Piquet

Don Givens, Irish International on the right playing for Neuchatel Xamax, where he finished up having played with Man U, Luton and QPR, among others, at Tannadice.

According to this, Ray Houghton's ambition was "To do well with Fulham and to play for Scotland." Seemingly Jack Charlton went to an Oxford game with a view to getting John Aldridge to play for Ireland. Aldridge said he would "and by the way, Ray Houghton, over there, is Irish qualified too through his Granny. Why don't you ask him?" Jack did, and the rest is history..

I've seen those on that thread, an excellent one as you say The photos I have in mind were aerial shots from directly above.

A pal and I were reminiscing (talking Shyte, in other words) last night and the subject of Hampden came up. Specifically, the attendances and the size of the terraces as seen from various photos on this and other sites. I have a vague memory of a Football Annual, back in the late 60s or early 70s. The inside front cover was a two page aerial shot of Hampden during a Scotland England game and the inside back cover was a similar shot of a Queens Park League game. Can anyone confirm my memory? Does anyone have the Annual and can they scan the photos?

I watched that game in the Mill House Pub in Dublin. For some reason the place was packed with Scots. Needless to say, the joint was hopping.

This is another angle of the terrace, showing the 'gap' through which the spectators fell. Archibald Leitch designed the terrace but despite this, he had a long, successful career. Among his designs were Ibrox, Roker and Goodison. They all shared his "Saltire" facing on the front of the top deck of the stand.

From a "Big Match Revisited" on ITV4. 1st Feb 1980. George Best top left scoring for Hibs v Celtic. Obviously it was deemed that there was no colour clash!!

My First Cousin, who lives in Sheffield and whose two sons are Wednesday Fans, assures me it's the City Ground. Mind you, the state of the pitch, as mentioned in the report, would indicate that that photo is from Hillsborough. I'll stick with the cousin's answer, though.

8,000 ? That was an unnaturally small attendance in Benfica's Stadium which, at it's prime, held over 100,000.

Why so it is. The colour put me off. It's probably as confirmed by Luddite, Hillsborough, which would explain the state of the pitch.

My brother in law sent me this, there now. Can anyone identify the date? I'm presuming the venue is Hampden. What's the story with the green netting?

When I played on a team in College, (1970s), we played 4-3-3. The back four were 2, 4, 5, and 3, the Midfield was 6, 7 and 8 and we had 10, 9 and 11 upfront Mind you, we were Engineering Students.

I read, some years ago that not only do Partizan and Red Star supporters have to be kept apart when they play each other, but also when Serbia are playing at home.

They did indeed. There was then a split with "Home Farm-Everton" becoming "Home Farm Fingal" (and later Dublin City) and Home Farm reverting to Junior status. Dublin City was later wound up.

Ah lads, Home Farm were the leading non-league Irish team at the time. They were (and still are) fully amateur. They tried for years to get into the League of Ireland, but five of the twelve teams at the time were also based in Dublin so they had no chance. They eventually got in by buying Drumcondra FC. They have since gone back to non-league status.

And the First Choice players would play the majority of those games. There was no "Squad Rotation" in those days.

Not yet, you mean.

I was watching a recording of "The Big Match Revisited" which ITV4 is showing, today. The episode was the 3rd of October 1976 and Brian Moore read a letter from a lady in Fulham. Her Dad, Watty White had played for Scotland v England in 1908. She sent in his jersey which Moore showed us and I took a photo of the screen. His Cap for the match was also shown. He also said that he earned £28 0s 6d from his testimonial.

That's because Bramall Lane was also a Cricket Grounds so there would be a big gap on one side between pitch and stands.

The thing is, Gallagher (pronounced with a silent "g")* is the variation seen in Ireland. Gallacher is rarely, if at all seen AFAIK. *So is Callaghan, by the way.

and then once the news came over that England had gone ahead, Gullitt and McCarthy had a brief chat, and the rest of the game was "after you Ruud..... not at all, Mick, after you"

And there were rarely matches on a Thursday, except for Stephen's Day or New Year's Day.

Yes, Souness could play it either way. I remember in, I think, '84, against Everton in the League Cup Final and replay. The first day, he kicked everything that moved ( and other things until they moved) and the second day, he gave an exhibition. Putting his foot on the ball or spraying it around as necessary, he played Everton off the park. Truly Jekyll and Hyde (and sometimes in the same game.)

You know the difference between habitable and liveable? Habitable is capable of being occupied and liveable is where scousers live..

I remember Jock Stein being interviewed after that match. I can't remember a team Manager, either before or since, being so entirely honest when talking about the game we had just seen. The gist of what he said was: They were better than us, more skilled, faster to the ball, they played us off the Park. No excuses, no blaming the heat, the ref, the long domestic season, nothing. Just plain stating it as it was. He was one of a kind.