Adventures in the Golden Age
04 September 2025Imprint: Black & White Publishing
Synopsis
The enthralling inside story of Scottish football's golden age
Over 25 years have passed since Scotland last qualified for the World Cup Finals in 1998. It's been a long wait, but with qualification for the last two Euro Championship finals, and reaching the play-offs in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, recent years have offered a glimmer of hope. As the 2026 World Cup qualifiers approach, could the long wait finally be over?
Qualification has never been easy, but the golden age of many memorable and nail-biting nights is well worth remembering - in the hope that one day they may come again. Archie Macpherson commentated on all 18 of Scotland's World Cup matches during that purple patch from 1974 to 1998, and now in his Adventures in the Golden Age, he tells the story of the matches and the men that raised and dashed hopes in almost equal measure at the greatest tournament on earth.
Between the 1974 clash with Zaire and the defeat against Morocco in 1998, there were adventures against Iran, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil and many others. And, throughout it all, Archie was the voice of Scottish football. He knew the players, the managers and the fans. He witnessed clashes of personality, managerial rages, nocturnal antics, BBC wranglings, the shadiness of FIFA - and that last painful evening in France.
Archie Macpherson's World Cup adventures are brilliantly entertaining, capturing a golden age in Scottish football that may never be seen again.
Over 25 years have passed since Scotland last qualified for the World Cup Finals in 1998. It's been a long wait, but with qualification for the last two Euro Championship finals, and reaching the play-offs in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, recent years have offered a glimmer of hope. As the 2026 World Cup qualifiers approach, could the long wait finally be over?
Qualification has never been easy, but the golden age of many memorable and nail-biting nights is well worth remembering - in the hope that one day they may come again. Archie Macpherson commentated on all 18 of Scotland's World Cup matches during that purple patch from 1974 to 1998, and now in his Adventures in the Golden Age, he tells the story of the matches and the men that raised and dashed hopes in almost equal measure at the greatest tournament on earth.
Between the 1974 clash with Zaire and the defeat against Morocco in 1998, there were adventures against Iran, Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil and many others. And, throughout it all, Archie was the voice of Scottish football. He knew the players, the managers and the fans. He witnessed clashes of personality, managerial rages, nocturnal antics, BBC wranglings, the shadiness of FIFA - and that last painful evening in France.
Archie Macpherson's World Cup adventures are brilliantly entertaining, capturing a golden age in Scottish football that may never be seen again.
Details
04 September 2025400 pages
9781785308642Imprint: Black & White Publishing
Reviews
'Archie Macpherson is the most eloquent, persuasive and informed witness . . . it serves as wonderful history, breathing life into matches and tournaments that seem to have been buried under decades of comment.'The Herald
