25-05-2025
Former football starlet who lost eye in horror bottle attack crowned Scotland's top independent car dealer
The sports prodigy, then 16, had just signed for Ayr United when the assault stole his left eye and robbed him of his future dreams
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A FORMER football starlet blinded by a bottle thug says the trauma drove him to success - after becoming an award-winning car dealer.
John McTier, 37, was a promising winger tipped for the top when six neds launched an unprovoked attack as he walked his girlfriend home in Govan, Glasgow, in December 2004.
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John McTier has been named Scotland's best independent car dealer
Credit: Supplied
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The ex-Ayr United starlet was blinded in one eye in a sickening bottle attack in 2004
Credit: Les Gallagher - The Sun Glasgow
The sports prodigy, then 16, had just signed for Ayr United when the assault stole his left eye and robbed him of his future dreams.
But he channeled hurt into hope and was just crowned Best Independent Motor Dealer at the 2025 Scottish Business Awards for his Cardonald-based firm Woodville Cars.
John, who recently welcomed daughter McKinley with wife Nikki, 38, said: 'It was a job to start with and then when I started doing something right, I got a buzz out of that.
'I was always wanting to be a football player, I tried my best, I wouldn't do the teenager thing and get drunk or whatever, I trained and I worked my best.
'I gave it 110 per cent. I didn't know any other thing.
'As stupid as it sounds, if a wee granny comes in and books you, you've got to get that right, I'm not taking that car out unless it's checked and double checked.
'It comes back to treating other people like you'd like to be treated yourself. I don't even know who nominated me for this award but it means a lot.'
John was initially offered just £32,000 in compensation for the assault, including just £5,000 for loss of earnings.
But lawyer Liam O'Donnell, ex-Scottish PFA chief Fraser Wishart, then Ayr coach Robert Connor and former Dundee United winger and team-mate Craig Conway told the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority he could have signed for an Old Firm club and earned £500,000 a year.
He was jumped by a gang of teen thugs - three boys and three girls - with then 14-year-old ned Andrew Hulley referred to the Children's Panel instead of being locked up
I saved retired fire engine from scrap in just 10 weeks – now it has completely different life
John - who also suffered a broken nose and cuts to his head and body was eventually awarded more than £260,000 in 2010 and used the cash to set himself up in business.
But it didn't all go to plan - as he first qualified as a college lecturer before the recession hit and public sector cuts interfered with the job he was promised.
Now he reckons his success comes down to the fact he never rips off customers.
He said: 'I guess it's a nice feeling to know when you're recognised.
'I have friends who say I'm doing everything right and I thought they were just being nice, but then loads of people have said the same.
'If I do an MOT, I don't just do the bare minimum, I do everything. If it's advisories or anything, I do all that before I put the car out the door, so then it's 100 per cent right.
'That way, they're not going to phone me back up in a month's time. I'll just eradicate that by doing it all, it costs more money, I don't make as much money, but if it helps me build my brand and helps my customers get a better deal, then it's worth it.
'What's for you won't go by you - and I'm very happy with my life now."
