We'll Support You Evermore
We'll Support You Evermore

Author: Ian Archer

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012-01-13

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1780574215

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'It has to start somewhere for everyone, this daft, wild, extraordinary notion that happiness is a Scottish lap of honour and that the greatest, most hysterical happiness would be a Scottish lap of honour on a World Cup final day, England having just retired to the dressing-rooms, not just beaten, but destroyed, humiliated, thrashed, gubbed . . . ' - Ian Archer First published in 1976, We'll Support You Evermore is a collection of reminiscences about the nation's favourite game. Hilarious tales of after-match celebrations and moving accounts of growing up playing football on the mean streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh rub shoulders with memories of superb victories, glorious defeats and drunken jaunts abroad. Together, these produce an entertaining portrait of Scottish supporters. Novelist Alan Sharp and Gordon Williams contribute essays, as do journalists Ian Archer, John Rafferty and Hugh Taylor among others. Each writes about his own personal recollections of the game: the Wembley Wizards, the Famous Five, Third Lanark, the Old Firm, Queen's Park, Hearts, Hibs, and many more. There's something here for every fitba'-daft reader.

Life Matters
Life Matters

Author: Colin Murray

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2023-09-12

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1805141228

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In his late fifties and having one eye on a well-earned retirement Colin Murray, a full-time decorator and Church pastor in North East Scotland received the bombshell news he was suffering from Motor Neurone Disease. From the sheer panic of his first night following his MND diagnosis, Colin confronts the brutal, merciless muscle wasting disease head on with prayer and positivity. Accepting his diagnosis, he continues to fight his prognosis with positivity and prayer. In Life Matters, Colin reminds us that we should never minimise or over spiritualise anyone’s struggle with pain and that secular groups are more compassionate, empathetic, and Christlike than Christians with questionable doctrine. While many question their faith and recoil with fear in the face of a terminal diagnosis Colin remains a persevering, shining light to many during his declining health and an ever-increasing loss of mobility. This book is testimony that hope is real, Spirit life is real and in: “Gods strength is made perfect in weakness”. As a Church pastor Colin realises that his life now, is his greatest sermon. It is clear reading this powerful book that Colin is no whitewashed tomb. He is alive in Christ, already a possessor of the “life of the age to come”. Although outwardly wasting away Colin is being inwardly renewed “daily”. This is a must read for anyone battling a serious illness.

Gallus
Gallus

Author: Michael McEwan

Publisher: Birlinn Ltd

Published: 2023-09-07

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1913538982

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There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who insist that football is just a game, and those who know better. Take the April 1967 clash between England and Scotland. Wounded by their biggest rivals winning the World Cup just nine months earlier, Bobby Brown's Scots travelled to Wembley on the mother of all missions. Win and they would take a huge step towards qualifying for the 1968 European Championship, end England's formidable 19-game unbeaten streak, and, best of all, put Sir Alf Ramsey's men firmly back in their box. Lose? Well, that was just unthinkable. Meanwhile, off the pitch, the winds of change were billowing through Scotland. Nationalism, long confined to the margins of British politics, was starting to penetrate the mainstream, gaining both traction and influence. Was England's World Cup victory a defining moment in the Scottish independence movement? Or did it consign Scotland to successive generations of myopic underachievement? Michael McEwan, author of The Ghosts of Cathkin Park, returns to 1967 to explore a crucial ninety minutes in the rebirth of a nation.

Across The Great Divide
Across The Great Divide

Author: George Wilkie

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012-12-21

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1780577842

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Dundee. To football fans, it has been the subject of great curiosity for as long as the game has been played professionally. How does a relatively small and economically challenged city manage to sustain two senior clubs which, perversely, play across the road from one another? And why has this rivalry not suffered the scourge of sectarianism which has blighted football elsewhere in Scotland? When Dundee United reached the semi-final of the 1983-84 European Cup it meant that, with the exception of Glasgow, Dundee was the only British city to have provided two semi-finalists in that great competition. Since then Dundee United have gone on to reach a UEFA Cup final and to win the Scottish Cup. For Dundee FC, things have been slightly different. There are many fans with long enough memories to recall their glory days, and the silence of their suffering has been punctuated only by boardroom upheaval and the threat of closure. It is only recently that the club's fortunes have taken an upturn, with an influx of exciting, tenacious foreigners. Things are changing. The economic, cultural and academic life of the City of Dundee has flourished in recent years. Meanwhile, as revolution sweeps the international footballing world, the scales of success - which determine the balance of soccer power on Tayside - are showing faltering signs of movement. The Jim McLean era has ended, but will Dundee's Italian risorgimento succeed? Should there be only one team? First published in 1984, Across the Great Divide has been revised to update the historical perspective on professional football in the City of Discovery.

Then Came a Cloud
Then Came a Cloud

Author: John W Keddie

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1326284630

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This is largely a sporting biography of Kenneth Grant Macleod (1888-1967). Macleod in his day was an outstanding track runner, played county cricket with Lancashire CCC, and international rugby football for Scotland, all before the First World War. The book covers in depth all Macleod's sports performances from his school days. It also provides details of his family background, war-time experiences, subsequent family life and immigration to South Africa in the 1930s. K. G. Macleod was inducted to the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He is considered one of Scotland's greatest ever rugby players and sporting all-rounders.

The Sevenpenny Gate
The Sevenpenny Gate

Author: John Cairney

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2011-10-06

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1780571607

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'Clutching in my hand my seven copper pennies, I ran down the two flights of stone stairs from our tenement flat and through the East End to Kinloch Street, where, puffing a bit, I joined the queue of other wee boys lining up to place their coins on the brass plate above the iron turnstile, push hard against it, then climb up onto the dirt terracing and into Paradise. The rest of the world called it Celtic Park.' This is a story seen through green-and-white spectacles. It begins when nine-year-old Glaswegian John Cairney walks through the boys' gate at Celtic Park and embarks on a series of adventures that, over the years, take him all over Scotland and beyond. The Sevenpenny Gate is about a search for heroes, Celtic heroes. It is also the tale of an East End club of humble Irish origins that has developed into a worldwide brand and continues to command the devotion of its fans, even with the Celtic diaspora now spread across the globe.