DINNER PROGRAMME AND PHOTOGRAPHY
In 2012 various events were held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Glasgow Rangers winning the European Cup Winners Cup. I was asked to design a programme for the dinner which was the culmination of all the events. All the surviving players from the squad were attending the dinner, and the event attracted over 1100 guests. A pal of mine was on the committee and I had designed various items for football events for him over the years. This was a joyous project for me as I was 11 years old when Rangers won the trophy and stayed within walking distance of the stadium.
I was given a free hand to design whatever I felt appropriate. I was taken to a meeting with the late Sandy Jardine to discuss the project and he gave me some fabulous resources and insight, which helped me create the programme for the evening. This included stats and paperwork from the final itself including travel documents and itineraries, programmes of matches leading to the final and a couple of tickets (one of which I was allowed to keep). We reproduced the match ticket, a poster and created a faux match programme as they didn't have on the night of the game due to a printing strike in Spain. These were inserted into the the programme. I wanted to do a full set of player cards. You know the kind you used to collect as a kid. But in the end these were printed on the pages throughout the programme.
I was then invited to attend the event as photographer. It was a terrific experience. I was given the great opportunity to take a photo of the players before they went into the main event. I got them all to sign my autograph book and had my photo taken with the replica trophy that club still hold. Just like a wee boy.
One small regret was that Sir Alex Ferguson, who was the Guest of Honour had to withdraw at the last minute as he was taken ill and had to go hospital.
