The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

This is a nice wee set released in late 1972 and I assume given free with the Scottish Daily Express. There were 24 in the set altogether, with most of them being Scottish Internationalists with the exception of Dundee’s Iain Phillip, although some like Bobby Murdoch of Celtic and Dave Smith of Rangers had already played their last games for the national team.
Of the Anglo Scots, they were all shown in Scotland team colours, whilst most of the home players with the exception of Sandy Jardine in their club colours as far as I know. On the back of each is a small biography on the player and there are one or two wee titbits of info that are quite interesting.On the back of the Archie Gemmill one, it refers to the Brazilian tour of ’72 that Robert wrote about six weeks ago or so. It seems that Tommy Docherty selected both Archie Gemmill and John O’Hare for the tour but Derby County manager Brian Clough refused to release them both. Although, Archie’s Scotland career would get back on track after a three year hiatus in 1975, for John O’Hare it would mean the end of his time as a Scotland player. John won thirteen caps in total scoring a credible 5 goals. Each of his five, came in wins for Scotland including single goal wins against Denmark and incredibly Belgium in Euro Qualifiers at Hampden.Given O’Hare’s future involvement with Clough following him from Derby to Leeds to Notts Forest and European Cup glory, he perhaps wasn’t one to hold a grudge.
In reference to the Brazilian tour on the Alex Forsyth card it mentions that Denis McQuade of Thistle was also chosen for the tour but never played. For all you card enthusiasts out there, this is only football card that Alex Forsyth appears as a Jags player. His transfer to Manchester United would follow shortly after this card was published. Overall, they are quite a good looking set although I’m not sure if the Gemmill one was meant to be Archie or the actor Richard Harris curiously looking and saying “ What is this ball I see before me?” I wonder if how Asa Hartford is going to kick a ball with no legs.

Next time: When football cards go wrong”