Jon Fratelli

It’s possible that my earliest footballing memory was in fact several rolled into one. What I know for sure is that it involved going to Hampden Park to watch Scotland v Rest of the World Select in a match that marked Kenny Dalglish’s 100th cap for Scotland. 

My memory of the game itself is hazy though I do remember wondering why I couldn’t hear any commentary inside the stadium. I have though always been grateful that my first experience of football in the flesh was in honour of someone who I consider now to be the greatest player our country has ever produced

King Kenny scored, I think, though as a six-year-old I spent most of the game running up and down the steps, asking whether Maradona was playing and asking for another pie.

The rest of that day may or may not have contained the buying of my first Scotland strip, the sight of old men peeing on the Hampden steps and fish and chips on the way home…