bluearmyfaction

I like the insinuation at the bottom of the page that there might be loads of bootleg Third Lanark pools.

Presumably that obviates the need for a play-off? Like when Aldershot went bust in the middle of 1991-92, Carlisle didn't get relegated for being 23rd out of 23, Aldershot were simply replaced by Colchester.

And another "what if?" is Jones' former team-mate Tony Brise, who, in their brief time together at Hill, actually lapped Jonesy in the wet...

It was Pryce who hit the poor marshal (a teenager called Jansen van Vuuren). The irony was the car that they were crossing the track to attend was Pryce's uber-slow team-mate Renzo Zorzi, whose engine had a minute amount of steam coming out of it. Van Vuuren's exinguisher killed Pryce instantly. The marshals were running across the track on the blind side of a brow, just as four cars came towards them. Pryce was overtaking Lafitte and slipstreaming another (I think Stuck) so when Stuck swerved at the last second Pryce did not have the chance to take avoiding action. Pryce should not even have been that far down - he had started from the back because of a car problem. He was the only Welshman ever to win a Formula 1 race (the 1975 International Trophy) and considered an astonishing talent. Lotus - who won the title in 1978 - had wanted him but Pryce wanted to stay loyal to the Shadow team that had given him a chance. There is a memorial to him in Ruthin. One of the unusual knock-on effects was that Zorzi asked Shadow to change his number from 17 (unlucky in Italy) to the 16 Pryce had been using. Which they did. But apparently Shadow somewhat froze Zorzi out, blaming him (in part) for not using the onboard fire extinguisher to get rid of the small fire, which was the thing that prompted the marshals to run across the track in the first place, and he was gone after Monaco.

The Stranraer programme looks like it fell through a time tunnel from 1957 and the Airdrie programme looks like someone had been let loose in the Letraset store-room. Fabulous selection of typefaces.

Can add Dominica to the "visited" list. Very very green because it's suffused with showers. And it has whales resident just off the coast. (went artistically monochrome with this one)

Also a legend at Birmingham City, and one of the many wonderful things about him was that he never belittled his League Cup triumph with us. It might have been something of an optional extra for someone with such a powerhouse team as that Celtic nine-in-a-row side. But he gloried in that as much as any Blue always has done. And always with a smile. He was a great half-time interviewee on his visits to St Andrews as well. Yet for many Blues who were there his greatest moment was the greatest sending-off in Blues history that does not involve Kevin Muscat. Against Fulham. For some reason Bertie had riled Johnny Haynes, otherwise mild-mannered, to the extent that Haynes swung a punch at him. Obviously Haynes was not au fait with Bertie's inner steel. He soon was. By the time the referee came over to send Haynes off, Haynes was lying unconscious. So too was Maurice Cook, who had come over to assist Haynes. Bertie glanced at the referee. "Oh, shall I go as well?"

I did eventually find it; despite being along a major road, it did not take much to find it rather bucolic.

10 years ago, when I went up to visit the ground, nobody I asked in the village knew where it was...

The original way of officiating the game was for the captains to agree decisions amongst themselves. From 1874 each side nominated an umpire to make those decisions. And if there were disagreement as to the decision, they would refer the matter to a neutral standing at the touchline - the refer-ee. 1891 was when it changed to making the referee the active decision-maker and not requiring an appeal or something referred to him. But that's why football has referees rather than umpires.

Could a Lowland League club choose to switch to the Highland League? Could be a tactical move if they think they're more likely to finish top there.

And talking of closed shops, note how the Football League rejected 8 applications to join because the clubs had signed players from League clubs. For the sake of completeness, all four League clubs seeking re-election were re-elected. York, Southport, Barrow, and Hartlepool(s). And two years ago not one of those was in the League. The best of the failures was Wigan Athletic - 31 votes behind Pools.

Indeed their reserve side won the third and final Saarland league. After 1951, the Saarland teams were re-integrated into the German system.

Nobody properly worked out the political situation until reunification. Willy Brandt called Germany "two states within one nation". I think that programme though is using shorthand because it gives the full FA titles. So it is the DFB team from Germany, as opposed to whatever the DDR body was called. Fun fact: in order to qualify for the 1954 World Cup, West Germany had to beat Norway, and a third German team - Saarland. After WW2 it was a territory occupied by France with a plebiscite ten years later to see whether it would become part of France permanently, re-join Germany, or become an independent state the size of Luxembourg. After a decade of French rule the population was almost unanimous in preferring Germany. Part of that might have been that the main football team there - 1FC Saarbrücken - won the French Ligue B but was barred from being promoted. They did however play in the first European Cup. (Saarland's boss would win the World Cup - as coach of West Germany.)

For a long time, all Maltese top division matches were played at the Ta' Qali Stadium. Even now they only use 3 stadia for top flight matches.

Annoying game, could have been 3-0 the other way. One of those jinx matches where every 50/50 goes against you. Three at the back doesn't help though.

I've just thought of the perfect name for the club. Trigger's Broomhill.

Goalie wearing white. Unusual. I think Shilton adopted it for a while and soon dropped it because it was too easy for opposing strikers to see him.

^ some of those don't look like football pitches - and the one labelled in Gibraltar is in La Linea. The ground in Gib is much more "British" with roofs over the stands. And is called Victoria Park, just to confused lost Stokies (or sailors from Irvine). The ground in La Linea was a present from Franco, because when he shut the border in the sixties, unemployment there increased about fourfold; none of the locals could do their cross-border commute. He promised international football there, which turned out to be a friendly against Finland.

Talking of Cathkin Park, I love that the badge inset into the pavement is still standing proud...

It's the omega point. The gap is now unbridgeable. Next phase is to drive EFL clubs out of business to remove the risk of relegation.

Did you push pineapple and shake the tree?

One cannot have gradations of uniqueness, one either is or is not unique.

Is this part of a subtle plan by the Scottish League? "You can have a permanent promotion place when your teams are better than Rangers Reserves."

Ah, OK, thanks. Maybe someone could start up a club with a sponsorship deal from Flymo.