Archie Macpherson: Last News

Hampden, I watched Denis Law cement his relationship with the Scottish public at a time when we feared he might not be able to live up to expectations, swelled as they were by the fact that Torino had broken a European transfer record to take him from Manchester City to Italy the year before. His sunburn and blonde mop showed up like a firefly on that dreich Scottish afternoon, but when he scored an equaliser to make it 2-2 with half-an hour to go, at least he had made his presence felt.But with only seven minutes remaining, came the moment that was a pure distillation of all the scoring skills he was ever to show in his long and prolific career that followed .

Rangers desperately sought to stop the Celtic juggernaut.Under Jock Stein they had won the previous five league titles and scored late on in so many games that their supporters might have believed divine intervention was on hand.So when, with only two minutes remaining, the irrepressible Jimmy Johnstone scored to put Celtic one up, it seemed a typical Stein coup de grace.However, seconds from the end, Rangers striker Colin Stein equalised.Those tumultuous two minutes – and Rangers’ sudden comeback – was to lead to a thoroughly mistaken but initially credible-sounding theory about what then followed in a far corner of Ibrox Stadium.News that at least 22 people had been killed in an accident reached us at the time I was preparing to present

Trainspotting was one of the highlights of his career.The veteran broadcaster was asked to re-record his famous commentary from Scotland’s 3-2 victory over the Netherlands in the 1978 World Cup for the cult movie.It plays in the background as Ewan McGregor’s character, Renton, has sex with Diane, played by Kelly Macdonald.The scene ends with Rents saying: “I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978.”Archie, 83, says the scene from the 1996 movie gave him the biggest audience of his career and made him popular with his French friends as he was living in Paris at the time.He picked it out as a highlight when appearing on Graeme Easton’s Playlist podcast.He said: “I went to see it in a cinema in the

Richard Leonard to quit as Scottish party leader.Macpherson said Scottish Labour had become a “nostalgic cult” under Leonard and urged Keir Starmer to intervene.He also said the “excellent” Labour MP Ian Murray would have made an effective leader.Leonard, a left winger who is close to Jeremy Corbyn, is under pressure after a double flop at the ballot box.His party slumped to fifth place at the European election and lost six of their seven seats at the general election.A poll showed Labour on 15% of the vote for next year’s Holyrood election and insiders believe some of the current MSPs will lose their seats.Leonard’s struggles led to veteran peer Lord Foulkes saying he would be putting his party first if he stood down.