History [Ranked]

Scotland has a long history of great goalkeepers, from grizzled and stoic warriors like Jim Leighton to athletic long-standing professionals like Craig Gordon.

When it comes to Scottish keepers, Andy Goram is ranked number one in the list of the 10 greatest Scottish goalkeepers in football history. The combination of strength and incredible reflexes means he just beats Jim Leighton, who managed to somehow rebuild his career after the crushing blow of being dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson for the FA Cup Final replay. There are many other characters within the game throughout the years who make up the rest of the rankings.

Ranking Factors

• Longevity – it’s about the length of the career and quality performances
• Impact at their clubs – what significance did they have on results or a club’s immediate fortunes?
• Legacy – how are they remembered by their colleagues and the fans of their teams.

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10 Bryan Gunn

Clubs included Norwich City

Bryan Gunn became part of the furniture during his 12 years at Carrow Road, making 376 appearances for Norwich City during a great time for the Canaries. In 1993, with Gunn in goal, Norwich finished the season third in the Premier League, above Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester City.

Gunn played in the following season’s UEFA Cup game, where Norwich became the first English side to defeat Bayern Munich in the Olympiastadion. Despite being a familiar face in England, he won only six Scotland caps, but remains a firm favourite at Carrow Road.

9 Alan Rough

Clubs included Partick Thistle and Hibernian

He was still a teenager when he kept goal for Partick Thistle in a four-one win over Celtic in the League Cup Final. This was the start of a long career. Rough won more than half a century of caps between 1976 and 1986, playing in for his country in both the 1978 and 1982 World Cups.

Yet he very nearly had no future in football whatsoever, when aged 10 he was involved in an accident climbing on a discarded door at a rubbish tip near his home in Maryhill in Glasgow. The doctors felt they had to remove his arm, but another surgeon believed he could stitch it back together. Rough never looked back.

8 Allan McGregor

Clubs included Rangers and Hull City

Allan McGregor enjoyed huge success with Rangers, where he won three Scottish titles in a row. In 2020, he set a club record, becoming Rangers’ record European appearance holder with his eighty-third continental game. He made a memorable performance at Ibrox when Barcelona came to Glasgow in 2007, with Rangers earning a hard-fought 0-0.

Perhaps one of his greatest saves was a stunning block to deny Werder Bremen on the club’s route to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. He was a reliable performer in the Old Firm derby. In saving Georgios Samaras’ penalty in 2011, he helped the Gers retain their status as Scottish champions.

7 David Marshall

Clubs included Celtic and Cardiff City

With 47 international caps, David Marshall is fourth in the list of most-ever-capped Scottish players. The Glaswegian had something of a nomadic career, playing for eight clubs, but still managed to rack up near on 300 games for Cardiff City.

He burst on the scene with a memorable performance for Celtic, when in 2004, they took a first-leg UEFA Cup 1-0 lead over Barcelona to the Nou Camp, where Marshall excelled as Celtic gained a 0-0 to go through. Marshall made the vital penalty save from Aleksandar Mitrovic’s penalty in the shootout against Serbia seal qualification for UEFA 2020, their first major tournament in 22 years.

6 Craig Gordon

Clubs included Celtic, Sunderand and Hearts

Craig Gordon’s international career has shown how resilient he has been as a professional. He made his Scotland debut in 2004 in a win over Trinidad and Tobago. Twenty years later, he was still at it, making an appearance against Croatia aged 41, making him the third-ever oldest player to compete in European competition. This after being left out of Scotland’s Euro 2024 squad.

Following that unsuccessful tournament for the Scots, former Scotland manager Craig Levein has since claimed that Gordon is still the best goalkeeper his country have. As it stands, Gordon is the oldest player to have represented Scotland.

5 David Harvey

Clubs included Leed United

David Harvey’s contest with Gary Sprake for the Leeds United number jersey in the 1960s and 70s was one of the great goalkeeping rivalries. Harvey was a long time the second choice, up until the 1970 FA Cup Final replay, for which Sprake was dropped, although Leeds still lost. It was Harvey who played in the 1973 FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup Finals, but again, Leeds lost both.

Harvey’s patience eventually paid off, when Leeds went on a 29-match unbeaten run that saw them win the 1973/74 league title, earning Harvey the winners’ medal he did not qualify for when Leeds last won the title in 1969.

4 Bob Wilson

Clubs included Arsenal

Bob Wilson was the legendary goalkeeper of the Arsenal side that won the league and cup double in 1971, a season in which he was voted the club’s player of the year. Given his success with the Gunners it may come as a surprise that he won only two caps for Scotland.

Although rules were slightly different in the 1960s, with Wilson born in Chesterfield, so despite having Scottish parents, he was not permitted to play for Scotland until the rules changed in 1970. Wilson went on to become Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach for many years, working with goalkeepers that included club legend David Seaman.

3 Ronnie Simpson

Clubs included Celtic

Seen by many as Celtic’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Simpson had already been an FA Cup winning goalkeeper with Newcastle on two occasions before tending goal for the Hoops’ greatest moment, when in 1967, in beating Inter Milan by two goals to one in Lisbon, they became the first British side to win the European Cup. By that time, Simpson was 36, having had a pretty full career, but was a bit ahead of his time in that he was comfortable with the ball at his feet, as recalled by then Celtic skipper Billy McNeil:

2 Jim Leighton

Clubs included Aberdeen and Manchester United

Under Alex Ferguson, at Aberdeen, Leighton who won a host of silverware, including back-to-back Scottish titles, four Scottish cups, and in 1983 ,the European Cup Winners’ Cup in a run that saw them knock out Bayern Munich and then after extra-time, beat Real Madrid in the final. Ferguson took Leighton with him to Manchester United, but the keeper was blamed for mistakes in the 1990 FA Cup final, which finished three-three. Leighton was dropped for the replay, and soon found himself fourth choice keeper until a move to Dundee two years later where he rebuilt his career. He eventually found himself back at Aberdeen, by which time he was Scotland goalkeeper for the 1998 World Cup.

1 Andy Goram

Clubs included Rangers

Known universally as The Goalie, Andy Goram was the bedrock on which Rangers went on to win nine league titles in a row in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Goram often saved some of his best performances for the Old Firm derby with Celtic, leaving the late former Celtic manager Tommy Burns to be near to speechless after one particular match:

Burns was referring to a breathtaking point-blank save Goram made from Pierre van Hooijdonk in a three-all draw at Ibrox in 1995, which is believed to be one of the best Old Firm derbies of all time. Standing at five foot eleven, Goram wasn’t the tallest goalkeeper, yet he still had great presence in between the sticks. Although Goram sadly passed away in 2022, he still casts a shadow over Scottish football.

Stats via Transfmarkt. Stats correct as of 12/10/24