A Broughty Ferry pub is auctioning off its precious pictorial record of Scottish football for charity.
The Royal Arch has for years attracted fans who have enjoyed a pint while reflecting over the game’s heroes of yesteryear adorning its walls.
Nostalgia, as they say, ain’t what it used to be, and owner Jonathan Stewart has sadly decided to say “time gentlemen please” to the players in the black and white images.
“It’s really because of the internet that we’re doing this,” he said. “You can find so many pictures of footballers from previous years on the internet that the photographs on our walls have lost their appeal.
“Most of them are going, as are most of the caricatures of regulars which were also on our walls. I’m afraid a lot of these people aren’t around any more.
“There wasn’t really a reason to keep all these pictures and we have to change to keep with the times.”
Rather than discarding them, Jonathan is putting the pictures up for auction to fans of football memorabilia, with proceeds going to Maggie’s Centre and the Brae Riding Centre.Click here for a full photo galleryThe caricatures, finely drawn by former DC Thomson artist Brian Petrie, are of some merit and may bring interest from collectors as well as relatives of the subjects.
The Royal Arch is not spurning all links with football history as sections have been kept devoted to the former players of Dundee and Dundee United.
These displays contain some particular interesting images.
Resplendent in the dark blue of Dundee is an inside forward better known for a career on the other side of Tannadice Street legendary United manager and chairman Jim McLean seen in his playing days at Dens Park in the 1960s.
From an earlier era, there is a giant young barrel-chested centre half in the then hooped shirt of Dundee United who became a Liverpool legend Ron Yeats.
The charity auction, to be held in the Royal Arch on July 6, will be conducted by Steven Dewar.