A good pub quiz question might be . . . “When did Celtic sign two ‘Rangers men’ in one day?”
The answer would be . . .
In September 1977, Celtic bought Dundee United striker Tom McAdam, who had earlier confessed to being ‘Rangers daft’.
The same day, the Parkhead side’s manager Jock Stein swooped to fix up former Rangers ‘S’ signing John Dowie from Fulham.
—————————
The news in the close season that St Mirren had signed two players with the same name brought back memories of a similar situation — and a unique solution — in the late 1950s.
In July 1958, the Paisley outfit signed Bobby Campbell from Drumchapel Amateurs.
Just over a year later, another Bobby Campbell put pen to paper for The Buddies, this one joining up from Ardeer Recreation.
Usually, in a situation like this, the middle name initial would be used for team line-ups, &c.
However, both didn’t seem to have a middle name but there was one striking difference!
The ‘Ardeer’ Campbell had black hair, while the Drumchapel chap had red hair.
So, they were forever to be known as Black Campbell and Red Campbell in team line-ups.
Red played just under 150 games for St Mirren, while Black wasn’t a first-team regular and took part in around 20.
Curiously, both went to Greenock Morton when they left Love Street, Black Campbell in July 1963 and Red Campbell in July 1965.
The name St Mirren have signed twice this close season is Ross Stewart.
Forward Ross Stewart joined his goalkeeper namesake in making a switch from League 1 outfit Albion Rovers.
They are both 22 and had been with the Coatbridge club since leaving Motherwell in 2015.
——————-
I came across another loose cutting, which revealed that Dundonian Jimmy Morton had signed for St Johnstone from Berwick Rangers.
I certainly remember Jimmy as a good Saints player and goalscorer but couldn’t recall him signed for the Borders club. But, sure enough, he joined Berwick from Brechin City, after joining up at Glebe Park from junior side Dundee North End.
The transfer to Saints happened in November 1999 and came about after a game in which St Johnstone were 3-1 up against Berwick.
Morton inspired a great comeback and the ‘Wee Rangers’ went away with a 3-3 draw.
Alex Stuart was the Muirton Park manager at the time and paid £30,000 to take him from player-manager Dave Smith’s team.
When with Brechin and Berwick, he continued to stay in Dundee, working as a fitter with Veeder-Root Ltd in the city, and training part-time with Dundee United.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.