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Private Notes
As Walter Smith says goodbye to Rangers FC, STV have been given exclusive, unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to one of the giants of the Scottish game.
In the second part of this special, Walter Smith reveals that he should have quit Rangers after his ninth title and how fear of unemployment forced him into accepting a job in England
In 1967 Scotland's proud boast to be the best footballing nation on earth was actually true. Not only did the national team beat the current world champions in their own backyard, but Kilmarnock made the semi-final of the Fairs Cup, Rangers reached the final of the Cup Winners' Cup and Celtic triumphed in Lisbon. With contributions from Bobby Brown, Jim McCalliog, Billy McNeill, Bobby Lennox, John Greig and Sandy Jardine.
As the two giants of Scottish football battle it out to become the champions, it all comes down to the last day of the season. A win for either would take the title. Winner takes all.
1979 was the year everything changed and the year that changed everything. On the football field Aberdeen and Dundee United exploded onto the scene, aiming to end the Old Firm's domination of the Scottish game. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jim McLean, Alex McLeish, Mark McGhee, Hamish McAlpine and Paul Hegarty tell the story. While the north east's season ended in triumph, there was also disgrace as the Scottish Cup Final descended into a full-scale riot.
In 1998, thanks to a bumper TV deal with Sky Sports, a spending spree took the SPL's collective debt from 7.5 million pounds to 145 million just four years later. With contributions from Roger Mitchell, David Taylor, Brian Quinn, Martin Bain, John Boyle, Lex Gold, Sandy Clark, John Yorkston and Graham Spiers, we examine the how the failure to secure a second Sky deal and the disappearance of SPL TV plunged the league into chaos as clubs were swamped by debts they could not hope to pay.
In 1971, 66 football fans died in one of Britain's most tragic sporting events ever, the disaster at Ibrox. But under the new management team of Willie Waddell and Jock Wallace, Rangers were to overcome massive odds which ended with them lifting aloft the European Cup Winners' Cup. This is Scotland's Football Year of 1972 - a journey from tragedy to triumph.
The legendary Jock Stein took on the task of lifting a battered and beleaguered Scotland after the debacle in Argentina. His magic worked, and they qualified easily for the World Cup finals in Spain. The team was certainly transformed, packed with winners who between them held just about every domestic and European club honour. A true squad of champions - but were they world beaters? This is Scotland's Football Year of 1982 - Viva Espana!
The new series of The Football Years kicks off with 1974 and Scotland’s Golden Generation. Were they the greatest squad of players ever to pull on the famous dark blue jersey? Featuring exclusive interviews and archive footage from World Cup 74’.
1986 was the year that Hearts came within seven minutes of the league title, Graeme Souness revolutionised Rangers and Scotland headed to Mexico for another World Cup group of death.
For Scottish football fans 1994 was one of the most dramatic years ever both on and off the park. The long-running and acrimonious battle for control of Celtic FC came to a head and bitter rivals Rangers cruised to their sixth consecutive Scottish League Title and were on course for an unprecedented back-to-back domestic treble.
This is the story of two north east clubs, two managers and two historic wins that were as joyous as they were unexpected. The two managers Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean were to be a force of nature in Scottish football in the early 1980’s.
By 1973 the optimism of the 1960’s had evaporated and the country lurched from political upheaval to economic crisis via industrial strife while the IRA waged a sustained and bloody bombing campaign in London and Birmingham. It was also the time that Celtic won the last of their 9-in-row Scottish Championships and came within a whisker of a domestic treble
It was the inaugural season of the UEFA Champions League but the champions of Scotland, Rangers had to face the Champions of England, Leeds, for the right to appear in it. This was another Battle of Britain where a European future was the prize.
