Trophy honours may have been in short supply, but there was plenty of pleasure for Jim Currie to take from his Junior deeds across five West Region clubs.

A solitary winner's medal to show for all his ardours could have left him embittered but instead Jim, now 61 years of age, is full of gratitude for the memories and friendships forged down through the years.

Reared in Easterhouse, he played as a striker with the 108th Boys' Brigade side which won the Scottish East Division before joining the amateur ranks with local outfit Lochbridge United.

Jim said: "I loved my football and continued to play for Lochbridge as well as just about every pub team in Easterhouse before joining a Barlanark-based club by the name of East Muir, where I played for less than a year before Thorniewood United scout George Leslie invited me out on trial.

"I stayed only a few miles away yet never even knew there was such a place as Viewpark but George picked me up and took me along for a game against Bellshill Athletic where I impressed enough to be offered signing terms by the United assistant boss Billy Lamont, who was later to manage Falkirk and Partick Thistle.

"I ended my first Junior season as top goalscorer, but that still didn't prevent me being given a free transfer when a new manager came on the scene and brought in his own players."

Former goalkeeper Lamont's unhappiness over Jim's release is thought to have sparked him into tipping off Vale of Clyde manager Billy Rothwell.

He acquired the nickname of 'Kid Currie' playing at Fullarton Park for the next eight seasons, forming a prolific scoring partnership alongside Sylvester O'Brien, however his Tin Pail years were to yield nothing in the way of a silverware reward.

Frustration over this lack of success saw him only too willing to move when Arthurlie's management team of John Dove and George Walker came in for him in 1978.

He won the only trophy of his playing career as the Barrhead outfit upset the odds to lift the Lang's Sectional League Cup with a 3-1 Kilbowie Park defeat of East Kilbride Thistle.

Jim said: "I thoroughly enjoyed our final win, not least because we gave the fancied EK a real going over.

"A not-so-pleasant recollection from my time at Dunterlie occurred in a game against Baillieston when I took it upon myself to sort out Joe Connors, who was kicking lumps out of a very talented Arthurlie midfielder, Brian McClure.

"My scything into Joe might have escaped with only a caution but for my younger brother Ian, then a central defender with Baillieston, taking exception and before you knew it we were trading punches in best family-at-war tradition prior to the two of us embarrassingly getting our marching orders along with Connors."

Jim's playing days with Arthurlie were to come to an abrupt end after his accidentally heading the back of David Jamieson's head in a game against bitter rivals Pollok left him with a triple fracture of the jaw, fractured eye socket and broken cheekbone.

He said: "It took a long time to recover from that collision and even longer for me to get fully fit and in the mood for playing football again, by which time I was away from Arthurlie.

"A good friend, Joe Bonnar, invited me down to play for a Troon side made up of Kilmarnock youth team starlets and sadly lacking Junior experience so I signed on the dotted line and ended up as team captain at 31 years of age and playing left-back.

"I might have seen out my playing days at Portland Park but for another Glasgow acquaintance, Alex Minty, persuading me to join him at Kilwinning where I was to eventually hang up the boots after a friendly against Possil YM left me with a badly broken toe.

"My heart wasn't in it at that stage and I just stepped away from the Junior scene to briefly help run a couple of teams with Dennistoun- based Ipswich Boys' Club before walking away from football for good.

"I know our Ian (his brother) is doing a grand job of managing the Vale and I'll probably get along to a game soon, but truth is I have only been to three games in the past five years so I can't see me being a regular.

"My love of the game ended when I stopped playing."