From great games to the game's greats. If you have a query concerning Scottish football, this is the place to send it to. We'll answer as many as we can but regret that we cannot respond individually to requests. So bookmark this site and look in regularly as questions and answers are frequently updated.

Q Why SFAQs? What does that mean?

A FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) can be found on many websites, mostly relating to technical matters and SFA stands for (amongst other things) Scottish Football Association. So a neat amalgamation of acronyms gives us SFAQs which means Scottish Football Answers (to) Questions.

Q Davie Erskine's Hammers fan mate "wants to know if Allan Ferguson is any relation to the Bobby Ferguson who played in goals for Scotland and West Ham in the 70's?"

A It's not likely but there have been so many Fergusons in Scottish football over the years that there's always the possibility of a distant relationship.

Ardrossan-born Bobby Ferguson was transferred from Kilmarnock to West Ham in May 1967 for £65,000 - then a world record fee for a goalkeeper. After leaving the Hammers in 1981 he emigrated to Australia.

Allan Ferguson, also a goalkeeper, who has played for Hamilton, St Johnstone, Airdrie and currently Falkirk was born in Lanark in 1969 by which time Bobby has been in London a couple of years.

Incidentally, Bobby Ferguson didn't play for Scotland while with West Ham. His seven caps all came during his time at Rugby Park and all were before his 22nd birthday.

Q James Brown has a dispute to settle with his mate over who the Meadowbank mamager was when they entered the League. "He says it was Terry Christie but I reckon he could only have been in his mid-20s then."

A John Bain was the manager when Ferranti Thistle changed their name to Meadowbank when they joined the League in 1974 (not 1975 as in your query). He was succeeded by Alec Ness and Willie McFarlane before the duffel-coated one took over in 1981.

Q Serious Tiger asks: "Why wasn't Tommy Coyne capped for Scotland? Did he refuse to play for Scotland or was he just ignored? Had he played at under-21 for Ireland?"

A I don't think he was ever asked so a refusal appears unlikely. Nor did he represent the Irish at U-21. Coyne simply had the misfortune to be around at the same time as Kenny Dalglish, Andy Gray, Ally McCoist, Mo Johnston, Gordon Durie, John Robertson, Kevin Gallacher, Charlie Nicholas, Stevie Archibald, Mark McGhee, Paul Sturrock, Davie Dodds, Graeme Sharp, Frank McAvennie, Alan McInally and Robert Fleck - all of whose careers overlapped with Tommy's.

Jack Charlton was ruthlessly exploiting the 'granny' rule for Ireland so he bagged Coyne (and other Scots like Ray Houghton and Bernie Slaven) for the Irish. He was already 29 by the time he made his Ireland debut against Switzerland in 1992 so it was fairly clear that waiting for Andy Roxburgh to call was a pointless exercise.

He went on to play 22 times for Ireland scoring six goals. His last appearance was as a substitute against Belgium in a World Cup play-off match in October 1997, just sixteen days short of his 35th birthday.

For old SFAQs click here

Q James Brockie asks: "How many Scots have won a European Cup medal?"

A I assume you mean winners medals James.In which case the answer is 25. Messrs Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox all did so as the Celtic team which beat Inter Milan in the 1967 Final. They were joined the following year by ex-Celt Pat Crerand who was in Man Utd's winning eleven. There were no Scots in the Liverpool team that won in 1977 but that lapse was redeemed the next season when Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish all played when the Reds retained the trophy and they were all also in the winning teams of 1981 and 1984.

Nottingham Forest won two successive European Cups in 1979 and 1980 with Kenny Burns,John McGovern and John Robertson playing in both Finals while Frank Gray and John O'Hare (as a substitute) made appearances in the second triumph.

The Aston Villa team that won in 1982 contained the Scots trio of Allan Evans, Ken McNaught and Des Bremner and when Liverpool took their fourth crown in 1984 Stevie Nicol came on as a substitute to join the aforementioned three Anfield Scots. Most recent Scot to win the honour was Paul Lambert in the Borussia Dortmund side of 1997.

Q Davie Erskine asks: "What is the biggest crowd ever to watch a match with Falkirk?"

A There are three pretty close together - all in the Scottish Cup. On March 9th 1927 the Bairns recorded a famous 1-0 victory in a quarter-final replay against Rangers at Ibrox. The crowd was an estimated 80,000. Estimates though are notoriously unreliable. The Cup Final replay on April 24th 1957 at Hampden when Falkirk robbed - sorry, beat - Kilmarnock 2-1 was watched by 79,960.

But the first match, four days previously, had an attendance of 81,375. That's the highest recorded figure for any Falkirk match

Q Marlene Kellie wants to know: "When did Johnnie Hamilton sign for Glasgow Rangers and how long was he at Ibrox?"

A Hamilton was signed on a free transfer from Hibs in May 1973. He was at Ibrox for five full seasons being released on another free in the summer of 1978. Although never a regular he played 77 times for Rangers in first-class competition (59 League, 11 Cup, 6 League Cup and once in Europe) scoring eight goals (five League, two Cup, one League Cup).

He made his debut, coming on as a substitute at Parkhead in a League match in January 1974 which Rangers lost 1-0. His final appearance was also as a substitute in a 2-0 League win at Clydebank in April 1978. The bulk of his appearances came in the 1975-76 and 76-77 seasons and he won both League Championship and Scottish Cup winner's medals in 1976. He completed the domestic honours set with a League Cup winner's medal in 1977-78.