As a youngster growing up in Lanarkshire my interest in football developed at a time when Saturday afternoons were reserved for shopping with my parents.
The politics of the day in 1974 with the 3 day week and power cuts that resulted in football matches being moved to Sundays led my Dad to take me to my first games.
Men of his generation didn’t travel to away games but revolved between games at Fir Park and Douglas Park, so my first two games were –
Motherwell 2 Ayr 0 – 23rd February 1974
Hamilton 3 Clydebank 0 – 3rd March 1974
This meant the first player I saw score a goal live was Bobby Graham for Motherwell. He and Willie Pettigrew developed a superb partnership.
My visits to Fir Park became less frequent, as we went to more Hamilton Accies games.
Bobby Graham’s transfer from Motherwell to Hamilton Accies in the summer of 1977 cemented my support to the Accies colours.
Booby Graham and Willie Pettigrew formed a lethal partnership for Motherwell in the four season’s from 1973 to 1977 which included leading the Lanarkshire club to two successive Scottish Cup Finals , with both players ironically ending their playing days with local rivals Hamilton Accies.
In January 1975 Motherwell travelled to play 9 in row Champions Celtic , where Willie Pettigrew and Bobby Graham gave the Lanarkshire side a 2-0 lead before Harry Hood scored twice to equalise. Willie Pettigrew netted a late winner to complete a shock win for the Well, a game which was featured on STV’s Scotsport programme and propelled the attacking duo into the limelight.
The 1974-75 Scottish Cup saw Motherwell reach the semi final at Hampden against local rivals Airdrie. Pettigrew scored for Motherwell in a 1-1 draw but they lost the replay 1-0
The 1975-76 Scottish Cup was a real highlight in the partnership’s career , a Third Round tie at Fir Park saw Celtic lead 2-0 at half time through Dalglish and Lynch. Bobby Graham pulled a goal back early in the second half before the Lanarkshire side equalised around the hour mark through Ian Taylor. Willie Pettigrew then scored to win the game 3-2. This game covered by BBC tv and again highlight the striking partnership to a wider audience.
The Quarter Final saw an epic game against Hibs where a 2-2 draw at Fir Park was followed by a 1-1 draw at Easter Road before Motherwell won the second replay 2-1 at Ibrox.
The Semi Final at Hampden saw Motherwell lead 2-0 at half time before Rangers were awarded a controversial penalty which led them to a 3-2 comeback win.
The 1976/77 Scottish Cup saw an incredible crowd of 26.709 inside Fir Park as Motherwell beat Alex Ferguson’s St Mirren 2-1 with Willie Pettigrew scoring the winner with a penalty. A game that was delayed and we along with many other were locked out.
BOBBY GRAHAM
He was from Motherwell and at age 17 was signed for Liverpool in 1961 by Bill Shankly. He scored on his debut in a European tie against KR Reykjavik in 1964 before on his league debut scored a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Aston Villa. He was unfortunate to be at Anfield at the same time as legends Roger Hunt and Ian St John but he did have a successful season in 1969-70 being an ever present and scoring 21 goals including a famous goal in a win over Everton.
In 1972 be moved to Coventry City where Ian St John was a coach and followed him to Tranmere and then on to Motherwell.
It was at Motherwell where he formed the partnership with Willie Pettigrew
In 1977 he left Motherwell to join Hamilton Accies for a club record £15,000
In 1977 Bobby led Accies to a 2-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle a feat the club have not managed since
In 1979 Accies lost 3-1 at home to St Mirren in the League Cup first leg , but Bobby scored twice to take to the tie to extra time and penalties which Accies would win and knock out the Premier League team.
The Quarter Final was again over two legs against a Premier League team – Dundee , where Neil Howie opened the scoring and although Dundee equalised , two Jamie Fairlie goals gave Accies a 3-1 win. The second leg at Dens Park had second half live commentary on Radio Scotland as was the norm for big games back then. Accies grimly held on to their two goal advantage until late in the game with Dundee scoring late to record a 1-0 win on the night , but Accies would advance to the semi final under Bobby’s leadership.
The semi final would be a step too far for the part time Accies players where they lost 6-2 to Dundee Utd , the irony for Bobby being the opening goal was scored by his former strike partner Willie Pettigrew.
WLLIE PETTIGREW
Willie Pettigrew began his career at Hibs before moving to East Kilbride Thistle where he played in their 1973 Scottish Junior Cup Semi Final defeat Irvine Meadow (4-1) at Firhill
Willie then moved to Motherwell where he had a highly successful time scoring 20 league goals in 1974/75 as joint top scorer in Premier Division alongside Dundee Utd’s Andy Gray. He scored 21 league goals in 1975/76 behind Celtic’s Kenny Dalglish with 24 goals.
This led to him to his Scotland debut, where he scored the only goal of the game after 2 mins where he scored in a friendly against Switzerland in April 1976 . He would again score in Scotland’s 3-1 win over Wales the following month and would go on to win a further 3 caps over the next 12 months without netting. He was unfortunately having to compete with Kenny Dalglish and Joe Jordan as Scotland main strikers with Andy Gray by then with Aston Villa as third choice.
Willie left Motherwell in 1979 to join Dundee Utd where he won two League Cups before spells at Hearts, where we won the First Division Championship and Morton before ending his career at Hamilton Accies.
Goalscoring
Willie Pettigrew scored 80 goals in 166 appearances for Motherwell, in the end scoring 140 goals across his career.
Bobby Graham scored 37 goals in 132 appearances for Motherwell and a further 42 in 118 appearances albeit at a lower level in his time with Hamilton Accies.
Two players who had great careers in the game but will always be remembered for their partnership at Fir Park particularly by Motherwell fans.
Both were inducted into the Motherwell FC Hall of Fame , Willie in 2019 and Booby in 2022
As I completed this , Motherwell FC announced on 4th September 2025 that Bobby Graham had passed away.
RIP Bobby Graham – a Lanarkshire Football Legend
Football is Academical 