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Yet another de-cluttering exercise in the Marshall household unearthed a gem that I didn’t know I had. The 1972/73 Arthur Montford’s Scotsport Yearbook was the second of its kind and extended to 68 A4 pages for 45 pence. It mostly reviewed the 71/72 season with articles on Celtic’s 7th league title in a row, Celtic’s demolition of Hibs in the Scottish Cup Final, Partick Thistle’s demolition of Celtic in the League Cup Final, Glasgow Rangers winning the European Cup Winners Cup plus a look at Barcelona, Dumbarton, Arbroath, Airdrie and Cambuslang Rangers!

On the international front a feature on Tommy Docherty touched on Scotland’s exploits at the 1972 Brazilian Independence tournament but elsewhere photographs and analysis concentrated on that year’s Scotland v. England fixture – with the visitors winning 1-0 in front of 119,325 – the last game against the auld enemy to top the 100,000 mark.It can be argued that for over 100 years we were obsessed with meeting and beating England at football. I wonder however, if the obsession reached its peak around 1972/73? By the time the 1974 game at Hampden came around we had a bigger stage to perform on – the first of five consecutive world cup finals.

That said, the images from 1972 make for interesting copy. I particularly like the back cover photo which gives you a close up of the old rectangular-shaped goalposts which allegedly cost Saint Etienne the European Cup Final in 1976!

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I’m sure that the advert for the Daily Express Swopcards would be enough to get the likes of a young David Stuart worked up into a lather until he was old enough to drink, chase women….and buy boxes of football cards.

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The other photos include the Lawman being presented to Glasgow’s Lord Provost prior to kick-off whilst high above the east terracing a temporary studio houses ITV’s World of Sport team which includes Dicky Davies and Jimmy Hill plus ex-internationalists Jackie Charlton and Pat Crerand. These esteemed gentlemen appear to be enjoying a spot of lunch in somewhat basic surroundings although the rug under the coffee table is a nice touch. I wonder what the toilet facilities were like?

Robert Marshall

First posted on Facebook 1st June, 2015