Source: TheGuardian
Tommy Gemmell and Dundee United anniversary reminders of a lost world | Barney Ronay
It is 30 years since Dundee United’s Uefa Cup quarter-final victory over Barcelona – and the reason for marking it now is the basic impossibity of it happening againOne of the nice things about paddling about in the vast sea of old football on the internet is the way everything remains the same in outline – flags, goals, grass, stands – but is also completely different: every surface made over and retouched, like the broom that changed its head and handle every six months for 30 years but somehow remains basically the same broom.Tommy Gemmell died this week aged 73 and will be remembered before Celtic’s match with St Mirren on Sunday. Looking back at his two European Cup finals with Celtic it is startling how alien but also familiar that lost world looks now with its square-cut wooden posts, wide open stands and leaping, skinny photographers in ties and suits. Gemmell himself looks modern, a beautifully light and limber footballer, skating across the mud to plant the ball into the bottom corner from pretty much the same spot, first in Lisbon in 1967 and then in defeat to Feyenoord at the San Siro three years later. Related: Tommy Gemmell, Celtic hero and ‘Lisbon Lion’, has died after a long illness Related: Mark Warburton carries the can for deeper malaise troubling Rangers | Ewan Murray Continue reading......read full article
