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 …

Welsh clubs in ECWC 1960-1999

The European Cup Winners Cup was a cup for National Cup Winners run by UEFA between 1960 and 1999. Welsh teams who played in the English football leagues also competed in the Welsh Cup with the winners qualifying for the ECWC , which was always somewhat controversial as they also competed in the FA Cup …

Bobby Graham & Willie Pettigrew

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 …

Lanarkshire Football in 70s & 80s – Part 2

My early football memories in Lanarkshire – Part Two 1976-1980 1976/77 The League Cup saw Motherwell finish bottom of their group with no wins from their six group games and only two draws. Hamilton Accies set up a final day showdown with Falkirk at Douglas Park for a place in the Quarter Final. Around 4000 …