I'm dropping off some glasses at the local Brewdog brewery (http://www.brewdog.com/) today - first time I've been there - they seem to be fairly successful, but haven't won too many friends in the process, it seems.
I got an invitation to go and see the Man U v Celtic Champions League match yesterday - indirectly from MUFC's sponsors, AIG. Should be good - just waiting for details of travel etc now.
Nothing else happening so straight on to today's list - as promised, famous (to me) football moments. My Dad was always a football fanatic - primarily Partick Thistle, but he also appreciated and supported Scotland and Scottish football teams against European opposition. His eldest brother Willie was a die-hard Bluenose (Rangers), but Dad had no time for any of the bigotry that went with the Rangers-Celtic scene in Glasgow. He had much more empathy with his other elder brother, Alex, who ran away from home at an early age and joined the Gordon Highlanders - he felt that was where he belonged - and, of course, he supported Aberdeen as well. Indeed, when we moved to Banchory in 1983, I used to get tickets for Alex (who had recently returned from years in USA) and go to the matches with him - although he would never stay with us - he always booked a hotel room in Aberdeen. In those days, Aberdeen were arguably the best team in Europe for a while under Fergie's tutelage.
Sorry - slight digression - writing the above made me think about another retirement project I've been storing away for years - the creation of a full family tree. A few years ago, Scott's cousin, Mark, was trying to make one up and asked for my help with Lucy's side - I had to stall him at the time and have never managed to complete the task since. I have been sitting on the following papers prepared by my Mum and Dad many years ago - I think it was for one of Kelly's school projects:
As you can see, a little less than complete. I started to prepare a full one using modern technology a few years ago, but it's a big task - one day!
Anyway, back to football moments. When I was just 3, we moved to Corby, Northants and a long way from Dad's beloved Jags. Nonetheless, from an early age, he started taking me to the local football grounds - Corby Town, Kettering, Northampton and Peterborough - mostly non-league clubs then. We also occasionally went to see Leicester at Filbert St - Dad sat me on the cinder track directly in front of him. I remember seeing the famous Spurs team about 1959/1960 there.
When we came back to Scotland, we usually went to see the Jags, but occasionally during the first 6 months we were back, and before we moved to Foxbar Drive, we would go and support our local team, Johnstone Burgh - a Junior side who occasionally could attract as many as 10,000 fans for big games.
Enough of the pre-amble - what about the list? Well, there's lots and lots of games I remember - some live, some just on TV, but the ones that come immediately to mind, in striclty chronological order are:
1) c. 1963 - PTFC v Dundee, who were riding high as Scottish champions and went on to reach the European Cup semi-final. The Jags stuffed them 3-0 - what a day it was.
2) 1967 - Celtic beating Inter Milan in the European Cup Final, with a team consisting solely of players born within 30 miles of Glasgow - a feat never to be repeated.
3) 23rd October 1971 - an all-time high - Thistle, newly promoted and with a very young team, hammer the mighty Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup Final.
4) 1977 - having been to Wembley and seen Scotland beat England in an infamous match (remember the pitch invasion?), Scotland went on to beat Czechoslovakia at Hampden in a vital World Cup qualifier, with Joe Jordan scoring a famous headed winner. There then followed the match at Anfield against Wales, with a hotly disputed penalty kick helping Scotland to a 2-0 victory. From there it was on to Argentina in 1978, but, at that point, I draw a veil over the proceedings!
5) Although Argentina was a huge disappointment, nobody can forget the elation around the whole British Isles as Archie Gemmill scored that wonderful goal against Holland to put us 3-1 up and "in dreamland".
6) If I had left Fischer and joined Clipper a couple of months earlier in 1983, it wouldn't just have been on TV that I could celebrate Aberdeen's wonderful European Cup Winners Cup victory over Real Madrid - I could have been there in person - Dr. Clark chartered a plane for all of his management to go to Gothenburg!
7) 1999 - MUFC finally reach their second ever European Cup final. I played golf late afternoon but had to drive to Inverness afterwards. I got to my hotel and looked for a big screen somewhere but couldn't find one, so I dashed to my room and caught the last half hour, including those last 2 amazing minutes when Solksjaer and Sheringham pulled off the miracle.
8) Scotland met England in the Euro qualifiers (was it 1999 or 2003?). I had watched the first match at a pub in Beijing - Scotland lost 2-0. I flew home the day after, got tickets for the Wednesday 2nd leg at Wembley and booked flights for Ross, Gary and I. We had a great time and Scotland won 1-0 and came so close to knocking England out. We never saw much of the match, however, as we were in the midst of the Tartan Army, who were singing and dancing all the time!
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