Q Peter Bennie wants
to know "the names of the Falkirk team who won
the Scottish Cup in 1957."
A The team was: Slater,
Parker, Rae, Wright, Irvine, Prentice, Murray, Grierson, Merchant,
Moran, O’Hara.
The same eleven played both the first match and the replay against
Kilmarnock. John Prentice scored with a penalty in the
1-1 draw and Merchant and Moran scored in the 2-1
win that took the Scottish Cup to Falkirk for the second (and
to date, last) time.
Q From Paul Nelson:
"Who were the Scottish representatives the year Real Madrid
beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the European Cup Final
at Hampden and how far did they progress?"
A Rangers were the Scottish
entrants in 1959-60 and they reached the semi-finals before being
crushed 12-4 on aggregate by Eintracht.
Q Bernard Collins
is looking for "the name of the goalkeeper who succeeded
George Niven at Rangers?"
A It was Billy Ritchie,
who actually vied with Niven for the goalkeeping slot. Niven
won his place back when Ritchie was called up for national service.
But by the start of 1961-62 Ritchie was back as first choice and
Niven was transferred to Partick Thistle later that season.
He remained the regular keeper until 1966-67 when Norrie Martin
took over.
Q Mickey Walker
is looking for "the earliest known film footage of an
Old Firm game."
A The earliest I've SEEN
is the 1928 Scottish Cup Final. But if anyone out there
knows of any earlier, please get in touch with the address at
the top of the page.
Q Roger Campbell
runs an Under-12 team in Lanarkshire and Tom Boyd agreed
to present the medals at their annual presentation so Roger asks
for "some information about him: appearances for each
of his full time clubs, Scotland caps, honours etc."
A With 72 appearances Tom
Boyd is the fifth most-capped player in Scottish international
history (Dalglish, Leighton, McLeish, McStay are the top four).
He won 66 of those caps with Celtic which means only Packie
Bonner and Paul McStay have won more while at Parkhead
– and only McStay has won more Scotland caps.
Tom captained his country five times. Unusually he didn’t
assume the captaincy for his 50th cap as this was the last match
(and a vital one) of the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign
v Latvia at Celtic Park. Craig Brown stuck with Gary McAllister
on that occasion but Tom was captain for the next game away to
France. The other times he was international skipper were away
to the Faroes and the Czech Republic, both in June 1999, in the
2000 European Championships qualifiers, against Australia at Hampden
in November 2000 and in Poland in April 2001.
His only international goal was scored v Estonia
at Rugby Park on March 29th 1997 in a World Cup qualifier (Scotland
won 2-0, Tom scored the first goal).
Tom’s international career started in September 1990
when he came on as a sub for Robert Connor against Romania
in the opening match of the 1992 European Championship qualifiers
and ended 11 years later in September 2001 with his 72nd
appearance coming in Brussels against Belgium in a 2002
World Cup qualifier.
He played in the European Championship finals of 1992
(1 game), 1996 (3) and the World Cup Finals of 1998
(3)
Tom was born in Glasgow on Nov 24th 1965 and signed for
Motherwell as a schoolboy. He made his debut on Feb
11th 1984 at Fir Park in a league game v Aberdeen (Well
lost 4-0).
By the time he left for Chelsea in a £800,000 transfer
in June 1991 he had made 252 League appearances for Motherwell,
scoring six times. He’d made 18 League Cup appearances (one
goal) and 31 Scottish Cup appearances. His only Scottish Cup goal
came in a quarter final replay in 1991 away to Morton in a match
which ended 1-1 with Motherwell winning on penalties.
Of course this was the year they went on to beat Celtic after
a replay in the semis and Dundee United in the Final 4-3 after
extra time to win the Cup for the first time since 1952. This
was his last match for Motherwell before moving south.
He was a regular at Chelsea – his debut was against Wimbledon
at Stamford Bridge on Aug 17th 1991 (2-2) - making 23 League
appearances and two outings in both the League Cup and FA Cup
before Celtic secured his services in a deal valued at
£750,000 in February 1992 (included Tony Cascarino
going the other way).
