GLF57: GB adds another to his collection
The Wee Red Book
No, this is not an examination on the ramblings and doctrines of Chairman Mao in China,but a look at the Evening Times Annual football publication.The Evening Times Wee Red Book can be found in the possession of most serious football fans with its ability to resolve any number of Scottish football arguments.
For some strange reason I am drawn to the book every July,as soon as I know that the fixtures have been arranged you know that within a matter of a few weeks that the Wee Red Book will be on sale.I say some strange reason as the contents of the book change little from one year to the next and much of the information is now contained elsewhere,on the internet for example along with other publications.
I got my first Wee Red Book back in the late sixties when it cost something like 3d (yes old money !) and have been buying it ever since.The useful items that it does contain are;
*List of Scotland Internationals and who they played against,although this has changed over the years as it used to cause confusion.At one time it did not recognise friendly appearances,but did feature Scottish League appearances.The League appearances have disappeared, meaning Joe Wark has dropped out of the list.
*The fixtures for the season-but once again this has been impacted by television changing fixtures after the season starts.
*Key dates for the season, is the Cups and when Scotland are playing.
*Club info-which now provide strange stats as far as crowd figures are concerned.Almost everybody's record crowd is now way bigger than their current capacity,including Motherwell ( record crowd 35,632,capacity - 13742 ).
There is also a section of games to remember which is a bit of an eclectic ( or biased ) choice.It features the 1967 Scotland win at Wembley,but no other win against the Auld Enemy,or even any other win over World Champions,e.g. Argentina in 1990. It also features all the games that Scottish teams have won a European Trophy along with Celtic's defeat in Seville,but not Dundee Utd's defeat to Gothenburg in the UEFA final,Rangers defeat in 1967 in the ECWC final or the Celtic defeat to Feyenoord in the European Cup final in 1970.I guess a game to remember for someone doesn't mean the same to everyone,personally I would have Motherwell 3 Spurs 2 in there !!
Having said all that I always have it in my bag at every game and probably refer to it at least half a dozen times a season to either check a fixture,a scoreline or how many caps someone won,therefore it is always worth investing the current price of £2.50.
Graham Barnstaple
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