Steve Finan

Dundee United looking like selling out the entire ground for tomorrow's game v AZ Alkmaar – reminds me of Euro ties of the 1980s. This was the queue for tickets to see Dundee United v Manchester United at Tannadice 1984.

I have always had a fascination for floodlights. This photo is a bloke climbing the Hampden pylons, with a cloot in his back pocket, to clean the lights. No safety gear, no special clothing, just a lot of bottle. The game was different then, but working practices were differenter! As ever, an utterly shameless, mercenary, and downright blummin' cheap-ass (I don't know how I get away with it!) attempt at publicity for Lifted Over The Turnstiles Volumes 2 and 3, which are back in shops after selling out the first print run.

I agree. Football for a fiver should be a regular thing that is experimented with at all clubs. Football in Scotland is far too expensive.

Celtic supporters in Milan for the 1970 European Cup Final. The scarf being held up below the "Viva Celtic" flag looks unusual.

Just managed to order a copy of the London Caledonian history at £9.95 from a seller via Amazon.

Great stuff, Jacksgranda. Always enjoy seeing stuff like this, and all the better with a little history alongside, sir.

It is, indeed, the steeplechase water jump. It is in a chapter titled: Things You Don't See Any More, which includes Invacars, massed pipes and drums . . . and Firhill's pitch-side vegetable patch.

As quirks go, a paddling pool sunk into the Ibrox pitch is quite hard to beat! Turnstiles Vols 2 and 3 are out now guys. And you can get both books — large format hardbacks, 360 pages each, 700 never-before-seen pix of Scottish football grounds — for less than £30 with this offer. Free p&p. Roll up, roll up . . . (and other salesman-type talk that I'm not very comfortable with) Enter code SPORT15 for 15% off (until November 14th) https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/non-fiction/football-books

Volumes 2 and 3 won't be published until the first week of November (2021). You can pre-order both volumes at: https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/non-fiction/football-books Though why only Volume 2 is there at the moment, I haven't got a freakin clue! I am about to send off a moany-as-feck email asking some hard questions!!!! Don't order yet, though. I'm told there will be a discount of at least a fiver if both Vol 2 and Vol 3 are ordered together. Should be fixed on the website for the end of the week. Free P&P too.

That's a good point Ranaldo. After getting Scottish football's most venerable, most experienced, "auld heid" (Craig Brown) to do the intro for Volume 2, and he does a great job too — and Chick Young giving the journo's take for Volume 1 – I needed something different for Volume 3 rather than just have another experienced viewpoint. Leanne is a very intelligent person and grasped immediately what I was trying to do. She gives the "young football person's" take on the history of being a supporter. She talks about having heard the legends of the old grounds, and still being able to see (behind the shiny plastic) some of the remnants of the terrace steps and the corrugated iron roofs. And she explores what the history of a club means to a younger person, how they relate to it, and talks of the photos being like the photos your granny had of ancestors — people you didn't actually know, but that you do know you shared a bond with. Leanne is, as I've said, intelligent, but more than that has an emotional intelligence that she brings to this. In discussions with my publisher over this 99% of the people suggested to do an intro were ex players. And I could have got a big name, a vastly experienced international "great" to do this. But players don't experience going to a football match in the same way a supporter does. Another taster for the book (though this pic isn't in it either) a penny dainty to anyone who can identify ground and player. Remember when terraces were like this?

Photographers used to be much more likely to be a bit "creative" when snapping photos. It was far from unusual for them to run on to the pitch and fire off their semi-explosive flashguns in the faces of players. The 1970 European Cup Final (Celtic v Feyenoord) was bad, but the worst I've seen (though others may know different) was the World Cup qualifier, West Germany v Scotland 1968. The photographers, and fans, backroom staff, various other lunatics, are all over the place. There is Youtube video of it. Mental.

They can be purchased, and shipped to all exotic locations, from www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk Cheers.

Great pic. !!! I've got a better one though!

Some sample pix. Ibrox floodlights 1967, view from Pittodrie's Paddock End 1969, trouble at the Easter Road cow shed 1971. All half-decent pix, but not good enough to get into the book. I have a very rare pic of the first floodlights set-up at Ibrox, though. Quite spindly, and a small pylon at the Copland Road End. Very innovative for the time.

It is Somerset, Ayr v Rangers September 13th, 1969. The biggest ever crowd in the ground. And, as these pix demonstrate, there were many more inside than the official figure tells. I have several more photos of the crowds at the game that have gone into the book. The Somerset Park chapter runs to 10 pages. Some of the bigger chapters are 30+ pages. I've tried to give extra attention to grounds that no longer exist (or are no longer used). Cathkin Park gets 14 pages, Love Street 16, Brockville 8. Indeed, one of my favourite pix of (and there are about 700 in total over the two books) is a wide panorama of a packed Brockville. But there are also chapters on floodlights, player tunnels, dugouts, outside grounds, weather, other events in football grounds, segregation divides, and "Things you don't see at football any more" which boost the number of photos from each ground. I have 20 pages of never-before-seen pix of the Real Madrid v Eintracht Frankfurt game at a packed Hampden. Some great stuff, I promise you. I humbly suggest you take a look.