Scotland 42 England 1

Mark Winter

Description

Scotland 42 England 1 is an English OAP's light-hearted and affectionate look at Scottish football. Growing up in the 60s when 'abroad isn't for the likes of us' was a common refrain, Mark Winter developed a fascination with Scotland and its football clubs, his interest piqued by listening to the football results in compulsory silence as his grandad's pools coupon was checked. The process provoked many questions in the mind of the impressionable eight-year-old. Why had Third Lanark, apparently out of pure spite, won and stopped his grandad becoming a rich man? If East Fife was a town, why wasn't it on a map? When playing those cunning continentals, why did Scottish teams suddenly become British when they won? Fifty years later, Mark decides to visit all 42 league clubs north of Hadrian's Wall to separate the myths from the facts. Setting off from Dover each time, invariably he is met by a warm welcome, a hot pie and a strong drink. Along the way he has to climb the odd mountain. What he expects and what he finds are quite different.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801505192
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2023
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Mark Winter, 2023
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801504218
eBook ISBN 9781801505192
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CONTENTS
Introduction
Rangers v Zenit Saint Petersburg
Celtic v Hibernian
Heart of Midlothian v Dundee
Rangers v Leicester City
Rangers v Hibernian
Albion Rovers v Clyde
Airdrieonians v Forfar Athletic
Hamilton Academical v Aberdeen
Greenock Morton v Falkirk
Hibernian v Alloa Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Edinburgh City v Hamilton Academical
Aberdeen v NK Maribor
Stirling University v The Spartans
Dundee v Forfar Athletic
Dundee United v Dunfermline Athletic
Falkirk v Forfar Athletic
Cowdenbeath v Dundee
Stirling Albion v Notts County
East Fife v St Johnstone
Raith Rovers v Cowdenbeath
Dundee v Dundee United
The Spartans v Edinburgh University
Kilmarnock v Brora Rangers
Ayr United v Rangers
Partick Thistle v Motherwell
Alloa Athletic v Dumbarton
Livingston v Dundee United
St Johnstone v Ross County
Dumbarton v Alloa Athletic
Berwick Rangers v Hamilton Academical
Arbroath v Ross County
Queen of the South v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Queen s Park v Berwick Rangers
St Mirren v Hibernian
Stranraer v Dumbarton
Motherwell v Heart of Midlothian
Ross County v Dunfermline
Annan Athletic v Stirling Albion
Montrose v Queen of the South
The Spartans v Liverpool
Peterhead v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Cove Rangers v Dundee
Annan Athletic v Greenock Morton
Heart of Midlothian v Stenhousemuir
Chikhura Sachkhere v Aberdeen
Elgin City v Hibernian
Stenhousemuir v Cowdenbeath
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Greenock Morton
Forfar Athletic v Clyde
Heart of Midlothian v Celtic
Hibernian v Rangers
Clyde v Airdrieonians
Kelty Hearts v East Fife
Edinburgh City v Elgin City
Stirling Albion v Kelty Hearts
Celtic B v Caledonian Braves
Postscript
Acknowledgements
Photos
This book is dedicated to the small band of close friends, relatives and mental dogs who formed my outdoor sanity squad during the global pandemic. Covid-19 delayed the book s completion by two years, but thanks to all of you for helping me to get there in the end.
INTRODUCTION
I DIDN T really start to travel until I hit 50. I decided, wisely as it turned out, that I d bring forward all the things I planned to do in retirement, get over my fear of flying and just crack on with it. If pretty much all previous mileage had been clocked up following Dover Athletic and Leicester City, travel remained very much football-related. If I spent a week in any city, I d make it a matter of pressing importance to decide which club I would follow in the unlikely event that I lived there.
In Lisbon I became a Benfiquista . In Madrid, I adopted Atl tico. In Barcelona I m reserving judgement until I ve visited Espanyol. In Buenos Aires, the mayhem of a regular game at Argentinos Juniors would be difficult to resist. Just across the English Channel from my home, Lens and KVO Oostende might expect my patronage, as could Dinamo Zagreb, Vojvodina, and NK Dom ale if I ever take up a nomadic existence in the Balkans. Whenever I ve found myself in Italy, I ve usually gone to Florence to watch Fiorentina.
Bizarrely, it was a La Viola game that triggered my mild obsession with Scottish football. Knowing that the 2008 UEFA Cup Final would be staged at the City of Manchester Stadium, I booked match and train tickets and a hotel well in advance for what I d fully expected to be a Bayern Munich v Fiorentina clash. Both made a hash of their semi-finals, however, so I went to watch Zenit Saint Petersburg beat Rangers 2-0 to lift the trophy anyway.
