The goalscoring plumber McCoist says is a legend

Formartine United vs. Buckie Thistle in the second round of the Scottish Cup

Date: Friday, October 24th Kick-off: 19:45 BST Location: North Lodge Park, Pitmedden

Rory McAllister must be Scotland’s most well-known plumber.

The 38-year-old goalscoring legend, who was praised by Ally McCoist no less, is plotting further Scottish Cup success as his Formartine United side take on Buckie Thistle in front of BBC cameras in the second round of the Scottish Cup.

How different this story could have been if McAllister had chosen to keep the goals rather than the goals in a moment, though?

“I started out in Aberdeen with Middlefield Wasps. I participated there between the ages of eight and fourteen or fifteen. When did I begin to experience club trials?

I spent time at Celtic, Rangers, and all of these organizations before moving on to Chelsea, where Aberdeen eventually offered me a full-time contract.

McAllister started playing football for Inverness Caledonian Thistle when he was 18 years old, scoring one goal against Ayr United in a 1-1 draw at the age of 18.

He recalls that as I progressed through the age groups, I began to build up the objectives and was chosen for Scotland.

“Then I just went backwards and hit a brick wall.” I joined Brechin at that point, too.

A lower-league legend was about to become a legend in Glebe Park and its famous hedge in 2009, according to the time.

McAllister would score 26 goals in the 2009-10 season and 25 goals in the 2010-11 season.

He claims, “It was brilliant.” “It was where I established myself at scoring goals at the sidelines.”

He became famous after those two seasons. That map actually begins and ends in the north-east of Scotland, which is what McAlister’s career is all about.

The goals remained consistent until Peterhead was the next destination. He found the net 33 times in 35 games during the 2013-14 campaign, which was particularly memorable.

He would average more than 24 goals per season in the decade that followed McAllister’s ground-breaking campaign with Brechin City.

Along the way, he had a few spells with Cove Rangers and Montrose, and Rory McAllister seemed to be almost always present on the Sportscene Results video.

Nets continued to grow, and he became the third player to score 250 in the Scottish League since World War Two, joining Gordon Wallace and Ally McCoist, who were also illustrious.

In a video message that was shared on social media, the Rangers legend described McAlister as “a legend of the SPFL” and received a lot of praise.

Not bad for a plumber and a football player at the same time.

McAllister spends the majority of his time holding a plunger in hand when he is not terrorizing defenses. He must be skilled at plumbing because he refused to accept any offers that would make football his only job.

There was always just something going on in my life at the time that it just didn’t fit me at the time, he says, when I was given the chance to work full-time.

“Or even the contracts you were offered at times weren’t as good as what you could get.”

Sometimes you have to look at something like that. You must prioritize what is best for both your family and you. It just wasn’t worth it, in fact, a lot of the time.

Master of both skills, a jack of two trades. This most down-to-earth of goalscoring heroes give you the impression that football is just as important as plumbing.

Not that he overlooks the benefits of his journey. In a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Premiership side St Johnstone, he scored twice in a 2013 victory for Peterhead at Ibrox against Rangers. In that same year, he scored five goals in a single game against Falkirk in 2015.

Another adventure on the way to Hampden is looming large, this time at Formartine’s North Lodge Park in the village of Pitmedden, 16 miles north of Aberdeen, after almost 20 years since he opened his Scottish Cup goalscoring account.

McAllister’s Formartine are anticipating this dramatic national spotlight against Highland League rival Buckie in front of Sportscene cameras after McAllister’s summer signing.

” It’s brilliant, “he adds”. You get the same faces every week at a good community club, and they’re nice people.

“The staff who does the work, the manager, and they get the recognition as well,” he said. It’s a little praise for the Highland League and a win for the players who haven’t yet played on television.