Steve Archibald recalls 'fantastic' Aberdeen partnership and bringing Barcelona experience to Hibs

Although it would sometimes prove a tough testing ground for the striker, Steve Archibald remembers his playing days in Scottish football with a great deal of affection.

Scottish football in turn has a lot of time for this singular and often hard-to-read character.

Now 65, he returns to his homeland next week for An Audience With events relating to three of his 14 (count ‘em) former clubs – Hibs, Aberdeen and East Fife. The latter is already sold out.

It’s 15 clubs if you include a trial match for East Stirlingshire after which he declined to sign because their hooped socks made him feel clumsy.

“My heart’s in Scotland, that’s all I can say, in footballing terms,” the much travelled and still Barcelona-based striker says.

We’ll look after you, Archibald, Archibald, as the old song went. Although we didn’t. Not always. Archibald was once an apprentice motor mechanic learning his other trade at Clyde. It was a tough school. A midfielder at the time, he made it known that he was having trouble perfecting the art of jumping to head the ball.

“Willie McVie, the centre-back, played at that time,” Archibald recalls. “He was a big guy. Tough. Dirty.

“He used to call me Ginge. He said, ‘Ginge, come on I’ll show you how to jump for the ball.’ We were behind the goals and there was only one floodlight on. Raining. Mud. He said, ‘Ginge why don’t I throw this up and you jump, and I’ll jump with you and I’ll show you how to jump for a ball.’

“So he throws this ball up, and we jump, and he smashes me right across the face. I’m lying in the mud and I swear to God, I thought my jaw was broken. He looked down and he said, ‘Ginge, that’s how you jump for a ball.’”

It stood him in good stead for encounters with such renowned hard men as