THE HISTORY BOYS

Last Tuesday, we celebrated the 120th anniversary of the first – and some might argue, most important – trophy win in our history, when we defeated today’s opponents Sheffield United in an FA Cup Final replay while still a non-league team.

The tiny Scottish mining village of Glenbuck, whose population never exceeded 1,700 people, produced an unprecedented roll-call of 50 professional footballers, including two players who were pivotal to that historic 1901 FA Cup triumph – Alex Tait and Sandy Brown - along with Liverpool legend Bill Shankly. Sadly, Glenbuck is no more but the extraordinary life and times of the village and its famous footballing sons is told in the book Shankly’s Village.

In this extract from the book, taken from the chapter Scottish Flowers of the South, we look at the influence Tait and Brown had on our 1901 success and we pick up the story just as the legendary John Cameron – himself another Scot – took over in charge of Spurs… “Turning to the 26-year-old John Cameron, in February 1899 Spurs appointed a forward-thinking player-manager who brought a sense of purpose, strategy and determination to succeed. Progress was rapid and it was the signing of key players, among them two from Glenbuck, which propelled Spurs into the big time.

Whether Cameron’s Ayrshire contacts would have been needed to tip him off about Alex Tait and Sandy Brown is doubtful, since he would have been aware of their qualities from their displays at Preston. But he would certainly have known about Glenbuck’s reputation for producing footballers with good technique, who were comfortable with the ball at their feet and had an ability to read the game. Tait and Brown fitted the bill.