Life of Reilly
As a teenage schoolboy living in England and a fanatical Scotland fan I was desperate to go to Wembley in 1955.
Greatly daring and cheekily I wrote to my hero – “Dear Mr Reilly” – asking if there was any chance of him getting me a ticket.
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Hide AdI received a reply back by return handwritten (how else in those days) saying how sorry he was not to oblige since he only received two tickets. However he hoped that one day I would be playing for Scotland. Unfortunately the talent scouts never spotted me as a student in the Glasgow Colleges League but I did get a chance in the 1970s to play against some of his international successors in a charity match in Paisley. Perhaps he did me a favour. The score at Wembley was 7-2 to England but characteristically Reilly scored for us.
A memory of a kind man and a great football player.
(Rev Dr) Iain Whyte
Carlingnose Point
North Queensferry, Fife