On The Road: Bargain buys, hidden treasure and a legend or two… all the fun of the programme fair

Since the end of the Covid pandemic and reopening of football grounds, Mail Sport has sent Hugh MacDonald ‘On The Road’. During that time, he has travelled all around Scotland – and sometimes beyond – highlighting some of the inspiring tales to be found in a world that was attempting to recover from the trials and tribulations of lockdown. It has been quite the journey. Now, in the coming season, Hugh will on occasion step away from the side of the pitch to bring our readers more wonderful stories from across all sport in Scotland. Here, Hugh heads to a football programme and memorabilia fair to uncover some more gems…

It has the buying buzz of a bazaar, the febrile frenzy of a fair but there are some things that cannot be bought.

Dougie Bell takes a break from selling his autobiography to state without undue fuss: ‘I have my Super Cup medal somewhere. I’ll have a rake in my jacket.’

Said jacket is hanging over a chair and Bell emerges seconds later with the medal he won when Aberdeen defeated Hamburg 2-0 on aggregate in the European Super Cup of 2003. Bell, who played for more than a dozen clubs including St Mirren and Rangers, sets it down next to a winner’s medal from the night Aberdeen beat Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Gothenburg.

There is a moment of awe from this observer who briskly breaks the mood by dropping it, causing a hundred heads to turn to see what caused the clatter in the Hall of Fame room outside the Scottish Football Museum in Hampden.

Bell, now 65, has brought the medals to show interested fans but book-selling is his duty. All proceeds go to charity and he has raised more than £25,000 for Strathcarron Hospice, who cared for his late wife, Hazel. 

He also has an interest in programmes and has a deeply personal cache. Injury prevented the midfielder from playing in the final but he was outstanding on the run to Gothenburg.

‘I have the programme from Bayern Munich away,’ he says. ‘I thought I played well.’

This is said with humble understatement and can be barely heard amid the hubbub raised by scores of programme buyers. They swirl round the stalls, eager to pick up pieces of paper and change them by some alchemy into prized possessions.

It is an intoxicating pastime. This observer is not immune from its seductive charms.

But, curiously, there is also an element of coyness from the sellers. Some items are not for sale, or at least not on this occasion.

‘This is my pride and joy,’ says Stuart Marshall, who once ran a memorabilia shop in Glasgow, but is now retired. He is pointing to a postcard where an etching shows a player taking a throw-in with one arm.

‘It is the oldest football postcard on record, dating from 1898, and, no, it’s not for sale.’

Similarly, he has an invitation to a dinner to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Rangers playing the Scottish Cup final in 1877, issued by Tom Vallance, a former player. This is a prized item, as are the 1901 programmes for a Rangers athletic day during the Glasgow International exhibition.

‘I have people inquiring about these but so far I don’t want to sell them.’

Marshall, though, has been a dealer for decades and knows that there will come a time when an offer may tempt him.

Boyd Miller, who is advertising his wares just yards away, has also a Rangers interest. ‘At one time I had most of the programmes from Rangers home and away in Europe,’ he says. His array of goods is fascinating but he points out that there are ones he would love to have had.

‘First, I was at Barcelona in 1972,’ he says of the Rangers victory in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup. ‘They didn’t do a programme but I would have loved it if they had. The holy grail is, perhaps, the one for Vorwarts in Malmo.’

The East Germans, then behind the Iron Curtain, were not granted visas into Britain for the 1961 European Cup game. The home leg for Rangers was thus played in Malmo, with the game being abandoned because of fog before being played the next day.

‘There were obviously incredible details around that match,’ says Miller. ‘But programmes for it are as rare as hens’ teeth.’

The more modern era of football programmes is represented by Stuart Curtis, who has travelled to Hampden from his base in the Midlands. His company has been producing programmes – including those of Aberdeen, Motherwell and, yes, Vale of Leithen – since it started 16 years ago.

His staff of 13 also produce programmes for the PDC darts, rugby union and league, and snooker. He is approached by clubs and organisations and supplies them with the product they want. ‘Vale of Leithen is obviously a smaller programme but we are delighted to work with them because that is what we do,’ he says simply.

His warehouse in the Midlands has two million programmes in stock. But that grows by anything from 3,000-5,000 a week as programmes are produced. He has a small vintage section but he deals in supplying recent programmes.

‘We process about 5,000-7,000 a week,’ he says. ‘The Post Office has two lifts a day from our base.’

The crowd inside Hampden is more interested in direct buying. ‘I have been coming to these fairs for about six years and I love finding those treasures,’ says Lewis Petherick, 22, who works in hospitality at Celtic Park.

His employment has given him close encounters with the Celtic greats and he is particularly proud of one acquisition.

‘I actually got it in the Barras,’ he says. ‘It was a 1963 programme of Hearts v Celtic and it is signed by most of the Lisbon Lions.’

Pat McGeady, 65, leaves the fair clutching a wondrous find. It is a Third Lanark programme. He only has 600 of them and declares his latest purchase as a ‘cracking bargain’.

‘I have been collecting for more than 50 years,’ he says. He has 4,000-5,000 items.

‘I still get excited,’ he says. ‘It was like Christmas Day for me today.’

His prized possessions at home include the Third Lanark v Rangers programme from 1947 and he has a programme for every Scottish Cup final since the Second World War.

McGeady, though, is still on the hunt. ‘I want a programme from the Third Lanark game against Airdrie in the League Cup of 1964-65. There are thought to be only 10 still in existence,’ he says.

Dealers and buyers are given a warm welcome at the door. Jim Thomson, 52, the organiser of the fair, has a passion for bringing his fellow devotees to the tables groaning with delights.

Thomson collects Stirling Albion programmes principally and those of European Cup finals pre-1970. He also sold the Binos programme as a kid and talks delightedly of his favourite side being the first UK team to tour Japan in 1966. His favoured programme is one from 1939 involving St Bernard’s and King’s Park, the latter being the precursor to Stirling Albion.

He now takes the programme fairs all over the country. ‘My collection was up in the loft and when Covid came along I went up with my two boys to sort them out. We basically just spent days flicking through them. My interest was rekindled and now I organise the fairs.’

He adds: ‘Every football fan is a collector, though some will not realise it. But every fan has an old scarf, an old football programme or a ticket stub or something to remind them of a particular match.’

Frank Coulson has no need for anything to recall the events of October 23, 1971. It was the day that Partick Thistle beat Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup final with Coulson at centre-forward.

I point him towards a programme of that match and he says with a smile: ‘I think I have one.’

He has shimmied in with Jim McSherry, Kilmarnock legend and raconteur extraordinaire, who prompts his mate to tell an appropriate story.

‘I was at a football fair in Belfast,’ says Coulson. ‘I saw this yellow and red strip and went to investigate. I saw from the badge it was from a testimonial I played in. The dealer was wanting £650 quid for it so my interest was limited. He then turned the shirt around. Then I saw the No.8.

‘I told the dealer, “That’s the shirt I wore. Do you want me to sign it?’’ He said: “No”.’

Coulson bursts into laughter. There are some things that money can’t buy. But there are also good offers that can be refused.