A Renfrew teacher, who has been vital in helping nurture some of the biggest talents in Scottish football history, has been named on King Charles' first birthday honours list.
Alex McMenemy has been a key member of the Scottish Schools Football Association for the last 56 years and has helped it develop into what it is today.
The 77-year-old began coaching school teams when he became a PE teacher in 1967 and continued to work in football when he became depute head at Renfrew High School in 1975.
In Alex's first school team there was one player who would go on to be a European Champion at club level and Scotland's most capped player of all time.
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He told Glasgow Live: "I had a young boy in the team who was a magnificent goalkeeper.
"Sadly at under 15s I couldn't even get him a cap because he was so small. That lad was Jim Leighton who at one point was the smallest in the team.
"He was that way until he was aged 16 and signed with Dalry Thistle. He grew seven inches but still had the bandy legs. He was a lovely person.
"The other person I never managed to get a cap was Alistair Dawson who went on to play for Rangers and Scotland. The third one that sticks out from that time is Murdo Macleod and he never got a Scottish schools cap either.
"I may have failed getting them into the team but they had fantastic careers."
Not only did the former teacher coach some of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots for Scotland, but his fundraising efforts ensured that other stars could grace the pitch.
Alex came up with the SSFA Lottery in 1986, and then promoted it nationwide for 29 years. The funds were used to continue developing the school game, resulting in many notable names having their chance in the spotlight.
The ex-teacher said: "The best schoolboy I ever saw come through was Darren Fletcher. Watching him play the Dutch off the park at 14 to see him become Scotland captain and chat to me about his school days was terrific.
"Another name I saw come through was Scott Brown. When he was 17 he didn't have a club and played for the schools team against England and was a standout.
"After that game he signed for Hibs and a year later he was at Celtic. There are a lot of late developers that have played including Scott McKenna who played for the under 18s."
The 77-year-old has been lucky enough to travel around Europe with both boys and girls school teams and see them excel on the biggest stages.
However, two footballing memories stick out to him the most.
Alex said: "One of the biggets highlights was being invited to Paris to watch the A team play France in a qualifier and that was the game where James McFadden scored his wonder goal.
"The highlight of my schools football has to be the 1980 match at Wembley ,which was streamed live on ITV, 69,000 fans were at that schools under 15s game where Scotland beat England 5-4.
"Paul McStay scored twice and was the captain."
Not all of the players that the teacher came went on to have dazzling careers on the pitch, in fact a large majority didn't, but those moments still stick in their minds to this day.
Alex even bumped into one of the former schools internationals recently.
The ex-teacher said: "I was recovering from an operation in hospital and a man in his late 40s came in to take a wheelchair to his father in the ward.
"He saw my name above the bed and asked if I did the schools football. He told me that I picked him up from school in Linwood and took him to the trials.
"When he was selected I took him to the matches. He told me his name and I remembered him instantly. He played in the first big international I organised and it was againts Italy.
"We had 13,500 watching our under 15s against Italy and John Spence, Alex Clelland and Gary McSwegan played. The next week we played France and the man I was speaking to scored the winner that day.
"The both of us were able to reminisce. Before he left I reminded him that the centre back for Italy that day was Lorenzo Amoruso."
The pathway is still open for teachers to try their hand at coaching on an international stage against some of the best school teams in the world
The 77-year-old explained: "Usually you start as a teacher then you'd go on to take your district team.
"The schools association would then encourage them to get there coaching badges and help them out financially to achieve those certificates.
"Once they start achieving with their district team they would be invited to work with the school national team."
Alex was left gobsmacked when he found out that he was awarded a BEM, however, he has no plans of stopping his work in schools football just yet.
He said: "I'm delighted with the honour and humbled by it because there are many guys in the schools association who do much the same that I do.
"I'd like to thank my wife for putting up with me always going to meetings or games.
"The last time someone got an award for their contributions to school football in Scotland was 1958, which is a long time. I always joke to my family that I will carry on the work until I get my knighthood.
"I'm still going to carry on working for the schools association but I may need to cut back on driving around Scotland for the matches.
"I still travel to Hampden to work in the office to pass my time."
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