Pub landlord outbid Rod Stewart and 007 for Hampden goalposts

THE colourful story of the old Hampden square-shaped goalposts continues to captivate those who once savoured their graceful design. Now it can be revealed that the famous old posts once stood on the roof of an English pub before ending up back in a storeroom at Hampden Park, where they are reported to have become the object of St Etienne’s affections.

The club count themselves among those enamoured with the posts, despite their insistence that the shape of the Hampden crossbar prevented them becoming champions of Europe in 1976. The French side scorned the old-style posts after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final. Twice they saw efforts hit the bar and, they argue to this day, at least one of these attempts would have gone in had the posts been a more conventional round-shape.

The Scotsman reported earlier this week on St Etienne’s hopes of obtaining the goalposts to exhibit in the club’s museum. They had heard of their rather sad fate. No longer do they stand imperiously at each end of Hampden, as they did between 1904 and 1987. These days they are currently gathering dust in an old storeroom at the stadium, having been loaned back to the Scottish Football Association in 2000 after an ignominious 13-year spell in Worcestershire.

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It has been discovered that a set of posts were once nailed to the gable end of what was then known as the Farmer’s Boy pub in Kidderminster. The bar is now a veterinary surgeon, where a slightly puzzled receptionist yesterday fielded a call from a Scottish journalist wondering whether she had seen a set of old goalposts anywhere. “The surgery been here about eight years,” she said. “I don’t know anything about any goalposts. Maybe you should ask at the Railway Bell, the pub across the way.”

This turned out to be a fruitful suggestion. The Railway Bell’s last-but-one owner is an exiled Scot called Bill Campbell, who once also owned The Farmer’s Boy. He fronted a consortium that, for once, did not try and buy Rangers. Instead, they pushed the boat out to purchase the old Hampden posts when they were auctioned for sale before the Scotland v England fixture in May 1987, after Fifa outlawed the use of square-shaped wooden posts.

Earlier that month notification of their impdending sale was posted in a national newspaper. It read: “On the instructions of the Queen’s Park Football Club, the Auctioneers will sell by public Auction ‘the Hampden Goalposts’ at Hampen Park, on Saturday 23rd May, this being the date of the Scotland v England international. The goalposts will be sold on the pitch at 1.30pm and interested parties who wish to be present at the Auction must apply to Q.P.F.C or the Auctioneers for an admission card, price £5.”

On top of this sum, the 11-strong consortium, only two of whom were Scottish, had to pay another £6,200 to purchase the iconic objects. It was reported that they out-bid both Rod Stewart and Sean Connery. The cheque was handed over to Peter Buchanan, past president of Queen’s Park, before kick-off in the Rous Cup match, which finished in a goal-less draw. “After the auction I couldn’t believe what I had done,” said Campbell, in an interview with The Scotsman at the time. “It went straight over my head. It wasn’t until the next day that it sank in. Naturally, my English bank manager thought I was crazy, but the English don’t appreciate these things, do they?”

The Scotsman reported that the Scot hoped to erect the posts on the flat roof of his pub, “but if that is not allowed he will put them in the pub car park”. Campbell felt torn about taking them away from Scotland. “We’ll drink champagne to celebrate having got the posts, then whisky to drown our sorrows at them leaving Scotland,” he said.

Fortunately, the posts found their way back to Hampden, having been loaned to the museum by Campbell. However, their travels might not be at an end. St Etienne’s bid has now become a more formal approach, with museum curator Richard McBrearty having received a letter from a club official, who once studied at Heriot Watt university in Edinburgh. Now he wants something else to remember Scotland by.

“St Etienne are quite serious about it,” said McBrearty. “We will be contacting the owners of the posts to inform them that there has been an official approach from another museum.”

The Hampden museum had planned on loaning on at least one set of goals to the Kelvingrove museum in Glasgow, for a forthcoming exhibition on the narrow margins between sporting success and failure. First, however, they will need to make contact with Campbell, the man whose claim to fame is not having had some flash celebrity in the back of his cab. Rather more implausibly, he can boast of once having had the old Hampden goalposts on the roof of his pub.

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