An Angus player’s place in the annals of the beautiful game has been marked, almost half a century on from the season a team of part-timers stunned Scottish football.
Davie Souter was a member of a Clyde outfit whose performances in the 1966-67 season saw only the dominant Old Firm of the day finish ahead of them in the then First Division top flight of the domestic game.
Champions Celtic would go on to lift the European Cup in their momentous campaign.
Mr Souter and his Shawfield squad pals were confident Europe would also beckon the following season as a reward for their achievements on home turf, which also saw the side reach the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
However, a controversial move by Euro administrators saw their path to the Fairs Cup blocked by the ruling that only one team from any city could play in the competition and as a result, Rangers’ second-place league finish denied them that opportunity.
The decision still rankles with long-standing fans of the Bully Wee but the achievement of the side has now been captured for posterity in a book by Clyde historian Gordon Sydney, called Unsung Heroes.
The book was launched at Clyde’s latest Hall of Fame dinner, which 74-year-old Mr Souter enjoyed with his wife Doris and son David.
Having spent many years as a janitor at Arbroath’s Inverbrothock Primary School, the Dundee-born player admits many in the Angus town will have known him better through that role rather than his footballing claim to fame.
He played for clubs including Dundee United and Arbroath before John Prentice took him to Clyde for a spell which would see him play under five different managers in as many seasons.
“That season was a fantastic achievement against the full-time clubs. There was about 17 in the pool and everything just seemed to blend,” he said.
“I played every position bar goalkeeper,” added Mr Souter of a career which was ended by a knee injury after he moved to Dens Park, again under ex-Scotland manager Prentice.
“Even after all this time it still annoys me that we didn’t get into Europe.
“We felt we had earned that and they then changed the rules but Clyde later took us to Rhodesia for a month as a reward for what we did that season.
“I’m a quiet person, always have been, so I had put all of this in the past but my family talked me into going to the dinner when the invitation came through.
“It was great to see some of my former team-mates and there were some tremendous stories from those days marvellous memories,” he added.