He’d been capped four times while at Fir Park and
added two more caps at Stamford Bridge. His last match
in England was a 2-1 win at Liverpool on Feb 1st 1992.
He didn’t score any goals for Chelsea.
Seven days later he made his first start for Celtic at home to
Airdrie in a league game (Celtic won 2-0) and scored
his first goal for Celtic at Love Street in a 1-1 draw with St
Mirren in April that year.
By the time he’d made his last League appearance for them,
at Aberdeen in May 2002 he’d turned out 306 times
in all.
He succeeded McStay as captain in 1997 and the next
season led Celtic to their first League title for ten years. He
was still captain when the title was won again in 2001 before
the captaincy was transferred to Paul Lambert.
He also captained Celtic to their first League Cup success for
15 years in 1997-98 and was again skipper when they won it in
2000.
Tom played in the Celtic team that ended a six-year trophy drought
in 1995 when they won the Scottish Cup and came on as a substitute
in the 2001 Scottish Cup Final for another winning appearance.
Tom also played 34 times in Europe for Celtic.
His last match as a Celtic player was at Parkhead on Nov 6th
2002 helping his team to a win on penalties over Partick Thistle
in the League Cup. His career spanned almost 19 years and in total
Tom made over 800 appearances in first class football.
558 Scottish League (8 goals)
51 League Cup (1 goal)
65 Scottish Cup (1 goal)
34 European
72 International (1 goal)
23 English League
2 League Cup
2 FA Cup
Total 807 (11 goals)
He won three League Championships, two League Cups, three Scottish
Cups, five times Scotland captain, one World Cup Finals (3 apps),
two European Championships (4 apps).
Not bad, considering his first season ended in relegation!
Apart from one season (84-85) all League appearances were top
division.
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Q Devin Ward asks: "On
your site a person called John Hodge was mentioned playing
for Celtic. Around the same time i am trying to find out about a
player called James (Jimmy) Hodge who also played for Celtic. Is
there any chance you know about him or is this the same player?
I know he was called Jimmy because i have a newspaper cutting which
definatly calls him Jimmy (whilst he played for Man Utd)"
A The John Hodge who
played for Celtic was born in Greenock, joined Celtic from Port
Glasgow Athletic in 1899 and was transferred to Portsmouth in 1902.
The Jimmy Hodge who played for Man Utd was born in Stenhousemuir
on July 5th 1891 and would only have been 11 years old at the time
John Hodge moved south. So they can’t be the same player.
Jimmy Hodge (who is the only James or Jimmy Hodge to have played
in English League football at this time) played for Stenhousemuir,
Man U, Millwall, Norwich and Southend. I can’t find any trace
of him (or any other Hodge apart from John) with Celtic.
There was also a John Hodge who played for Man U around this
time but he was Jimmy’s younger brother so, again, this
can’t be the same player as the one with Celtic.
Q Karel Stokkemans wants information
on "players who played for both Celtic and Rangers in their
career."
A This question has forced us
to revise an earlier answer where we said George
Livingstone was the first. After what they call on the web
a 'comprehensive search' but what is more accurately designated
a 'wee rummage' we found that the following definitely played
for both clubs:
Tom Dunbar: Celtic 1888-91, Rangers 1891-92, Celtic 1892-98
Allan Martin: Rangers 1891-92 Celtic, 1895-96
George Livingstone: Celtic 1901-02, Rangers 1907-09
Alec Bennett: Celtic 1903-08, Rangers 1908-17
Tom Sinclair: Rangers 1904-06, Celtic 1906-07
Robert Campbell: Celtic 1905-06, Rangers 1906-14
Hugh Shaw: Rangers 1905-06, Celtic 1906-07
Willie Kivlichan: Rangers 1905-07, Celtic 1907-11
David Taylor: Rangers 1906-11, Celtic 1918-19 (guest player)
Davie McLean: Celtic 1907-09, Rangers 1918-19
Scott Duncan: Rangers 1913-18 Celtic 1918-19 (guest player)
James Young: Celtic 1917-18, Rangers 1917-18
Alfie Conn Jnr Rangers 1968-74, Celtic 1977-79
Maurice Johnston Celtic 1984-87, Rangers 1989-92
There have been others - Patsy Gallacher and Charlie Tully come
to mind - who have made temporary transfers of registration in order
to play in benefit/charity matches but the list above consists of
those who have made League or Cup appearances for both Clorinda
and Thisbe (the original names of the Ugly Sisters).
