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I noted with interest that the Scotland-Egypt friendly match at Pittodrie in 1990 was the last Scotland home game that Hamish Husband has missed.That’s a pretty impressive record given that personal commitment also has to contend with issues such as work demands, illness, bills, wives, weans and inclement weather. It’s probably a taboo thing to say but I always hope that no-one close to me passes away on or just before a Scotland match such is the obsession that supporting the national team has become.

On a much lighter note a couple of wedding anniversaries have included a visit to Hampden as well as an [expensive] Italian restaurant.That said, in recent years I have missed a handful of home games outwith Glasgow but my last ‘home-town’ Scotland match that I failed to attend was Scotland v. England at Hampden in 1978 and that was simply because I couldn’t get a ticket. Back then there was no Scotland Travel/Supporters club that would guarantee you a Hampden brief so for Scotland-England tickets you had to know someone – not in the biblical sense – although if that’s what it takes………So for all their faults, flaws and funny accents, I say three cheers for the SSC and thanks for all the hard work you have done over the years.

Back to the 78 game which we lost 0-1 thanks to a goal from Stevie Coppell seven minutes from time and which was our last match before we faced Peru in the Argentina World Cup Finals. No Latin American acclimatisation matches for us thank you very much.Of course, I still made a point of buying the programme with its evocative front cover and fateful articles headed ‘We can leave it to Ally!’ [by Ian Archer], and ‘With a little luck we can do it’ [Ian Paul]. There was also an advert for the Official World Cup Medallions. Apparently 25,000 of these limited edition collectables were produced costing £21.50 if you wanted the 24 carat gold on solid sterling silver version. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford that so I made do with a forgery of the Scotland-England ticket that I was given a week after the game had been played!

Robert Marshall

First posted on Facebook 18th May, 2015