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David Stuart’s excellent postcard of Hampden 1968 reminded me of the paradox that was the former version of our national stadium – latterly a semi-derelict, run-down old relic but still a thing of breathtaking beauty that I loved with a passion greater than my combined love for chocolate, Tartan Special and the actress Fenella Fielding in the film ‘Carry on Screaming!’

Er, anyway, the final phase of the re-building of Hampden into what it is today commenced in 1996 with the demolition of the West and South Stands with the two photographs dating from September and October of that year.

In my opinion the bulldozing of the South Stand [which dated from 1914] with its two brick towers featuring medieval castle style motifs was an act of vandalism that was right up there with the demolition of Glasgow’s St.Enoch Railway Hotel and the Empire Theatre. Progress my arse! Surely the facades could have been saved somehow?

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Another fascinating feature of the old south stand was the two-layered pressbox which leaned forward on the sloping roof so percariously that you sometimes worried for the safety of its occupants – but only sometimes.

Robert Marshall

First posted on Facebook May 4th, 2015