GARY McALLISTER was until recently one of a number of Scottish managers dotted around the English leagues.

The former Scotland international was in charge of fallen giants Leeds United, where he enjoyed much success as a player. However, he was sacked last month.

NORRIE (Newarthill) would like to know the early career details of McAllister. Gary was born on December 25, 1964 and signed for Motherwell FC on September 5, 1981, from Fir Park Boys' Club. In the four years before his transfer to Leicester City, he made 70 appearances and scored eight goals for Motherwell.

DOMINIC OGILVIE (Eastwood) - A friend of mine, who is Italian, tells me that the football stadium in his home town of Barga in Tuscany is named after a Scotsman who played for the Italian national team. Do you have any details? The small football stadium in Barga is named "The Johnny Moscardini Stadium". Johnny (or Giovanni) Moscardini was born in Falkirk in 1897. His family had emigrated to Scotland from Italy, and had established several fish and chip shops and ice cream parlours.

During the First World War, Johnny returned to Italy to join the Italian army. After the war he returned to his ancestral home in Barga, where he played for the local team. He was spotted by a scout from Lucchese where he spent five years before moving on to Pisa and Genoa.

He was capped nine times for Italy and scored seven goals. After retiring from the game he returned to Scotland, first managing an uncle's shop in Campbeltown, then opening his own cafe in Prestwick. He died in 1985, at the age of 88.

JP (Glasgow) - I have acquired a small ticket and was wondering if you could tell me any more about it. It is for "Refreshment's" and simply has Queen Of The South Football Club Ltd. stamped on it.

The interesting thing is that that date on the ticket is May 12, 1934. Are you able to tell me if a game took place on that date and, more importantly, who was playing?

I have exhausted all avenues trying to find out more about this. Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Although unable to provide details of the teams, we can confirm that on May 12, 1934, Queen of the South played Midannandale in the final of the Southern Charity Cup. The cup went to the Palmerston club after a 2-1 victory.

BILL McNAB (Stirling) - I was sad to hear about the recent death of another Scotland football legend - Alfie Conn. Can you tell me how many caps and goals he got for Scotland and confirm that his son Alfie Jnr was also capped? Alfie Conn Snr was a member of Hearts' legendary "Terrible Trio" along with Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh. He won only one Scottish cap, in a 1-1 draw with Austria at Hampden in 1956. Despite the fact that Alfie scored Scotland's goal with a powerful left-foot shot after 12 minutes, he was never capped again.

Alfie Jnr appeared twice for Scotland in 1975. He was a member of the team which was beaten 5-1 by England at Wembley and, in the same year, he came on as a 76th-minute substitute in a 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland at Hampden.

JIMMY EARLY (Yoker) - One of my football heroes was the long-serving Clydebank defender Jim Fallon, who played in the 1970's and 80's. Could you tell me how many appearances he made for the Bankies? Jim was at Kilbowie from season 1971/72 until 1985/86. He played 485 league matches for Clydebank (plus three as substitute) and scored 18 goals.