From the Kop to the Kelpies: The Alex Totten Story

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Also, the bizarre spat between tea lady Aggie Moffat and Souness warrants another airing and there was the pain of losing a cup semi final to Dundee United. But David Holmes took over and Graeme Souness came in. When I was there everybody, whether it was Davie Cooper or Ally McCoist, was on the same basic wage. But when Graeme came it changed and it became every man for himself. Terry Butcher and Chris Woods were two of his first signings. Get all the latest Sports news sent straight to your Inbox every day by signing up to our newsletter. I was on a coaching course in Largs two or three weeks before the final and I saw Tommy. He said ‘I told you’ so there were a lot of feelings and emotions at that time.

United were a really good team that year – the best of the rest in the league and they’d had a bit of success in the transfer market with players from Scandinavia.

Steven Hamilton: There was a lot of talk in the paper about their striker Derek Lilley getting a move down to England so I knew it would be a challenging game. It was a nice day down there and I remember I had a gash on my ankle and I wore these shin guards and they really hurt. When I went to Liverpool, Alex was at Everton by then and I couldn’t wait to play against him, albeit in the second team. He was a brilliant player and we became really good friends. It is the fifth in their history, and the fourth that he has been involved with. He was there as a young boy, taken by his grandfather and uncle, when Falkirk last won the cup in 1957. He managed the side in 1997, and he was a working for the club in a business role when they made the final again in 2009. It will certainly help Graeme having Jimmy Nicholl there. I’ve known Jimmy for years and years. He was a player at Rangers when I was assistant and he was at Falkirk before he moved to Rangers. He’ll keep Graeme right. He has all the experience in the world.”

It’s no wonder that those semi-final games remain so fondly in the memories of the manager, the team, and the fans to this day. Two inspiring performances that showed the spirit of Falkirk Football Club and a reminder of what they are capable of.But before the South Korea game, outside the dressing-room we noticed they had these big massive washing machines, like industrial ones. Read more: "West Brom were brilliant under Steve Clarke - even Romelu Lukaku was desperate to stay at The Hawthorns"​ Before the game, when we came out of the dressing room there were bubbles everywhere, about a billion of them. It was like a West Ham game! The result, ‘TOTTS: from the Kop to the Kelpies’ is just out and spans a career that took him from being a kid at Liverpool under Bill Shankly to a highly-successful managerial career in Scotland.

These were heady days for the men from the Fair City and chronicling all of them was my former colleague James Masson, who for 40 years covered Saints day in, day out for the Evening Telegraph. Alex was recently appointed Lifetime Ambassador for Falkirk FC and I know he will be around the Stadium going forward. Once we can all return to the Stadium, we will all have the chance to thank Alex and to wish him well.” Totten recalls the club’s negotiations with Soviet Union international Sergei Baltacha and Geoff Brown’s delight when he demanded a club car. Preferably a Lada! The programme will include action from both ties and feature exclusive interviews with Alex Totten and members of the 1997 team.As part of South Korea’s long-term bid to host the 2002 World Cup, they want to show FIFA they can put on a show. When consent is given to use the information for marketing and communication purposes it is used for the following reasons: So the Korea Cup is born. It would involve a mix of club sides and international teams and the organisers wanted a Scottish representative. Alex Burke loved to take people on while David Bagan was a really talented player, who would get the ball and try some fantastic passes. FALKIRK legend Alex Totten would’ve loved players like Craig Sibbald and Will Vaulks at the club when he was Bairns’ boss.

When the referee blew it was a strange feeling, we hadn’t been in a cup final for 40 years and we were actually through to the final. What a result! To go through there and beat an Old Firm team over two legs, I mean my god, it was a miracle to be honest with you.” We were going into the centre of Seoul. To this day I’ve no idea how we managed it because the taxi drivers couldn’t speak English. Totten parted company with St Johnstone 30 years ago, on December 14 1992, following a five-year spell in charge after being appointed by chairman Geoff Brown. Leading up to Falkirk’s glamorous semi-final match, manager Alex Totten and his squad were in high spirits, and quietly confident about the sizeable obstacle that now lay between them and the cup final.Alex Totten worked the St Johnstone miracle when he took the lower-league strugglers to the Premier League and three national cup semi-finals. Brown was enticed to the boardroom in May 1986 after Saints had played Queen of the South in front of just 364 fans and were 38th in the Scottish league. It was a matter that was set to rumble on until the day both Wattie and I appeared at Perth Sheriff Court in the town’s ‘celebrity trial of the year!”