Thoughts Of Cup Final Hero Jimmy Mac

FA Cup final day is special to Jim McCalliog. How can it not be? He played and scored in one final, then made the winning goal in another ten years later.

And it feels opportune to be trying to do him a good favour on the 45th anniversary of his last but one Wembley appearance.

We have told our readers before of the hotel he and wife Debbie run at Fenwick near the Ayrshire coast and now is as good a time as any to try to give them a helping hand at the end of an extremely trying 15 months.

“For one reason and another, we have just missed out on one or two bits of support or help we asked about,” Jim said this afternoon. “We didn’t receive a penny until this April.

“I have also had to stop my events business because arranging gatherings at football clubs and other venues hasn’t been allowed, so it has been a tough year or more.

“We had to cancel a hell of a lot of bookings at the hotel last year but have been open again since Monday, which feels wonderful.

“We are hoping business picks up well in the coming weeks and we see a good number of visitors to our lovely corner of Scotland.”

Wolves Heroes plans to make a visit in the coming months and hope some of our readers – maybe unwilling or unable to travel abroad – will consider the award-winning Langside Bed & Breakfast establishment if they are heading north across the border.

McCalliog has developed a huge Facebook following over the last couple of years and is currently putting the finishing touches to his autobiography; neither fact is surprising for someone with as many tales to tell as he has.

As well as winning the Cup with Southampton and losing a final with Sheffield Wednesday, he skippered Wolves in a European final and scored a winning goal against World Cup holders England at Wembley.

Oh…..and we spoke at the top of this story about another appearance at the twin towers since he laid on Bobby Stokes’ winner for Second Division Southampton against Manchester United in 1976. He returned there a few weeks later for the Charity Shield game against Liverpool.

We took a chance by ringing Jim this afternoon on Cup Final day and were flattered he turned off the TV preview to chat to us. So who does he want to win? “Well, I played for Chelsea, so I should go for them – but don’t tell the Chelsea fans if I say it would be nice for Leicester to win it for the first time,” he said.