Martin McLean Buchan, born Aberdeen, Scotland, March 6, 1949. A central defender, Martin Buchan emerged as one of Manchester United’s most consistent and dependable performers during the 1970s, and proceeded to appear in well over 400 first team games for the Old Trafford club. The no-nonsense performer also gained a respectable total of 34 full caps for his native Scotland between 1971 and 1978.
A Granite City local, Martin Buchan joined Aberdeen from Banks O’ Dee in 1965 and made his first Scottish Football League appearance in a 1-1 draw against Dunfermline at East End Park on the 8th of October 1966 at the age of seventeen. After spending the summer of 1967 playing for United Soccer Association club Washington Whips, he made 34 first team appearances for Aberdeen during the 1967-68 season and gradually became an important member of the now legendary Pittodrie side of the early 1970s. A reliable and strong central half, there was a certain strength about him which marked him out as a natural leader of men, and the prodigiously talented youth player became the youngest captain ever to lead a team to glory in the Scottish FA Cup when Eddie Turnbull´s troops beat favourites Celtic by a surprise score of 3-1 in a final at Hampden Park witnessed by almost 110,000 spectators on the 11th of April 1970 thanks to a goal by Joe Harper and a double from Derek McKay. After another good campaign the following season, the young and promising prospect was deservedly named as Scotland’s Player of the Year in 1971. While at Pittodrie Stadium, Buchan managed to clock up 134 Scottish Football League outings for The Dons before he was lured to Manchester United by Frank O’Farrell who signed him for a transfer fee of £125,000 at the back end of the 1971-72 campaign. After being given his First Division baptism for United in a 2-0 defeat to Bill Nicholson´s Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on the 4th of March 1972, the determined and disciplined centre-back was subsequently made captain of the team and he would set an exemplary personal example in the years to come.
The 1972-73 season proved to be a a long and hard struggle, however, with a great number of new and inexperienced young players in the Manchester United side, and the once powerful club finished in the lower half of the table, and the slide continued as they eventually found themselves relegated to the Second Division at the end of the turbulent 1973-74 campaign, along with Norwich City and Southampton. But despite United suffering a humiliating relegation from the First Division in 1974, the Old Trafford board of directors kept their faith in Tommy Docherty, who had succeeded Frank O´Farrell as manager midway through the 1972-73 season, and The Reds bounced straight back to Division One the very next year. After guiding his peers to a comfortable 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux Grounds on the opening day of the 1975-76 campaign, Martin Buchan went on to amass 52 first class appearances for Manchester United in their comeback season in which they finished a creditable third in the First Division table with 56 points collected from 42 games played, three points behind runners-up Queens Park Rangers, and four points adrift of champions Liverpool.
As the decade proceeded, Buchan would appear in three FA Cup Finals during four seasons between 1976 and 1979, and the Old Trafford skipper lifted the FA Cup trophy when Docherty´s side defeated Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on the 21st of May 1977. Stuart Pearson opened the scoring for Manchester United six minutes into the second period, only for Liverpool born midfielder Jimmy Case to hit the equalising goal for the Merseysiders in the 53rd minute of the encounter. But then, after 55 minutes, a ferocious shot from former Celtic favourite Lou Macari deflected off Jimmy Greenhoff´s chest and looped over Three Lions goalkeeper Ray Clemence and into the net to hand United a memorable 2-1 victory against The Anfielders. The Aberdonian would spend over eleven successful years with Manchester United and the long serving stalwart appeared in 456 first team matches under managers Frank O´Farrell, Tommy Docherty, Dave Sexton and Ron Atkinson before he ultimately left the club on a free transfer at the end of the 1982-83 campaign after increasing problems with his fitness. Now on the wrong side of thirty, he enjoyed a comparatively short spell at neighbouring Oldham Athletic for whom he notched up 28 Second Division appearances until he finally decided to hang up his boots in the summer of 1985. Then, at the beginning of the 1985-86 season, he was offered the post as manager of Fourth Division club Burnley, but he resigned after spending a mere four months in the hot seat at Turf Moor.
Internationally, Martin Buchan was handed his senior debut for his native Scotland on the 13th of October 1971 by caretaker head coach Tommy Docherty when he entered the field as a late second half substitute for experienced Sheffield United defender Eddie Colquhoun in a 2-1 European Championship Qualifying triumph against Portugal at Hampden Park where Derby County players John O´Hare and Archie Gemmill netted a goal each for the hosts, while Benfica central defender Rui Rodrigues scored for the Portuguese. His next appearance for the country of his birth came in a 1-0 European Championship Qualifying success over Raymond Goethals´s Belgium in front of an attendance of more than 36,000 people at Pittodrie on the 10th of November the same year, with O´Hare scoring the winning goal for the dark blue shirts in the sixth minute of the clash. Blessed with excellent timing and reading of the game, Buchan would go on to amass a total of 34 senior appearances for The Tartan Terriers, with his final international outing arriving in a 1-0 European Championship Qualifying defeat to none other than Portugal before a crowd of over 70,000 at The Stadium of Light in Lisbon on the 29th of November 1978. The defensive bulwark also represented his nation in the World Cup in West Germany in 1974, as well as the World Cup in Argentina in 1978, and he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2013. Martin Buchan Playing Career: Banks O’ Dee, Aberdeen, Washington Whips, Manchester United, Oldham Athletic. Playing Honours: Scottish FA Cup 1970, English Football League Second Division 1975, English FA Cup 1977, English FA Charity Shield 1977, British Home Championship 1972, 1974.