The Scottish Umpire, 23.10.88
The days of denial and sinecure posts gave way to an open market.
The Scottish Association placed an embargo on all players who had signed as professionals for English clubs, banning them from ever representing Scotland or Scottish clubs. As we have seen in the case of Dr John Smith, they went so far as to ban players who had played against professionals.
Despite the influx 70% of the players who took part in the first Football League fixtures were English born (101, as compared to 27 Scots and 4 Welshmen).
