JOHN McCOLL (Kilsyth) - When the European Cup took on the new format of the Champions League, who scored the first hat-trick, when was this feat achieved and who were the teams involved? After an experimental group stage as part of the European Cup in the 1991/92 season, the name Champions League first appeared in the 1992/93 season.

After a series of rounds of preliminary matches under the banner of the European Cup, two groups of four were formed under the title of Champions League with the group winners progressing to a final tie.

Rangers finished second behind Marseille, who went on to beat AC Milan in the final.

The first hat-trick in the Champions League section of the competition was scored by Marco van Basten for Milan against IFK Gothenburg, netting all four goals in a 4-0 victory.

In its previous incarnation as the European Cup, the first hat-trick was scored by Peter Palotas, of MTK Budapest, against RSC Anderlecht on September 7, 1955.

TAVERN NO MORE (Airdrie) - When did Rangers sign Ian McMillan from Airdrie? Also, how many games did he play for those respective teams? Ian McMillan signed for Rangers on October 2, 1958, and made a scoring debut at Ibrox against Raith Rovers 16 days later. He made 194 appearances for Rangers and scored 55 times. During two spells with Airdrie, he played 385 times, scoring 143 goals. McCoist hit nine for Black Cats

SUNDERLAND TAM (Govanhill) - Can you confirm that Ally McCoist hit only eight goals for Sunderland in the old English Second Division? Can you also tell me his appearances and goals for Scotland, and in the Champions League for Rangers? Ally McCoist played for Sunderland during seasons 1981/82 and 1982/83 in the old Football League Division One. He scored eight league goals plus one in the FA Cup, making a total of nine for the Roker Park club.

He made 61 appearances for Scotland and scored 19 goals. His record for Rangers in the European Cup/Champions League is 18 goals from 29 starts and eight substitute appearances.

P McGILLVERY (Glasgow) - I was told recently about an annual race held in Edinburgh where top footballers competed for the fastest runner accolade? It was thought to be held some time ago. As a keen athletics fan, I must say this is a new one on me. Have you any more on this fastest footballer sprint? The annual Powderhall Sprint included several footballers who often ran under a pseudonym so as to keep their participation a secret from their club, although we don't have details of a specific footballers' event.

But during the Skol-sponsored League Cup of 1992-93 a sprint competition to find the fastest footballer over 60m in the Scottish Leagues was run. Heats were held, leading to the top 12 appearing as part of the pre-match entertainment for the Rangers-Aberdeen final.

The top six from two semi-finals qualified and the winner was Graeme Davidson, of Berwick, who in the heats had recorded the fastest time of 7.13secs. Inverness-Terrors clash a record low

FIRST KISS (Rutherglen) - With Gretna promoted to the SPL, and in all likelihood playing their home games at Motherwell's Fir Park, could you tell me the lowest gates recorded in the elite division? The lowest gate recorded for a top division game is a tricky one as in early days of the league, newspapers did not always record crowd numbers but, if we limit the search to the days since the formation of the SPL, the lowest league attendance recorded was 1125 for the Inverness Caledonian Thistle match against Dundee United on Tuesday, November 23, 2004, at Pittodrie.

Inverness rented the Aberdeen ground for home matches in the 2004/2005 season before their own ground was eligible for use in the SPL.