The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Forfar’ s heroes of 1984 ready for big Station Park day
Forfar Athletic’s greatest-ever side will be reunited in front of a Station Park crowd early next month.
Forty years ago former Dundee United and Rangers defender Doug Houston led the Loons to a recordbreaking Second Division title – the Angus side’s first league title.
Houston will be joined by his assistant, St Johnstone legend Henry Hall, and no fewer than 13 members of that famous titlewinning squad in returning to Station Park on April 6 to mark their historic success.
The management team and players will be in attendance as Ray Mckinnon’s current Forfar outfit take on Dumbarton as they continue their bid to climb League 2.
The 1984 squad clinched the old Second Division title with six games still to play, beating Stranraer 5-3 in a thrilling game played in front of a 2,142 crowd on April 7.
The Loons had actually clinched promotion a week earlier after beating Stenhousemuir 4-0 at Ochilview.
They went on to win five of their remaining six fixtures to end up with a then-record 63 points, losing only three league games all season.
Joining Houston and Hall at Station Park for the Dumbarton clash will be captain Ian Mcphee, who made more than 530 appearances for the Loons and later spent four years as manager, along with Billy
Bennett, Kenny Brown, John Clark, Billy Gallacher, Gordon Leitch, Jimmy Liddle, Raymond Lorimer, Kenny Macdonald, Rab Morris, Ronnie Scott, Phil Smith and John Weir.
This group of famous Loons made nearly 3,500 appearances in the sky blue shirt in competitive games.
If you add on the appearances of a handful of others within the class of 84 who cannot make it along on the day, that figure rises well beyond the 4,000 mark.
The squad was also full of goals. Mcdonald, who would go on to play for St Johnstone, Raith Rovers and Arbroath, netted 91 times in 180 starting appearances, while Liddle contributed 48 goals in 115 games.
Both were superseded by Clark, who scored a club record 127 times in more than 450 games.
The title-winning squad are a tight-knit group and meet up on a reasonably regular basis.
They were an integral part of a larger group of former Forfar players who held a get-together in Broughty Ferry a few years ago and a golf day in Perth last summer.
Quite a few were also in attendance at honorary life president David Mcgregor’s recent dinner in the Reid Hall.
A few of the players will also head back to the appropriately named 1984 Lounge to meet with the fans both before kick-off and after the final whistle.