11188463_1610543165849722_730817131573898490_n 11193228_1610543185849720_7889476093979650182_n

As well as being a dinosaur who struggles with new technology I also don’t like lager. It’s Tartan Special [or McEwan’s Export] for me when I can find pubs in Glasgow and beyond that actually sell the stuff. As such I was almost moved to tears when I recently re-discovered an advert for Tartan Special on the reverse of the Cyprus-Scotland programme from 1989 – the world cup qualifier in which Richard Gough netted the winner about two days into stoppage time.

The advert lists eight boozers in downtown Limassol which sold T.S. but when I holidayed on the island in 2000 it was nowhere to be seen so I contented myself instead with a pilgrimage to the derelict [and soon to be demolished] old GSP Stadium in the divided city of Nicosia.It was in this stadium in December 1968 that a crowd of just under 6,000 witnessed Scotland defeat Cyprus 5-0 in a World Cup qualifying match with the first-half goals coming from Alan Gilzean and Colin Stein [two apiece] and one from Bobby Murdoch.

10421233_1610543092516396_7049786380368554906_n

Visiting Cyprus I felt like a time traveller but forget about tourist attractions like the Baths of Aphrodite or the Mosaics of Dionysos – I got a real buzz from walking in the footsteps of Footballing Gods such as Billy Bremner, John Greig, Billy McNeil and Bobby Lennox.

Robert ‘Melodramatic’ Marshall

First posted on Facebook April 25th, 2015