MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 3.3.1979

Lou Macari is the cover star of this edition of Shoot, which features action from the recent European Championship Qualifier between England and Northern Ireland.

As you open the magazine, there is a double page spread assessing West Brom’s chances of winning the title, canvassing players from three rival clubs.

Martin Dobson of Everton says they won’t, while Ian Wallace (Coventry City) and Viv Anderson (Nottingham Forest) say they can. Dobson would be proved right.

In news, Liverpool are adding extra seats at Anfield, while Warren Feeney scored twice for Linfield against his former club Glentoran.

Ray Clemence uses his column to comment on the modern game, that defenders need to make their contribution in the goalscoring department.

Jim McCalliog is interviewed about football in the USA having recently played there, declaring it to be 4th Division standard and not recommending it for English players.

England’s recent 4-0 win over Northern Ireland gets four pages of coverage, with England manager Ron Greenwood still considering Northern Ireland to be a danger to his side’s chances of qualifying.

Elsewhere, there was a full page asking if the England team is too old.

In foreign news, France are in danger of not reaching Euro 80, and some fans are calling for a change in manager.

Elswehere, Dino Zoff is interviewed and states that he has no plans to retire. Good choice, ad he won the World Cup in 1982.

QPR are the subjects of this week’s Club Spotlight, including a centre page poster.

Gordon Hill uses his column to discuss the PFA Player Of The Year Award, stating that he has voted for Garry Birtles as Young Player Of The Year.

Ahead of the Tyne/Wear Derby, John Bird and Mike Docherty preview it. Sunderland won the game 4-1 but neither side ended up winning promotion that season.

With the 1980s approaching, Danny McGrain uses his column to look back at Scottish football stars of the 1960s.

Staying in Scotland, Shoot does a two page feature asking if English clubs are exploiting the Scottish transfer market to sign players for bargain prices.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 10.2.1979

Terry Butcher and Frank Worthington are the cover stars of Shoot, in a week that sees England, Scotland and Northern Ireland playing European Championship Qualifiers, with England facing Northern Ireland at Wembley.

That match gets a double page feature as you open the magazine.

Brian Talbot might have just signed for Arsenal, but he says he still supports his former club Ipswich Town.

Ray Clemence uses his column to declare that West Bromwich Albion are Liverpool’s biggest rivals for the title.

Emlyn Hughes of Liverpool tells Shoot that he is at a crossroads in his career, as he looks to recover from injury.

Mick Mills of Ipswich Town has a revolutionary plan for the future of English football – A Winter break and reduction of the top two divisions to 16 clubs each.

Nottingham Forest are the subject of this week’s Club Spotlight, having won the title in 1978. They are described as “History makers”, and the day before the publication date, they signed Trevor Francis from Birmingham City, Britain’s first million pound transfer.

Watford have reached the Semi-Finals of the League Cup, and manager Graham Taylor says this was no shock to him.

In foreign news, Argentina star Rene Houseman tells Shoot of his dismay after a move to Middlesbrough fell through.

Cover star Frank Worthington is being nominated for a place in the England team by his Bolton team-mat Willie Morgan.

The magazine ends with Derek Johnstone’s column, as he gets ready for big European games at club and international level – A European Cup Quarter-Final for Rangers against Koln, and a European Championship Qualifier for Scotland against Belgium.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 20.10.1979

Allan Hunter and Mick Mills of Ipswich Town, dressed in their respective national kits, are the cover stars of this edition of Shoot. That can only mean one thing, England are playing Northern Ireland. It’s not a Home International game, but on a continent wide scale, a European Championsip Qualifier at Windsor Park.

Mills and Hunter get a joint interview in Shoot’s preview.

Shoot do a feature on soldiers in Belfast who’ll be guarding the England team.

The feature reveals that, despite a lot of them being football fanatics, they’re not allowed to attend Irish League games when in civilian clothes due to security fears.

As well as England and Northern Ireland, there are also previews of Republic Of Ireland, Wales and Scotland’s European Championship Qualifiers.

Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson expressed his frustration at a League Cup defeat away to Arbroath. Fortunately for them, a comfortable first leg win saw them go through.

As well as winning the European Cup on the field, Nottingham Forest were celebrating after being voted European Team Of The Year by France Football magazine.

Wolves get a profile by Shoot, with the headline “Wolves Are Biting Again”, and so it briefly proved, as they won the League Cup that season. The rest of the decade wasn’t as good for Wolves.

In Northern Ireland, Portadown defender Herbie Pearson fears his career could be over, while QPR saw off competition from Manchester United and Everton to sign Northern Ireland Schoolboy international Alan McDonald, while Bobby Carlisle has signed for Newry Town, who have ambitions of joining Northern Ireland’s top flight.

Gordon McQueen uses his column to describe Scotland’s European Championship Qualifier against Austria as “Win or bust”

The draw for the 1982 World Cup is coming up soon, and Shoot previews this and how it will be decided, as this is the first 24 team World Cup. Shoot writes that there is a possibility of two UK teams being paired together, and so it proved, when Scotland and Northern Ireland were paired in the same group.

In ads, Phil Neal is advertising Gola.

Derek Johnstone uses his column to deny he had a punch-up with Scotland manager Ally McLeod.

Meanwhile, teenage defender Tommy Caton is juggling playing for Manchester City with his studies. He is interviewed by Shoot and says he is yet to face his biggest footballing examination, a match against Joe Jordan.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 3.5.1980

The first tournament of the 1980s is approaching, Euro 80, and Shoot is attempting to do Ron Greenwood’s job for him by picking the England squad for this tournament.

Shoot gives a double page spread to this, with their selection, and the reasons for their selection.

