Archie Macpherson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Archibald Macpherson 1934 (age 89–90) Shettleston, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Known for | Sports commentary, authorship |
Archibald Macpherson (born 1934) is a Scottish football commentator and author. He has been commentating on Scottish football, on radio and television, for over four decades.
Macpherson was born and raised in the Shettleston area of Glasgow. [1] His father had played as a centre forward for Shettleston, Dalry Thistle and Largs Thistle. [2] He achieved a BA in Education and was a teacher in North Lanarkshire in the late 1950s.
Macpherson has worked for the BBC, STV, Eurosport, Setanta Sports, Radio Clyde and Talksport although he initially struggled to gain a foothold in broadcasting. His first job was as a teacher where he supplemented his income by getting short stories published in local newspapers. Such efforts paid off and helped him gain his initial big break at the BBC. He continued to work as a teacher until 1969 when he joined the BBC on a full-time basis and remained with the corporation until 1990.
Macpherson has made his own personal appearances within Scottish popular culture. He once appeared on Rikki Fulton's Scotch and Wry (a prominent comedy sketch show screened by BBC Scotland) being mistaken for former University Challenge host Bamber Gascoigne.[ citation needed ] In the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's cult novel Trainspotting he re-voiced his commentary of Archie Gemmill's famous goal for Scotland against the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup as a sex scene unfolded at the same time, both pieces of action climaxing simultaneously. He was also a regular figure of the BBC TV network's sport coverage. He appeared on Grandstand to round up the Scottish football league results and presented some sports bulletins for Breakfast Time when Bob Wilson or David Icke were off. He also occasionally commentated on matches in England for the network, especially when the television rights to Scottish Cup belonged to Scottish Television in 1988–90.
His popularity saw him elected as Rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1985, defeating Teddy Taylor, Margo MacDonald and Richard Demarco.
Macpherson was recognised at the 2005 Scottish BAFTA ceremony, picking up a prize for "Special Contribution to Scottish Broadcasting".
His last regular role was commentating on STV's coverage of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches involving Scottish teams. Archie also became famous for his appearances on STV's Scotsport , which aired highlights from the Scottish Premier League (SPL) on Monday nights during the football season, until its axe in 2008.
Macpherson has written a best-selling biography of Scottish football manager Jock Stein, and Flower of Scotland?, about his own trials and tribulations whilst following Scottish football for the past four decades. A Game of Two-Halves : The Autobiography followed in 2009, and in 2014, he turned to fiction with the adventure novel Silent Thunder.
In 2020, Macpherson's book More Than A Game: Living with the Old Firm was published by Luath Press. [3]
Two years later, Macpherson published his latest book on sport: "Touching the Heights: Personal Portraits of Scottish Sporting Greats", which was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2022.
 |
William McNeill was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lions' to their European Cup victory in 1967 and later spent two spells as the club's manager. As a player and manager, he won 31 major trophies with Celtic.
John Stein was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a club from a Northern European country to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish League championships between 1966 and 1974.
Fraserburgh Football Club is a senior football club based in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. The fishing port is known locally as 'The Broch' hence the club nickname. They currently play in the Highland Football League in Scotland and also enter the annual Scottish Cup.
Shettleston is an area in the east end of Glasgow in Scotland.
Alan Roderick Rough is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 53 caps for Scotland and played in two FIFA World Cups. He also had a long club career, principally with Partick Thistle and Hibernian.
Arthur Montford was a Scottish Television sports journalist, best known for his 32-year tenure as the presenter of Scottish Television's Scotsport. Although he was most associated with football, he covered a number of other sports for ITV, notably golf.
John "Yogi" Hughes is a Scottish professional football coach and former player.
Robert Auld was a Scottish football player and manager. He was a member of Celtic's Lisbon Lions, who won the 1967 European Cup Final.
Ryan Cairns Stevenson is a Scottish former professional footballer who played for Heart of Midlothian and St Johnstone, as well as English side Ipswich Town.
Robin "Rob" Maclean is a Scottish television presenter, football commentator and sports writer. He currently works for BBC Scotland and TNT Sports.
John Archie MacKenzie was a Scottish footballer who spent most of his career with Partick Thistle, where he was known as the "Firhill Flyer".
Neil Mochan was a Scottish professional footballer whose twenty-year playing career included periods in both the Scottish and English top divisions.
John MacKay is a Scottish broadcast journalist, television presenter, producer and writer. He currently is a main anchor for the STV News at Six in Central Scotland and the current affairs programme Scotland Tonight.
Jordan McMillan is a Scottish footballer who plays as a defender for West of Scotland club Pollok.
Bernard Rooney was a Scottish football player and manager.
The 1977–78 season was the 98th season of competitive football by Rangers.
Celtic competed for five trophies in the 1966–67 season and the club won all of them: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup, and completed the only ever European Quintuple. However, their European Cup victory from this season qualified them for the World Championship the following season, which they went on to lose in a playoff to Racing. Over the course of this season, Celtic scored a world record 196 goals in the major competitions they took part in.
Jock Stein Friendship Cup is an exhibition football match held in Cliftonhill Stadium, Coatbridge, Scotland.
This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1990.
On 10 September 1985, the Welsh and Scottish national teams played each other during the qualifying stages of the 1986 FIFA World Cup at Ninian Park, the home of Cardiff City. The game was both teams' final match of the qualifying tournament, and both were still able to gain a place at the finals in Mexico; Wales needed to win the game, while Scotland knew that a draw would be enough.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
