WIGAN FA CUP WIN 2013

When James McCarthy and James McArthur left Hamilton Accies nobody envisaged them winning the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic. In 2013 I was fortunate enough to travel to Wembley and see them win both the Semi Final and the Final This all began with a trip to the then DW Stadium to meet the players …

Hamilton Accies 2007-08 Part 2

PART TWO – JANUARY TO MAY 2008 January 2008 A month which saw one of the most extra ordinary games in Accies history. Accies opened 2008 without Simon Mensing with his loan expired although he sat in the stand alongside new signing Gary Twigg. Fellow new recruit Xavier Barrau was on the bench. James McArthur …

Hamilton Accies 2007-08 Part 1

PART ONE – AUGUST TO DECEMBER 2007 Accies won the First Division Championship in 2007-08 , this is a look back at another successful season. August 2007 Accies began the 2007/08 season with a home league match against Dunfermline Athletic. In front of a bumper crowd in the summer sunshine of 3,383. Dunfermline had been …

ITALIA 90 Part 3

KNOCKOUT STAGES – 23RD JUNE TO 8TH JULY 1990 ROUND OF 16 Saturday 23rd June CAMEROON 2 COLOMBIA 1 AET – Naples The last 16 opened with a poor game that finished 0-0 after 90 mins however Cameroon veteran striker Roger Milla came off the bench and put the Africans ahead in extra time before …

GEORGE BEST

George Best – 325 Days in Edinburgh George Best became a global football superstar in his days with Manchester Utd between 1963 and 1974. His drinking and social life took him away from football and he ended up playing in the USA before returning to England to play for Fulham in 1976-77. After a further …

Lanarkshire Cup

Weekend Tournament 1979-1985 The Lanarkshire Cup was a competition played in the post war era by Lanarkshire’s four senior football clubs – Airdrieonians , Albion Rovers , Hamilton Accies and Motherwell. The tournament was a damp squib in the mid to late 1970s with games sporadically played and in many cases no final being played. …

EURO 1976

The recent award by UEFA to Slovakia as joint winners with Czech Republic following the Czechoslovakia triumph in 1976 had me reminiscing about a much forgotten football tournament particularly in the UK, where only the Final was shown on Live TV. Euro 1976 was the last of the old style format with 32 countries divided …

English Cup Marathons

In the days before TV schedules dictated football and penalty shoot outs became common place in English cup ties, games were replayed until a team won. I remember three of these cup marathons which I loved – listening to radio commentaries on BBC between 1977 and 1980. English League Cup The English League Cup began …