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AK 86: Two Shots In The Heart Of Scottish Football
3rd May 1986: fans at Dens Park, Ibrox, Easter Road and Love Street watch the action unfold with transistor radios pressed to their ears, desperate for the news that would decide the destination of that season’s league championship.
Albert Kidd makes a rare and late appearance on the stage and tears the show apart. In seven special minutes Albert elevates himself to the status of cult hero at two clubs he would never play for and folk devil at a third.
Scottish football would never be the same again.
‘AK 86: Two Shots In The Heart Of Scottish Football’ sees Albert speak in greater depth than ever before about his role in the most talked about day in Scottish football and how it has changed his life.
With contributions from players and fans of Celtic, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Rangers and St Mirren, every side of the incredible story is explored.
Thirty years on AK 86 sifts through the rubble of an explosive day with rumour and counter-rumour, controversy and drama, a day that gave rise to conspiracy theories, delirium, and broken hearts.
Albert Kidd makes a rare and late appearance on the stage and tears the show apart. In seven special minutes Albert elevates himself to the status of cult hero at two clubs he would never play for and folk devil at a third.
Scottish football would never be the same again.
‘AK 86: Two Shots In The Heart Of Scottish Football’ sees Albert speak in greater depth than ever before about his role in the most talked about day in Scottish football and how it has changed his life.
With contributions from players and fans of Celtic, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Rangers and St Mirren, every side of the incredible story is explored.
Thirty years on AK 86 sifts through the rubble of an explosive day with rumour and counter-rumour, controversy and drama, a day that gave rise to conspiracy theories, delirium, and broken hearts.
- GenresFootball
192 pages, Paperback
Published July 4, 2016
2 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Grant Hill
4 books8 followersI was born three months after Thatcher swept to power so bear no responsibility for her election or subsequent actions. I have a degree in English and a tenuous grasp of the language. I've mainly worked in journalism and public relations, alongside numerous service occupations, all the while daydreaming about football and music.
Dundee FC, The Smiths, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Specials and Sleaford Mods are very important to me. As are my wife and son.
'Clubbed to Death' was my first novel and 'AK-86: Two Shots In The Heart of Scottish Football' represented my first foray into non-fiction. I'm currently writing a screenplay for Clubbed to Death and thinking about maybe beginning work on a possible second novel while dealing with the whims of the young lad and the despair that all DFC followers experience.
Dundee FC, The Smiths, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Specials and Sleaford Mods are very important to me. As are my wife and son.
'Clubbed to Death' was my first novel and 'AK-86: Two Shots In The Heart of Scottish Football' represented my first foray into non-fiction. I'm currently writing a screenplay for Clubbed to Death and thinking about maybe beginning work on a possible second novel while dealing with the whims of the young lad and the despair that all DFC followers experience.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 4, 2026
With Hearts challenging for the Scottish top flight title again in season 2025/26, the subject matter caused me to search out and read this book.
Written in a very straight ahead fashion, with little flourish or skill, but more typos and grammatical errors than I'd expect, it gets to the heart of the matter in a workmanlike manner. Possibly because the book is meant to appeal to a broad range of football fans rather than regular readers.
Putting that aside, I enjoyed the detail and insight into the actual events surrounding the Tynecastle club's challenge. As someone who was only four in 1986, this provides a real flavour for the era and what was going on in the Scottish game at the time, both on and off the park.
Not only does Grant Hill chart the state of affairs with Hearts as well as the other key actors in Celtic, St Mirren, and Dundee, he also documents the key goings on in the league. It is instructive for the uninitiated to learn about the wider picture of the New Firm, Aberdeen and Dundee United, and the impending ends of their respective golden eras under Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean respectively. In stark contrast was Graeme Souness's arrival at Rangers and the revolution to come at Ibrox.
It was fascinating to get so much insight from the hero and villain of the book, Albert Kidd, as well as the prologue type chapters on what happened next for him.
That's not to mention the exploration of the motivations of the St Mirren and Dundee players on that fateful day and whether or not there was any truth to rumours of home players giving less than their best at Love Street.
Another aspect I thoroughly enjoyed was the insight provided by fans of clubs across the league. Their devastation, joy, schadenfreude, or astonishment was there for all to see (read) and sums up the emotions that make Scottish football so special.
On the downside, there wasn't much in the way of input from Celtic players who won the league that day. But, in the author's defence, this story and so many others will have been told from their respective that it's not worth flogging that dead horse any further.
I wasn't a fan of the way the chapters were presented, titled as they were with dates rather than actual titles, but that's a minor nitpick in review about a book that had me gripped from start to finish.
Written in a very straight ahead fashion, with little flourish or skill, but more typos and grammatical errors than I'd expect, it gets to the heart of the matter in a workmanlike manner. Possibly because the book is meant to appeal to a broad range of football fans rather than regular readers.
Putting that aside, I enjoyed the detail and insight into the actual events surrounding the Tynecastle club's challenge. As someone who was only four in 1986, this provides a real flavour for the era and what was going on in the Scottish game at the time, both on and off the park.
Not only does Grant Hill chart the state of affairs with Hearts as well as the other key actors in Celtic, St Mirren, and Dundee, he also documents the key goings on in the league. It is instructive for the uninitiated to learn about the wider picture of the New Firm, Aberdeen and Dundee United, and the impending ends of their respective golden eras under Alex Ferguson and Jim McLean respectively. In stark contrast was Graeme Souness's arrival at Rangers and the revolution to come at Ibrox.
It was fascinating to get so much insight from the hero and villain of the book, Albert Kidd, as well as the prologue type chapters on what happened next for him.
That's not to mention the exploration of the motivations of the St Mirren and Dundee players on that fateful day and whether or not there was any truth to rumours of home players giving less than their best at Love Street.
Another aspect I thoroughly enjoyed was the insight provided by fans of clubs across the league. Their devastation, joy, schadenfreude, or astonishment was there for all to see (read) and sums up the emotions that make Scottish football so special.
On the downside, there wasn't much in the way of input from Celtic players who won the league that day. But, in the author's defence, this story and so many others will have been told from their respective that it's not worth flogging that dead horse any further.
I wasn't a fan of the way the chapters were presented, titled as they were with dates rather than actual titles, but that's a minor nitpick in review about a book that had me gripped from start to finish.
Displaying 1 of 1 review