The Football History Boys

Rangers penalty shoot out heartbreak in the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville continued the dark side of Scotland's spot kick history which is chequered both in penalty competitions and in 90 minutes in big matches. @AlexHTheMAX   gives us some instances when Scottish sides failed from the spot and, don't fret too much Rangers, because you are not alone. 1. Dons Make History Aberdeen were involved in the first ever penalty shoot out in European club competitions in September 1970. It was a Cup Winners' Cup 1st Round tie in Hungary against Honved, after the game finished on a 4-4 aggregate following both sides winning their home leg 3-1. Steve Murray of the Dons scored the historic first pen in the then-new UEFA format. Jim Forrest then became the first to miss, hitting Aberdeen's third pen off the underside of the bar and out, before Honved eventually won 5-4 on pens.  Murray also scored a goal in normal play in both the home and away legs, whil

It's Rangers v Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final 2022 in Seville on Wednesday 18th May.  Here's some great Rangers v German opposition moments in pictures from  @AlexHTheMAX .   1. Below: Eintracht Frankfurt stopped Rangers getting to the 1960 European Cup final at Hampden v Real Madrid (Eintracht won in the semi final on a 12-4 aggregate before going down to Real 7-3 in the Glasgow final). This was a chance for revenge for that competitive defeat a year later in a Challenge match to launch the Hampden Park floodlights. Eintracht won 3-2 in front of nearly 105,000 fans. 2. Below: The scene before the European Cup Winners Cup Semi-final, 2nd leg: Rangers v Bayern Munich, Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, 19th April 1972. Rangers won 2-0 for a 3-1 aggregate and it was then onto beat Moscow Dynamo 3-2 in the final in Barcelona. 3. Below: John Greig powers through v Bayern at Ibrox 2 years before the CWC last four win versus the same club. In 1972 Celtic lost to Inter Milan on p

A familiar Scottish League name have joined the ranks of football pools towns now in the 5th tier of the game north of the border. @AlexHTheMAX   witnessed history on May 14th, as Cowdenbeath were replaced by Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic in the SPFL in the Scottish Pyramid play-off final 2nd Leg at Central Park. Cowedenbeath had beenca mainstay of the lower reaches of the Scottish game since 1917. Read his story below...   Walking through the centre of Glasgow in a blue, albeit rugby style, shirt on the day Celtic are celebrating a Scottish League title might seem to many as negotiating a bit of a tightrope, but this was no act of Rangers blue nose defiance ahead of the Europa League final. While Glasgow was gripped with green and white mania on Saturday May 14th, as Celtic prepared for their triumphant final league game of the season at home to Motherwell, I was heading back to my home town in the east of Scotland by train looking for a blue and white miracle, that was about as far away fr

It is advantage Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic FC as the Lowland League (5th tier) Champions, who beat Highland League winners Fraserburgh to earn the right to play for a place in Scottish League 2 next season, start with a 3-0 lead at Cowdenbeath in the 2nd Leg of the Scottish Pyramid play off final on Saturday May 14th. The 141 year old Fife side, nicknamed The Blue Brazil, need a comeback worthy of Lazarus himself if they hope to preserve their 117 year league status, which started in 1905 with a 1-0 home win over Leith Athletic at their first home North End Park before a move to Central Park in 1917. @AlexHTheMAX   presents more pictorial history from Team 42 in this season's SPFL, who will either finish the weekend replaced by the Midlothian reds in League 2, or as the heroes of a third Pyramid play off win, which would see a great escape that would even better their last day aggregate wins over East Kilbride in 2017 and Cove Rangers a year later. Above, Bonnyrigg (in red) score thei

Scottish Lowland League Champions Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic FC (based near Edinburgh and formed in 1881) play Cowdenbeath FC on May 7 and 14 (the tie over two Legs then pens if an aggregate draw), for the right to be the new team in Scottish League 2 in season 2022/3.   Cowdenbeath (also formed 1881) are attempting a third great escape from the 5th tier Lowland League as team 42 in the SPFL after beating East Kilbride then Cove Rangers, all in the last five years, to preserve a Scottish League status that started in 1905. @AlexHTheMAX  gives us a pictorial history of Bonnyrigg and Cowdenbeath ahead of the historic matches at New Dundas Park and Central Park. 007 himself Sean Connery (above) played for Bonnyrigg between 1951 and 1953, and then turned down a contract at Manchester United in favour of an acting career. He's also listed under his real first name of T. Connery (Thomas) in this list of players released by Rose in 1953. (below). Looks like Mr Bond was a bustling 'Outsid

The tragic demise of Austria’s most celebrated pre-war football club is a shocking reminder of the Nazi war machine’s ruthlessness.   @RichEvansWriter  tells the story: Today, the internet provides immediate news access to all and sundry; debate surrounding hot footballing topics spirals with the velocity of an aggravated tornado. It’s a turbo-charged state of affairs exacerbated by the Twittersphere - musings are crammed into confined character counts, and no sooner have remarks been issued then they are superseded by amended versions. At times, it can be a fickle, superficial maelstrom where only those who shout loudest are heard. Technology aside, it’s arguably a simple extension of yesteryear: in Britain, footballing wit has been bawled and barrelled across the smoke-fogged barrooms of boozers since time immemorial. Added to that, discourse concerning the beautiful game has stereotypically been the stuff of the tabloids; broad-brushed headlines have tended to trump minutiae and fi