Gordon McQueen obituary

The footballer Gordon McQueen, who has died aged 70 after suffering from cancer and dementia, was a fearless defender who divided most of his career between Leeds United and Manchester United. His celebrated status in his native Scotland was underpinned by a winning goal for his country at Wembley in 1977.

The image of McQueen rising above the England defence to head home an Asa Hartford free-kick is captured in the memory of a Scottish football generation. He later said: “That was me on the way down. I don’t know why Ray Clemence had the cheek to dive.” A goal from Kenny Dalglish clinched the victory required for Scotland to retain the British Home Championship.

McQueen joined Leeds in 1972 when Jack Charlton was on the verge of retirement and Don Revie needed a centre-half with similar qualities. Standing 6ft 3in and uncompromising in attitude, McQueen fitted the bill. Entering the Leeds dressing room, he remembered, was “like walking into the pages of a football magazine, with so many famous faces”.

Revie liked signing Scots, and at one point, McQueen recalled, there were 18 on the Leeds books, including Billy Bremner and Joe Jordan. “Even the English players spoke with Scottish accents,” he said. After six games in his first season, including as substitute in the 1973 European Cup Winners’ Cup final, which Leeds lost 1-0 to Milan (the referee was later banned for match-fixing), he formed a defensive partnership with Norman Hunter that proved crucial to Leeds’s golden period.

From the start of the 1973-74 season they went on a run of 29 games undefeated and won the First Division title for only the second time in the club’s history. McQueen then played a key role in helping Leeds reach the 1975 European Cup final,