While England’s players are heading to Italy, Ipswich Town’s players are heading to Hungary to appear in a film called Escape To Victory

In other news, Billy Humphries was considering making a comeback for Ards at the age of 42, while Aston Villa were keen on signing Mick Ferguson from Coventry.

In letters, Stephen Cochrane from Hartlepool writes in to suggest his local side will be a top flight club by 1987.

Scotland are also in international action, and Derek Johnstone uses his column to write about his hopes for an international. With Scotland not going to the European Championship, he can’t resist a dig at England by writing that this is how they must have felt sitting at home watching Scotland at the 1974 and 1978 World Cups.

Shoot interviews Manchester born pop star Andy Gibb about his love of Manchester United, saying that George Best was his hero. He supports United, but wants City to do well. In the interview, he says he doesn’t get to Old Trafford often, but visits Vicarage Road to see his local team Watford.

Gibb also reveals he has football matches in his local park with his three elder brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin (That’s the Bee Gees, by the way) who he describes as “Soccer mad”, which are videotaped, then they watch back when they get home.

West Germany captain Bernard Dietz gets a double page interview, where he states that England can win the competition. They were eliminated in the group stage while West Germany won the competition.

A possible future domestic opponent of Bernard Dietz is Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott, who tells Shoot he is considering a move to a West German club.

Terry Venables uses his column to declare that players who do cynical fouls will never prosper in football.

As part of their build-up to Euro 80, Shoot looks at previous European Championships. This week, they look back at Euro 72.

In ads, Admiral take out a full page for their England kit and tracksuit range. One of the tracksuits is modelled by Trevor Francis. It’s unknown if it was purchased in Shepherd’s Bush.

Alan Hansen gets a full page profile where he reveals his favourite music is Billy Joel, and The Commodores, while his favourite other team is Manchester United.

In transfer news, Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders was fuming after Everton hijacked their bid to sign Dumbarton’s striker Graeme Sharp after they had agreed a fee with the Scottish club.

Shoot does a feature on Grimsby winger Mike Brolly, complete with a picture of him holding a brolly.

In other ads, there is an advert for a free Euro 80 sticker album, but not in Shoot, in two other publications – Roy Of The Rovers, and Tiger.

There is a poster of Celtic players and manager Billy McNeill celebrating winning the 1980 league title. They would soon look stupid as it was Aberdeen who claimed the trophy that season.

In international news, Bobby Robson is wanted by Barcelona to be their new manager. It would eventually take him 16 years to get the job. Meanwhile, one Spanish newspaper had a leftfield candidate for the post, Ian Paisley. It was a printing error as they got him confused with Liverpool manager Bob Paisley.

Andy Gray uses his column to suggest that there should be full-time referees in football.

The magazine ends on the back page with a poster of John Toshack in his Wales kit.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 27.5.1978

World Cup fever is in full swing as this week’s edition of Shoot comes with a free wallchart.

As you open the magazine, there is a double page spread of the marksmen leading the line for each team, with Kenny Dalglish being the player profiled for Scotland.

Ray Clemence uses his column to express his desire to play against Scotland – as it was his mistake in 1976 that won the game for Scotland the last time England played at Hampden Park.

With all the coverage of England and Scotland, Wales fans weren’t ignored, as their team got a full page poster.

The rise of Nottingham Forest from a hopeless second tier team under Brian Clough to league champions gets four pages, including a centre page poster.

A combination of big spending on transfers and ground improvements has seen season ticket prices at Manchester United for 1978-1979 would cost you a whopping £45.

Love was in the air for Blackpool’s Brian Wilson, who got engaged to Anne Nolan, of popular singing group The Nolan Sisters.

One of the teams he found face that summer would be Cliftonville, who had announced a short tour of England to face Blackpool and Southport.

Derek Dougan made a visit to his native Belfast to present Linfield’s Jimmy Martin with the Footballer Of The Year Award.

Though the World Cup is close, the qualifying for Euro 1980 was closer, as Republic Of Ireland are in Copenhagen for their opening qualifier. Shoot gives this a full page preview.

Shoot goes big on Scotland, with various adverts for World Cup related merchandise including the replica kit, and a special Shoot edition solely focusing on Scotland, previewing their games in Argentina.

MAGAZINE ARCHIVE : SHOOT – 8.9.1979

Joe Jordan of Manchester United is the cover star of Shoot, which had free Team Tabs of England’s 3rd and 4th divisions, which completed the set, enabling you to track teams progress during the 1979-1980 season.

There is a full page dedicated to the qualifiers for Euro 1980, resuming after a summer break. The headline, listed all the group leaders.

They got one spectacularly wrong, having proclaimed Portugal as on their way to Italy. It was Belgium, lying 4th out of 5th, 3 points behind the Portugese (in the era of 2 points for a win) who had a late surge to win the group. Belgium went on the reach the final in Italy.

Ray Clemence’s column sees him talk about veterans he admires, picking out Alan Ball, a World Cup winner in 1966, still playing in the top flight (for Southampton) as the 1980s approached.

In competitions, readers had the opportunity to win a “Referee’s Watch”, if you were that way inclined.

There was a colour photo (A lot of the printing in 1979 was in black/white) dedicated to top flight footballers such as Gordon Hill, Gary Owen, Brian Talbot and Mick Channon taking part in Footballers v Athletes episode of Superstars

There is a profle of West Ham goalkeeper Phil Parkes. If you’re interested, his favourite singers are Johnny Mathis, Rita Coolidge and Bee Gees.

In adverts, Bob Paisley advertises Gola trainers with the headline “Having talent is only half the story”

In posters, there was a colour poster of Charlton Athletic.