Jock Stein & Celtic signings
Five goals in a game
1975 title
1976-77 European Cup
Appearance Records
Gary Sturrock
Steve Murray
Gers Parkhead title
Hibs v East Fife
Club Nicknames
Victory Cup

 

 

 


 

All the old SFAQS can be found here

 

A huge crop of queries this time round so we'll start with a couple on the late, great Jock Stein.

Q Colin Ramsay asks: “Who was Jock Stein's first signing for Celtic and who was his most expensive signing?"

A First signing was Joe McBride from Motherwell in June 1965. The most expensive is a matter of debate. Johnny Doyle was signed from Ayr United for a reported £90,000 in March 1976 but although aware of the transfer, Stein wasn't in day-to-day charge of Celtic at the time. Following a near-fatal car crash in 1975 he spent 1975-76 recuperating while Sean Fallon took over as acting manager.

If not Doyle then it's Ronnie Glavin who cost £80,000 from Partick Thistle in November 1974.

Q Irene Taylor wants to know “Where is Jock Stein buried?”

A The short answer is nowhere. In a private service for family and friends he was cremated at the Linn Crematorium in Glasgow on September 13th 1985.

Q Keith Marshall writes in connection with Kris Boyd's five goals for Killie in their 5-2 win over Dundee United on September 25th 2004. “I hear Kris Boyd needed one more to have the record for most goals in a single Scottish Premier League match.

Who else has matched his five goals in one game?”


A By all accounts Boyd should have had six - a perfectly good strike being ruled out by the referee. The only other five-timer since the inception of the SPL in 1998 was from Kenny Miller for Rangers against St Mirren in a 7-1 victory at Ibrox on November 4th 2000.

The SPL's predecessor, the Premier Division, which existed from 1975-98, also produced two instances of a player netting five. Paul Sturrock did so for Dundee United in a 7-0 thrashing of Morton at Tannadice on November 17th 1984 and the mercurial Marco Negri scored them all for Rangers when they beat Dundee United 5-1 at Ibrox on August 23rd 1997.

Last to hit five away from home in the top flight was Derek Parlane of Rangers in a 6-1 win at Dunfermline in the old Division One on October 12th 1974. Last to hit more than five was John 'Dixie' Deans who grabbed six in Celtic's 7-0 Parkhead demolition of Partick Thistle on November 17th 1973.

The all-time record holder is Celtic's Jimmy McGrory who scored EIGHT in a 9-0 rout of Dunfermline at Parkhead on January 14th 1928. Owen McNally (Arthurlie), Jim Dyet (King's Park), John Calder (Morton) and Norman Hayward (Raith Rovers) have also all scored eight in Second Division matches.

Q Gary Mills wants answers on Rangers in the 1970s. “What was the date of the league match at Easter Road in 1975 when Rangers won the championship?”

A It was March 29th 1975 when a 1-1 draw in front of 38,585 secured their first title for eleven years. Hibs led 1-0 and Sandy Jardine missed a penalty before Colin Stein scored the goal that won the flag.

Q Gary also asks: “In 1976/77 season which team eliminated Rangers from the European Cup? (if not first round, please list their previous opponents).”

A Rangers were eliminated in the first round of the 1976-77 European Cup by FC Zurich, drawing 1-1 at Ibrox and losing the return leg 1-0 in Switzerland.

Q Mick Simpson is looking for appearance record holders. “Who has made the most Scottish League appearances and how many? Who has made the most Cup & League Cup appearances and how many?”

A No great surprise to find Celtic legend Billy McNeill ahead of the field in both knockout tournaments with 94 Scottish Cup and 138 League Cup appearances.

But the League record belongs to Graeme Armstrong who played for over a quarter of a century in the lower divisions with Meadowbank Thistle, Stirling Albion, Berwick Rangers, Meadowbank again, Stenhousemuir and finally Alloa Athletic to reach a grand total of 910 (878 starts and 22 substitutions) between 1974-2001.

Incidentally, all those records look safe for the foreseeable future. In McNeill's day there was a minimum of six League Cup matches per season and it took at least ten games to win the trophy as opposed to just one guaranteed game and a minimum of four to win it now.

His Scottish Cup record is more attainable but is still a stiff target to overhaul as McNeill played at a time when second and third replays were common as opposed to now with just one replay permitted before penalties decide a tie and no replays at all in the Final.

As for Graeme Armstrong's record, even if a lower division player took part in every League match for 25 seasons in succession, he would still be ten short of Armstrong's total!

At the time of writing (October 2004) Motherwell keeper Gordon Marshall has made 643 League appearances, the highest of any current player. If he played in every game it would be 2011-12 before he overtook Armstrong and Marshall would by then be 47 years old.

Q Barry Richardson asks “ In which season did Gary Sturrock play senior football with Albion Rovers?”

