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ABOUT THIS BOOK

PUBLISHER: Birlinn General

FORMAT: Paperback / softback

ISBN: 9781913759032

RRP: £14.99

PAGES: 288

PUBLICATION DATE:
May 5, 2022

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The Road to Barcelona: The Glory of 72 and My Life in Football

Dave Smith

Paul Smith

On 24 May 2022 the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest moments in the glittering history of Rangers Football Club will be marked. The triumph in the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Barcelona remains the Ibrox side’s one and only continental success, an honour that helped establish Rangers among the world’s elite.Dave Smith was a star of the the final in 1972, creating two of the three goals on the night in a season in which he was named player of the year by the Scottish Football Writers’ Association. He had suffered the pain of defeat in 1967, when Rangers were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich in the final of the same competition, and the agony of two broken legs in the interim period.With grit and determination, he fought back to play a key role in Rangers’ greatest night. Through The Road to Barcelona he recounts the inside story of the run to glory and the band of brothers who came together, as well as the path that led him to Ibrox and the real story of the conflict that led to his premature departure.

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Dave Smith

Dave Smith played more than 300 games for Rangers in an Ibrox career spanning eight years, having launched his career with hometown club Aberdeen in the early 1960s. Capped twice by Scotland and having captained Rangers, he went on to play in South Africa and the USA, as well as managing in Scottish league and non-league football.Paul Smith is an established non-fiction author, with 18 titles for a range of publishers including Black and White, Birlinn, Mainstream and Pitch. A former journalist, including more than eight years as a sports-writer regionally and nationally, he has worked in communications and media for more than 25 years.