shull Posted December 14, 2015 Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 Just heard an interview with Agent Orange on Radio Scotland. Misjudged him in the past. What a top class guy. Thoroughly enjoyed his chat there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 16, 2015 Report Share Posted December 16, 2015 One of my favourite characters in the game in the 80s too. My Grandfather knew him for some reason so he was helping me out at one point in my youth. But my favourite one was the day I saw him in Domestic Arrivals at Glasgow Airport. He was strutting around with one of those massive mobile phone things back then, you know the ones that came with a backpack for a battery. He was shouting really loudly at someone demanding security come to the gate as soon as possible because he had a massive star coming through and he needed help to hold back the crowds. When he started there were none, but as he went on more and more people gathered to watch. I was waiting on my then girlfriend finishing her shift at the old Sky Shop and was playing on one of the computer games close by. Anyway the whole display was brilliant - I'm not even sure he was actually talking to someone on the other end of the phone but he gathered a massive crowd. Anyway before the "star" came through my girlfriend finished her shift and we left the building to go home. As we passed the old taxi rank to the right of the main building there was a bit of a commotion. A large black car with blacked out windows pulled up and from a kind of turnstyle behind us came through Maurice Johnston with some burly guy next to him, and some airport staff. The door opened and I was certain I saw Graeme Souness in the car, and Johnston got in and they drove off. Shortly after we passed the same car in Hillington Estate. The boot was open and Johnston appeared to be getting in. It looked strange. Anyway days later the news broke that Rangers had signed Maurice Johnston from under the noses of Celtic and years later Johnston wrote about how he passed through the crowds at Ibrox in the boot of a car. My guess was that McMurdo was drawing a crowd in the airport to divert as much attention as he could from the gate outside. It still makes me chuckle remembering him on that phone. Brilliant performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottd Posted December 16, 2015 Report Share Posted December 16, 2015 Don't know if he still is but McMurdo used to be the agent of Scottie McClue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kemp Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Dicko appears to be the Billy Sloan of football circles these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Dicko appears to be the Billy Sloan of football circles these days... These days? The transfer happened in 1989. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottd Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Dicko appears to be the Billy Sloan of football circles these days... You're not suggesting he gets free stuff from record companies then flogs it off down the market? Allegedly, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 McMurdo spoke about being at Ibrox from about 5am (he may have said 6) and the two of them hiding in the toilets, after MoJo wanted a shower, so that nobody saw them prior to the press conference. I think he said that they were both lying down on the back seat, I don't recall him saying anything about anyone being in a car boot, though I could be wrong about that. That wouldn't tally with my memory. The Sky Shop closed at 10pm or 11pm at night and didn't open till 6am. I would have said it was closer to 10 or 11am and it was definitely daylight. The version you've given wouldn't make sense. Who would they be hiding from at 6am? The account I remember reading long after the event was that Johnston was hiding from Rangers fans who'd gathered outside the stadium expecting to see John Sheridan who was supposed to be signing from Leeds that day. Johnston said he was in the boot. I don't understand why McMurdo would have felt the need to hide though since he was a regular visitor at Ibrox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shull Posted December 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 That wouldn't tally with my memory. The Sky Shop closed at 10pm or 11pm at night and didn't open till 6am. I would have said it was closer to 10 or 11am and it was definitely daylight. The version you've given wouldn't make sense. Who would they be hiding from at 6am? The account I remember reading long after the event was that Johnston was hiding from Rangers fans who'd gathered outside the stadium expecting to see John Sheridan who was supposed to be signing from Leeds that day. Johnston said he was in the boot. I don't understand why McMurdo would have felt the need to hide though since he was a regular visitor at Ibrox. I found out at 2,30am when I picked up a member of The Sun Staff from their headquarters in Portman Street. The Mo story was in the Newspaper she gave me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 (edited) I found out at 2,30am when I picked up a member of The Sun Staff from their headquarters in Portman Street. The Mo story was in the Newspaper she gave me. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/13169480.Looking_back__25_years_on__the_day_that_Mo_Johnston_signed_for_Rangers/ According to this report The Sun broke the news on the morning of the 10th of July 1989, few believed it when they read it in their newspapers but at a conference later in the day Johnston was paraded. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/13169480.Looking_back__25_years_on__the_day_that_Mo_Johnston_signed_for_Rangers/ The most audacious transfer of them all had four architects: Souness, Johnston himself, Rangers owner David Murray, and Johnston's agent, Bill McMurdo. The story was broken in The Sun's Scottish edition on the morning of July 10. Other newspapers scoffed but when Rangers called a press conference in the Ibrox Blue Room there were audible gasps when the club's management and directors walked in with Johnston among them. In The Herald, Laing wrote: "not surprisingly there was an atmosphere of undisguised smugness about the Rangers officials when they paraded their sensational signing before the media". I guess I witnessed Johnston arriving in Glasgow and making his way to Ibrox for the Press Conference. Edited December 18, 2015 by Stuart Dickson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kemp Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 You are a complete fantasist!! You appear to have lost grip on reality long ago. I very much enjoy these posts though, please don't give it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 You are a complete fantasist!! You appear to have lost grip on reality long ago. I very much enjoy these posts though, please don't give it up! Fantasist? Really? You must have a really dull life if you think that seeing a football agent and a football player at a major international airport is an unusual occurrence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted December 18, 2015 Report Share Posted December 18, 2015 When he looks back, he also realises that he had the chance to kill Hitler during WWI. If only he knew then what he knows now ... Come to think about it, I remember a good number of years ago seeing a rather turgid and haggard looking Paisley prostitute jabbing pins into a packet of Durex Extra Safe. If only I'd mentioned it to the old wino who was about to hand over his £2.00 go off with her maybe I could have stopped your conception? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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