HER father’s career spanned 20 years as a professional and almost half a century of caps for Scotland.
He was also an unsung hero for a Premier League side at the peak of his powers – but one area where his daughter might have the upper hand is when it comes to silverware.
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In her dad’s trophy cabinet, a long Scottish Cup winners’ medal is the pick of the bunch.
But in her own, she’s got a league AND cup double to boast about.
The man in question?
Gary Naysmith, Scotland’s Mr Reliable at left-back for much of the 2000s.
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After coming through the youth ranks at Hearts in the late nineties he forced his way into the national team squad when there was a dearth of choice on the left side of defence.
Nowadays, Steve Clarke is spoiled for choice in that area with Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney as the headliners, while the likes of Greg Taylor, Aaron Hickey and Josh Doig have also been called up by the current boss.
But rewind 20-odd years ago and it was a totally different story.
Tom Boyd’s retirement left a (gaping) door open for Naysmith and he held the ship steady for nine years, rarely letting his country down as he donned the number three shirt 46 times.
Naysmith’s time in dark blue featured near misses in qualifying for the Euros, something this current corp have also managed to flip on its head.
In aiming for Euro 2004 it was a play-off loss to the Netherlands that was our undoing.
Next time round in attempting to qualify for Euro 2008 it was that horrifying end to the campaign with losses to Georgia away and Italy at home that scuppered our chances.
Naysmith stuck around for one final go at qualifying for a major tournament but after we failed to reach the World Cup in 2010, he wasn’t seen at international level again.
During his time at the top, Naysmith starred for Hearts and won the Scottish Cup in 1998 before moving to Everton in the Premier League for whom he would go on to make over 150 appearances for across all competitions.
He was signed by Walter Smith in 2000 and would be affectionately nicknamed “El Blanco Carlos” (The White Carlos), by the Toffees faithful, in reference to Brazilian superstar Roberto Carlos, keeping his place under successor David Moyes.
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Naysmith was once on the receiving end of a horror tackle from Merseyside rival Steven Gerrard that was so bad the Anfield skipper publicly apologised to him.
The Scot would recover from that knock but an ankle injury in 2005 led to him losing his place in the side and he joined Sheffield United for £1m in 2007.
After two years in the Championship he dropped down to League One with Huddersfield and helped them achieve promotion via the play-offs, returning to Scotland in 2012 for a short stint at Aberdeen before rounding out his career with East Fife in a player-manager role.
On top of his three-year spell with the Fifers, Naysmith has been boss at Queen of the South, Edinburgh City and nowadays is in charge of Stenhousemuir.
During his Edinburgh City days, he was able to look on with pride as daughter Niamh became part of the club’s successful women‘s side.
Before the team folded just before Christmas as part of the wider club’s financial crisis, Niamh and her team mates won the SWF League One and Championship/League One Cup at the end of the 2022/23 season.
She’s now been snapped up by similarly ambitious Bonnyrigg Rose.
Upon revealing her as a new signing, Bonnyrigg Ladies said on Twitter (now X.com): “We’re delighted to announce the signing of Niamh.
“Niamh was a league & cup double winner with Edinburgh City last season, hopefully more of the same in the Rose colours to come.
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“Welcome @niamhnaysmithh“
Her position and number? You guessed it, the same as her dad’s.
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