It was four years later that I went to see Celtic playing at home. Having seen Rangers play twice - I had visited Ibrox with Leicester as long ago as 1982 - this was always going to happen sooner or later. Given that I d be getting home via a Sunday evening flight from Edinburgh, I took the opportunity to watch Hearts play at Tynecastle. This in turn led to a return trip to see if I liked Hibernian and when the opportunity cropped up to watch both Dundee clubs playing at home on consecutive days, I couldn t get to Tayside quickly enough. And so it went on.
As I started to spend more and more time in Scotland, I was frequently reminded that football, like life, would often provide a sideshow that was so much more enjoyable than the main event. One by one, I introduced myself to clubs that I d only formerly known as irritants that ruined my granddad s pools coupon and had the very best of times.
Scotland 42 England 1, if not exactly a love story, is one of affection and admiration for Scotland, its football clubs, and people whose friendliness and hospitality are without equal in my experience. If this book fails to sell a single copy, the experiences I ve encountered along the way will have made its compilation worthwhile. If you ve yet to venture north of the wall, I really can t recommend it highly enough.
RANGERS v ZENIT SAINT PETERSBURG
UEFA Cup Final
City of Manchester Stadium
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
I D BEEN looking forward to seeing Fiorentina play for weeks and booked my tickets in March. I d been a fan since the early 1990s when Channel Four secured the rights to show live Italian games on a Sunday afternoon. Serie A was the best league in the world at the time and La Viola were invariably a treat to watch on their day, with Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa being the star turns. With their unshakable sense of swagger and their natty purple shirts, they soon became my favourites. Within a year or two I started making an annual pilgrimage to Florence to watch them play. Even though they could still count themselves among the greats of European football, their likely final opponents weren t the Bayern Munich of old and I fancied Fiorentina to edge a tight game and lift the trophy. As is so often the case when I plan stuff I have no control over, a huge fly was seen wading through my ointment a couple of weeks before the final.
All Fiorentina needed to do to reach the final was overcome a dour and uninspiring Rangers side, who d nonetheless been turned into a side to be reckoned with under the guidance of the late Walter Smith. Despite failing to have a noteworthy shot on goal in three and a half hours of football, they drew both legs of the semi-final 0-0 prior to beating Fiorentina on penalties in front of the Italian club s own fans at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. I responded to the setback in a very grown-up fashion by kicking some furniture about, having already booked two return train tickets to Manchester at ruinous expense. Citizens of Bavaria were equally miffed, I d imagine, after Zenit battered Bayern 5-1 on aggregate.
Initially I thought I might scratch the fixture, but after an hour of stressful deliberation I opted to go anyway. It was a special occasion, after all, and one I thought I d be unlikely to get tickets for again. What I hadn t banked on was the lengths some hoteliers would go to in order to make a buck. Before Rangers had even stepped on to their flight home, the prices of Manchester hotels had gone through the roof on the night of the final.
After searching for a B B for two that wouldn t cost a week s salary, I put in a call to the Manchester tourist board. Fourteen years on, I still struggle to believe that the following conversation really did take place. I assure you that it did.
Hello, I d like to book a hotel in Manchester on the night of 14 May, please.
Certainly, sir. Is this just for you?
No, it s for my 17-year-old daughter as well so a twin room, please.
That s fine, sir. Just stay with me for a moment.
Righto!
After 15 music of listening to music I d wager was nobody s favourite, my telephone sales professional did indeed return.
I m sorry for the wait, sir, but I think I ve found you just the place. It s a cosy, family run B B in Altrincham which is a short distance from the centre of Manchester.
Like many fans of the English non-league game, I d been to Altrincham as a visiting supporter. Thus I knew it was a good 15 miles from the centre of Manchester, but figured I might as well hear him out, now that we d got this far.
That would be 365 for the night, sir. Does that fall within sir s budget?
I can t recall my exact response other than shock, but I think I held back from being too rude to a lad doing his best in a job he probably despised. Later that same night and on the point of taking my own cardboard box in which to kip overnight at Manchester Piccadilly, I had a stroke of luck searching a website that specialised in rooms over pubs and came up with just the place for 40 a night for the two of us. The Ox, situated opposite Granada TV Studios, proved ideal and I ve stayed there every time I ve visited Manchester since.
I won t dwell on a journey on a train that was on time but packed, hot, and uncomfortable and crammed with Rangers fans, many of whom were travelling on the off-chance . If I were a p