Donnie’s pain turned to joy with a dream debut
There’s no greater feeling than scoring on your debut for a new club.
Even better if, like Donnie Gillies, you are playing your first game in full-time football.
It’s exactly 50 years since he woke up one Sunday morning, feeling the aches and pains that come from being a professional player.
There was no headache. His success in hitting a winner for Morton was toasted with soft drinks.
Donnie had moved to the Greenock side just five days before lining up against Dundee at Dens Park on November 6, 1971.
He recalled: “My main memory of that week was how painful everything was.
“I thought I was fit after playing for Inverness Clach in the Highland League, but full-time training was a bit of a shock to the system.
“I was leaning over the wall being sick after my first day at Morton.
“I didn’t really expect to play so soon. But someone was injured – I think it was Billy ‘Sugar’ Osborne – and I was picked to play at Dens.
“They were on a high after knocking Cologne out of the UEFA Cup in midweek.
“I got a chance after 14 minutes and managed to stick it away. Then we held on for a 1-0 win. “A friend gave me a lift home to Fort William. “I celebrated with a pint of Coca-Cola. I didn’t drink in those days. That only came when I moved to England!”
Donnie was brought up in Claggan, the village at the base of Ben Nevis.
He went on: “I started out with other young lads playing for Nevis Dynamos. I was signed by Inverness Clach, and scoring goals for them attracted a few scouts.
“I came off after one game, and a man put a form in front of me and asked me to sign it. I asked what it was, and he said it was a contract to join East Fife, and that my father had agreed to me joining them.
“He’d given him a couple of bottles of whisky. What he didn’t know was that my dad worked in a distillery, and that was a like a cup of tea to him!
“I then spoke to my dad, who said he’d only given permission to speak to me.
“I didn’t join them because they were parttime. I then got a phone call asking me to go down to Greenock and join Morton.”
Donnie was a regular goalscorer in Scotland’s top flight, and that attracted attention from clubs on both sides of the border. He said: “I scored in the first half of a game against Celtic in 1972, and was told not to go to training the next day.
“The reason given was that Celtic were keen to sign me. That fell through when Morton chairman, Hal Stewart, tried to double the fee.
“I ended up going to Bristol City the following year after scoring against them in a friendly.
“I spent seven years at Ashton Gate, and we won promotion to England’s top division.
“We had some great times. I scored the goal that knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup and one against Coventry City that stopped us from being relegated.”
Donnie was capped by Scotland Under-23s as a striker, but was later converted to full-back.
He added: “One of the first people I met in Bristol was ex-Morton player, Gerry Sweeney.
“He got injured in a game one evening, and I went back to temporarily replace him in defence.
“I must have done well because I then alternated between defence and attack.
“I don’t know if it helped me. In the era of just one substitute, I ended up on the bench a lot because I could come on in different positions.
“We had lots of Scots at City – guys like Tom Ritchie, Gerry Gow and John Shaw.
“We could have fielded an all-Scottish team if we’d used reserves and youth players.”
Donnie moved to Bristol Rovers in 1980, and then played for a number of non-league sides.
He also had a season with Anorthosis in Cyprus, at the time managed by former teammate, Peter Cormack.”
Now 70, he’s retired in Somerset after spending many years running a wholesale fruit and veg business.