My thanks to Forrest Robertson for assistance with this
answer.
Q Graeme McEwan asks:"Why
were Ferranti Thistle chosen as the 38th league club and
did the League operate a re-election policy?'
A When the decision was made
in 1974 to change from two divisions to three for the 1975-76 season
it was agreed to invite a new club into membership so that the numbers
would be 10-14-14. Before that the 2nd Division operated with 19
clubs - one team had a 'week off' each Saturday.
The League decided to bring the new club into the old 2nd division
in 1974-75 to give them a year's experience before the new set-up
came into operation.
Ferranti Thistle had the good fortune to make the third
round of the Scottish Cup in 1974 so had a bit of a high profile
and they were given the nod over Gala Fairydean and Inverness
Thistle
Why them? The cynic might say that Pools money had something to
do with it. The Pools companies paid clubs £345 per point
and Ferranti were viewed as easy meat compared to a stronger Highland
side. Two wins over them earned a club £1,380. For part-time
2nd division sides that covered a few players wages for the season.
That, allied to the fact that Edinburgh was a more convenient journey
than Inverness or the Borders appeared to clinch it.
Re-election operated until the 1930s but was dropped in 1932 after
the mid-season resignations of Armadale and Bo'ness.
No clubs replaced this pair and the Second Division was reduced
in size from 20 clubs to 18.
After the war, clubs could apply to join the 'C' division - Stranraer
and Berwick Rangers joined the League this way - without
it being at the expense of other clubs.
When the C Division teams were accepted into Div 2 in 1955 this
practice ceased. The only occasion for election after that and prior
to Ferranti was in 1966 when Clydebank were elected (in
preference to Gala and Hawick Royal Albert) to
make the numbers up to 20. When Third Lanark folded at the
end of 1966-67 no attempt was made to restore the numbers.
Two footnotes to the Ferranti story. Although they were forced to
change their name because of the commercial connotations, it was
too late for some publications. Both the Rothmans Football Yearbook
and the Racing & Football Outlook Football Annual printed fixture
lists with the name of Ferranti Thistle.
Secondly, and ironically in view of the role their Cup success played
in winning League status, the newly-named Meadowbank Thistle didn't
play in the Scottish Cup in 1974-75. Their election was too late
to change the set-up to give them direct entry to the first round
so they had to play in the Qualifying Cup and were beaten 4-1 at
home by Selkirk.
Q Graeme also wonders "How
were fixtures worked out before computer programmes?"
A Can't say for certain for
the Scottish League but I think they followed the English pattern.
Charles Sutcliffe, a Football League committee man of long-standing
devised systems of charts for drawing up fixtures which guaranteed
that if A were at home to B one season then B were at home the next.
Similarly he took into account clubs proximity to each other so
that if X played at home Y played away.
These were hand-drawn and objects of great secrecy (though in
truth it's not that difficult to devise fixture lists as hundreds
of minor leagues and other team sports like hockey and rugby prove).
Sutcliffe's charts - which were based on county cricket fixtures
- were handed down to his son and they were used until he died in
1967.
Q Graeme Ross is looking for
details about Morton players and asks "if you could
provide appearances and goals for Jimmy Cowan, Billy Campbell
and Tommy Orr."
A All these players started
out in the 1946-47 season at Cappielow. Jimmy Cowan made
141 League, 28 League Cup and 22 Scottish Cup appearances before
moving to Sunderland in 1953.
Billy Campbell spent the first three post-war seasons with
Morton, playing 55 ties in the League and scoring 10 goals. He made
ten League Cup appearances, scoring once, and eight in the Scottish
Cup without scoring.
Tommy Orr was with the Greenock club until the end of 1957-58,
by which time he had played 257 League matches and scored 86 times.
In the League Cup he'd turned out on 56 occasions and added a further
18 goals. In the Scottish Cup he scored three times in 28 matches.
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