John tamed Coop to help Diamonds lift Spring Cup
the prospect of league reconstruction in scotland throws up a number of potential problems.
Squabbling about the way ahead is already well underway.
Getting the right number of games in bigger divisions has long been a problem.
When the 10-team Premier Division was introduced in 1975, two lower leagues containing 14 clubs were formed.
They were only able to play 26 games over a season and that wasn’t enough.
A new competition – the Spring Cup – was created to make up the shortfall.
It didn’t prove to be a success and has only been played for once.
The early rounds, where seven sections of four teams met home and away, were poorly attended.
Crowds increased as the competition neared its climax and 8,000 turned up at Firhill to watch the Final between Airdrie and Clydebank.
The Diamonds’ full-back John Lapsley came up against a 20-year-old winger who was destined to become one of Scottish football’s greats.
But taming Davie Cooper didn’t daunt him – he’d already come up against some of the most skilful players the game had seen.
John recalled: “I joined Airdrie in 1971 and started playing in the reserves.
“Ian McMillan was the manager and he provided me with the best start I could have hoped for.
“He was a real gentleman but he wasn’t soft. I experienced the hard edge of his tongue.
“I kept away from him during training. I stayed firmly in the left-back position because I saw him tying other players in knots.
“Celtic’s Jimmy Johnstone was the best winger I came up against, but you could tell Davie Cooper was going to do big things.
“He played up against me on the right wing in the Spring Cup Final.
“It meant that when he turned outside, he was on my stronger foot. There was no chance of me doing much with my right.
“Cooper missed a penalty and we ended up winning 4-2 after extra time.
“Willie McCulloch scored twice, along with Tommy Walker and John McVeigh.
“The medal we got looks more impressive than the ones given for the Scottish Cup.”
John would rather have a winner’s medal for Scotland’s premier cup competition.
He played a massive part in getting Airdrie to the 1975 Scottish Cup Final.
“Scoring the winner in the semi-final replay against Motherwell was a great moment,” he said.
“Stewart Rennie was penalised for taking too many steps, the free-kick was squared to me and I hit it through several sets of legs.
“We lost the Final 3-1 to Celtic but it was a great experience to play in front of nearly 80,000 at Hampden.
“I was pushed further forward for the game. “We had already beaten Celtic in the league that season and were narrowly beaten by them in the League Cup semi-final.
“We also had victories home and away over Rangers.
“One of those came just a week before the Cup Final when they were celebrating stopping Celtic winning 10 titles-in-a-row.
“A performance like that might have won us the Cup. We played really well.”
Keen to return to the top flight, John signed for Partick Thistle in 1980.
After more than 50 games for the Jags, he sustained a serious knee injury while playing a reserve game for Ayr United.
That scuppered a permanent move to the Honest Men and, while trying to regain fitness, he then turned out for five clubs during 1983.
He retired after a season with Dunfermline and a few matches with Brechin City.
Now 68, John works in car sales for an Edinburgh garage.