£'s £'s £'s £'s
ALAN G. McGARVIE
ACCOUNTANT
Starting in business?
Tax problems?
VAT returns overdue?
Will I get a grant?
Contact:
Alan G. McGarvie
Bothwell 853010
PAID FOR
FOOTBALL PROGRAMMES,
BOOKS, HANDBOOKS
ETC. TEL.
041-632-6716 after 6pm
when they outfought and outclassed
Tottenham in the FA Cup Final that
brought down the curtain on a high
note.
I made the point this time last year
that the Sky Blues were one of a hand
ful of sides without any Scots on the
playing staff. But that changed
recently with the £750,000 acquisi
tion of striker David Speedie, who
fell out with Chelsea last year and
actually predicted his transfer when
he said: "I'm being sent to Coventry."
Speedie, who felt he had a raw deal
when he was excluded from
Scotland's squad for last year's World
Cup Finals in Mexico after claiming
he'd been given a verbal assurance
that his ticket was booked, has been
in cold storage for too long and is
rightly determined to show he's lost
none of his old sharpness where it
matters most, in front of goal.
Coventry also have plenty to prove.
The Speedie deal, financed by their
FA Cup success which sparked off
unprecedented demand for season
tickets, shows they mean business.
As manager John Sillett put it: "For
years we've done our shopping at
Woolworths and now we're going to
Harrods."
The names might not be instantly
recognisable but there's no lack of
quality at Highfield Road - and their
incredible team spirit won't be bet
tered anywhere in the country. With
Speedie in their ranks, desperate to
strike up a winning partnership with
big Cyrille Regis, I fancy them to
build on last season's success
without quite reaching the Cham
pionship heights.
So what of Everton? Under new
management with Colin Harvey at
the helm to replace Howard Kendall,
who left in search of Spanish gold
with Athletic Bilbao, they deserve to
figure high in the betting.
There's an amazing wealth of talent
at Goodison Park, so much so that I
believe their second string would
have a better chance of winning
prizes than some of the sides I could
name.
I noticed Newcastle made a rather
cheeky bid to lure Graeme Sharp to
Tyneside but new boss Harvey of
fered not the slightest encourage
ment. By the time you read this,
however, I wouldn't be surprised if
the Geordies have spent a large
chunk of the Beardsley money.
They expressed an interest in
Speedie and without Beardsley to
bolster their attack it's not difficult to
diagnose their main problem area.
Newcastle have been big spenders
in Scotland before and they might try
again.
Beardsley's eventual arrival on
Merseyside created a new British
transfer record and while spiralling
fees aren't necessarily good for the
game, at least the money is cir
culating within this country and a
player who might easily have been
tempted to join the star trek to the
continent still belongs to the Football
League.
Liverpool, Spurs, Everton, Man
chester United, oh I almost forgot
Arsenal where Charlie Nicholas has
signed a new one-year deal and has
been told by fellow-Scot, manager
George Graham, that more is ex
pected of him in the months ahead.
Sharp - No move yet!
LAiRGE SELECTION OF
PROGRAMMES ON DISPLAY
AT THE RANGERS SHOP
1ST TEAM GAMES ONLY.
SEND S.A.E. FOR DETAILS OF
RANGERS' AWAY
PROGRAMME SUBSCRIPTION
SERVICE.
AVAILABLE FOR
PRIVATE GROUP HIRE
GLASGOW ROAD
CAMBUSLANG
Tel: 041-641 0921
OPENING HOURS
10am to 8pm
DAILY
