GLASGOW footie fans will have to wait a bit longer until they can return to matches as coronavirus restrictions rumble on.
But even when they do get back to the terraces, attendance figures are unlikely to reach the giddy heights of decades gone by.
This Home International (pictured) between Scotland and England at the national stadium in Hampden on April 17, 1937, recorded a whopping 149,415 match tickets sold, but it is said that at least 20,000 more got in without tickets. Receipts are given as £24,303.
Scotland won the match 3 – 1, with Stoke City’s Fred Steele opened the scoring for England on 40 minutes, Frank O’Donnell of Preston North End equalising just after half-time, and Rangers’ Bob McPhail scoring twice at 80 and 88 minutes to seal the win.
(A week later, the Celtic-Aberdeen Scottish Cup Final drew an official crowd of 147,365, with 20,000 more people locked outside; it is the country’s record attendance for a club match.)
Glasgow City Archives holds the Glasgow Police football allocations book, which shows how many officers they had on duty at games, and also gives the attendances.
Archivist Michael Gallagher explains: “Some of the ones within a few weeks in 1970 are unbelievable - for example, a record of 137,438 for Celtic versus Leeds in the European Cup semi-final (still a European record and the police figure is higher than UEFA’s official one) and 135,808 for Scotland versus England in particular.”
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