A Gary Sturrock made 21 League appearances for Albion Rovers (10 starts and 11 subs) in 1998-99. He also came on as a substitute in two Scottish Cup ties.

Q Christopher Archer wants the answer to this poser. “Which player, later to play for Dundee United, scored for Celtic in the first ever Scottish Cup Final contested by United? (which I believe was in 1974 in a 3-0 win for Celtic).”

A You're right about the year and the result. The player was Steve Murray, who played a couple of times for Dundee United in 1979-80. Celtic's other goals came from Harry Hood and John 'Dixie' Deans.

Q Alan Sheridan wonders, “Have Rangers ever won the league at Celtic?”

A Just once - May 2nd 1999 when two Neil McCann goals and a Jorg Albertz penalty gave Rangers a 3-0 win at Parkhead. Celtic's Stephane Mahe and Vidar Riseth were sent off, as was Rangers' Rod Wallace in a bad-tempered game which also saw referee Hugh Dallas struck on the head by a coin.

Q Daniel Waring is “trying to find out the score in the Hibs v East Fife League Cup game 25th Sept 1968 any help would be much appreciated.”

A This was the second leg of a quarter-final tie which Hibs won 2-1 at Easter Road to complete a 6-2 aggregate victory.

Q From Portugal, Pedro Ramalhete e-mails this. “What's the origin of the name Heart of Midlothian and their nickname "The Jam Tarts"? What's the origin of Clyde's nickname "The Bully Wee"? They now play at Cumbernauld but they were originally from Glasgow. When and why did they move?”

A The Heart of Midlothian was a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott, written in 1818. It was also the popular name for the Tolbooth prison in Edinburgh which had been in existence since the 14th century and was demolished the year before Scott's book's appeared. There is a heart motif set in stone on the spot where the prison once stood and the football club derived its name from this history.

The 'Jam Tarts' is simply rhyming slang - usually associated with London but common in many cities in the UK. Londoners will talk about going up the 'apples and pears' meaning stairs or walking along the 'frog and toad' meaning road.

By the same process Hearts became the 'Jam Tarts.'

This continues to this day. At a recent Scotland game I heard a supporter ask for some 'Stefan' for his burger. It transpired he wanted some sauce as in Rangers goalkeeper Stefan Klos.

Clyde's nickname is more problematical and no one has come up with a definitive answer. The most popularly accepted is that they were a small (wee) club and that 'bully' in the late 19th century was used to define something good or liked (as in the phrase 'bully for you'), hence 'come on the bully wee.'

Clyde were a Glasgow team and their youth side still competes in the Glasgow Cup. They didn't own their own ground, Shawfield, which was principally used for greyhound racing and were forced to leave in 1986.

They shared Firhill with fellow Glaswegians Partick Thistle for a few years then moved out of the city to share with Hamilton Accies. The reason for moving to Cumbernauld was that this is a 'new town' largely built and populated in the 1960s.

It was hoped they would be able to attract more supporters there than in Glasgow where they would always be in the shadow of the Old Firm and where many of their traditional areas of support had been demolished in the post-war years.

Similarly, Meadowbank Thistle moved from Edinburgh to Livingston which is also a New Town and changed their name.

Clyde's move has been partially successful as in the past couple of seasons they have finished second, their best position since the Premier replaced the old First Division in 1975. But they struggle to attract supporters, averaging less than 1,500 per match.

Oddly enough their Glasgow association cost them the chance of European football. In 1967 Clyde finished third in the League and this would normally have qualified them for the Fairs Cup. However this competition had a rule which said only one club could represent one city.

Clyde claimed that half their ground was in Glasgow but the other half was outside the city boundary in Rutherglen. This cut no ice with the authorities who quoted Clyde's membership of the Glasgow, rather than the Lanarkshire, FA and their participation in the Glasgow Cup.

They were really unlucky. Rangers lost in the Cup-Winners Cup Final that year. Had they won they would have defended the trophy and Clyde would have gone into the Fairs Cup.

Rangers were three points behind Celtic in the League. Had they won the title they would have gone into the European Cup. As holders Celtic would have done likewise (there being no 'one club, one city' rule in force there) so Clyde would have made the Fairs Cup that way.

As it was their Fairs Cup replacements were Dundee FC who reached the semi-finals in 1967-68.

Clyde have never been anywhere near qualifying for Europe since.


Q Dave Fells wants to know “Where can I find details (including the players who appeared) of the 1946 Victory Cup competition?”

A By sheer good fortune this competition features in a current football magazine. There are 12 pages on the Victory Cup in the latest edition of 'Soccer History' magazine consisting of two pages of narrative and ten of results. All dates, venues, line-ups, goalscorers and some attendances are given from the first round proper onwards.

Single copies cost £4 (including postage) and are available by sending a cheque payable to 'Soccer History' to Soccer History Ltd, 26 Saxon Street, Lincoln, LN1 3HN.

The edition in question is number 9, Autumn 2004.

 

 

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