Whistle for it
SCOTTISH football fans are getting a bad time in the press these days, so we look back on happier times with these Diary stories about fans in the past, including the supporter who phoned to tell us: "I can't stand these people who hate football, but still go along to games to cause trouble and ruin it for everybody else.
"Bloody referees …"
Ripping yarn
IT was our feature writer chum on The Herald, Teddy Jamieson, who got to the bottom of the oft-told tale of flash Charlie Nicholas, when at Celtic in the late seventies, tearing up a £20 note in front of a fan who was giving him grief to show he was rich and didn't care.
Teddy asked Charlie about it who said: "I think I was 17, 18. I shouldn't have been allowed in the pub. There was this guy giving me earache all night. 'I'm better than you. I'm better than you'. I went into the gents and he was right at my back and he gave it to me again. So I took the £20 and said, 'Can you do this?' I ripped it up and threw it on the ground and walked out. He came out and went to his mates looking a bit sheepish. My point was made and I sprinted straight back into the toilet to get the £20 note to Sellotape it up.”
All aboard
A READER once heard a fan discussing his trip to an away game in the SPL, and how he managed to cadge a lift back on a supporters' bus. "So they had a spare seat?" asked his pal. "Aye," the chap replied. "It was full originally, but fortunately someone got lifted.”
Going higher
NOT all football chants are foul-mouthed. When Glasgow University played Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup at Rugby Park in the late 1960s, one of the student chants was "If you've got your Higher English clap your hands."
What a tail
AND not everyone is a football fan. When The Herald ran a story about Morton's mascot Cappie the Cat having its tail ripped off when it caught it in the dressing-room door, and club medics sewing it back on, a reader phoned to express outrage that it had not been treated more humanely and taken to a vet's. The reporter gently explained that it was a costumed fan and not a real cat.
Suits you
THERE were a few Diary stories about Rangers' epic struggle to climb back through all the leagues after going into administration. Many Rangers fans followed them on the comeback trail, and boasted that the club set a record for the largest crowd in the world at any fourth tier football game. However a Celtic fan phoned to tell us: "That's a bit like boasting about being the best-dressed man in Albania.”
And when Brechin equalised against Rangers before eventually losing, the Brechin fans were chanting: "Are you Forfar in disguise?”
Work it
WE should, of course, also mention Junior Football. Our chum Graham Scott was at an Auchinleck Talbot v Beith game in the old mining village when an Auchinleck fan, frustrated by a delay in the game, shouted: "C'mon ref, ah've ma work to get up for in the morning." A Beith fan immediately shouted over: "You don't live in Auchinleck then?”
Blowing in the wind
AND, finally, the Tartan Army. A Renfrewshire reader was in Paris for a France v Scotland game when he saw one of his kilted brethren wearing a T-shirt with "ventilateur" printed on the back. Our reader could only surmise that the chap had used an electronic dictionary to find out the French word for fan and have it printed as a welcoming gesture. Alas ventilateur is of the electric fan variety.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS - 1958: The show of hands that turned Bearsden into a burgh
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here