Former Glasgow Warriors player Finlay Gillies remembers death of his jockey brother Campbell
First appeared in The Herald, March 15, 2016 Riding out almost done . . . one at Hexham today . . . then Kavos tomorrow #boom TWENTY-FOUR hours after Campbell Gillies wrote the above sentence on Twitter, he was dead. The 21-year-old, Scotland’s most promising National Hunt jockey in a generation, had travelled to the…
Gaizka Mendieta reflects on his famous night at Ibrox on way to Champions League final
First published in The Herald, June 6, 2020 Gaizka Mendieta spends so much of his time looking forwards, that it almost seems an imposition to ask him to cast his glance back the way. As a DJ, restaurateur, broadcaster and recent graduate from a UEFA course in football administration, his diary has never been fuller. He likes…
Former Linfield man Paul McAreavey on the blurred battle lines of Belfast
First published in The Herald, June 25, 2017 Paul McAreavey is recalling a harrowing tale of life growing up in Belfast at the height of the Troubles. Aged nine, he was sitting in his living room when he heard shots fired from outside. His father Danny, an avid reader, had just left to pick up…
The Carfin Emeralds: How Celtic players in disguises won the day for a Lanarkshire church
Published in The Herald, April 25, 2020 Anyone who hears the tale agrees it should be made into a film. It could well be, soon enough. The script needs little in the way of embellishment. It’s 1964. Moville and Buncrana are in the midst of an arms race. The neighbouring Donegal towns are making preparations for…
Baby steps into the unknown
Published in The Herald, May 27, 2017 David Clarkson’s Motherwell jersey from the 2007/2008 season hangs on the wall at the far end of his hallway. It is the shirt that has Phil O’Donnell’s autograph embroidered into the chest. Its presence there has a simultaneous purpose. It is a memorial to his uncle who died…
Football Memories
It wasn’t meant to be like that. Looking back, though, it was inevitable. I’d supported Glentoran all my life, as had my brother Chris. We were simply following the lead of my father, as young boys do, by supporting the club he had grown up watching. So when Trevor Anderson, the then manager of Glentoran’s…
James Morgan 