Tom English: 'There is no act of God more ruinous to forests than a big football game'

Barcelona Countdown – three days to go

FORGET THE calendar. This is not May 2008, it is May 1972. Yes, it's Rangers versus the Russians in both but it's not Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final in Manchester that dominates the football landscape but Dynamo Moscow in the Cup Winners Cup final in Barcelona. Walter Smith is not on the brink of history, Willie Waddell is. A national newspaper costs 4p. For that you get a lot about Rhodesian independence and not a lot of sport; a broadsheet page or two of football, perhaps. Maybe a couple more in the tabloids. There are no 24-page supplements. No souvenir editions. No colour. No player interviews as we know them.

This week new records may be broken for the amount of newspaper pages thrown at a game involving a Scottish club. Seville was huge but the build-up to the events at the City of Manchester Stadium might top it. There is no act of God more ruinous to the forests of Scotland than a big football occasion. No earthquake or hurricane or landslide took down as much timber as the media did when readying themselves for Scotland v Italy last year and it's shaping up to be something similar for Rangers v Zenit.

Back in 1972, a small band of Scottish football writers are in situ in Spain. The Daily Record team consists of Alex Cameron and Ken Gallacher. They're holed up with the Rangers team in Casteldelfells near Barcelona. The sun is blazing. Access is bountiful. Demands for copy are restrained. The boys are in their heaven.

Five days to go and Ken has collared Lev Yashin for a column. Amazingly, Lev knows all about Scottish football. Remarkably, it is one of the great regrets of his life that he never got to play in Scotland. Alas, poor Lev, he died an unfulfilled man. "I remember with pleasure Denis Law and the former Rangers player Jim Baxter," writes the legendary Russian goalkeeper and then technical director of Dynamo Moscow. "It was a happy occasion for me when I saw that Denis was back in the national team and scoring a goal against Peru."

Quite. Lev leads the one-page countdown above a missive from "Candid". The Spanish FA, he reports, are scratching their heads in wonder at these mysterious Russians who are bringing no fans and no charisma to the final. All the charm is the preserve of Waddell and his men, says Candid. They've won the pre-game battle hands down, he writes. "From their hotel on the noisy beach they (Dynamo] will be able to see in the distance where Rangers are living in castle-like seclusion high on their wooded hillside."

Barcelona countdown – two days to go

LEV REAPPEARS in the Record. Again, the coverage is low-key. Whatever the boys are up to in Barcelona they're not stressed out from all the scribbling. What's there is is good, though. You might say it's enough. Yashin has plenty to say about his team's star man Josef Sabo. Stop Sabo and we haven't got a chance seems to be the gist of it. It's revealing stuff in its own way.

There's a guide to all things Barcelona. Hotels can be had for £1.75 a night. Wine is 30p a bottle, sherry 45p a bottle. One of the tabloids runs a phrase guide, critical stuff to your average Rangers fan like, "If you please..." and "Please show me a good restaurant..." and "Beer..." as in "keep it coming, we're gasping".

Meanwhile, Candid is over at the Spanish FA talking about the potential for violence on the night. "A shapely señora said in the accent of a top English finishing school that she has been warned to wear a tin hat and carry tear gas...The pistol-packing, baton-toting Guardia who will be on the alert to handle the big-match crowds cannot believe Scottish supporters are as bad as has been reported to them." Hmmm.

Barcelona countdown – one day to go

THE IRON Curtain comes up in Team Dynamo and the Scottish boys don't like it one bit. Candid is in thunderous form. His workload has doubled. Two pieces today and there is barely a quote to be had. Even Yashin in his "jazzy electric blue suit" has come over all serious.

"Sample. 'Would the sunny weather suit Dynamo?' 'Yes, it would be very nice for the players,' said Yashin. 'Are Rangers one of the hardest teams Dynamo have played against this year?' 'No, I don't think so'. 'Will Dynamo beat Rangers?' 'The better team will win'.

"When I asked the handsome Yashin about injuries he shrugged his shoulders and said everyone in his party was fit. Yet (star striker] Kozlov was limping as he passed through Customs and had to be helped on to the bus by a team-mate."

Stern words from the Herald. Rangers fans are liable to be arrested if caught singing or shouting in the streets or found with too much drink on board. They shouldn't expect much sympathy from the local police. Also, those who run out of cash are advised that the Consular in Barcelona will be slow enough to pay their return fare. They've heard the stories from Lisbon, after all. The Consular in Lisbon got stung for a fortune in 1967 when hundreds of Celtic fans turned up at their door without a shilling to their name. Of the money they spent to relocate the masses, £700 had still not been paid back despite their best efforts to track people down. Who'd have thought that so many people would fill in their home address incorrectly on the form.

The Scotsman has an interview with Dynamo manager, Constantine Beskov. John Rafferty, the football correspondent, offers him a drink. Beskov says "Niet". There would be no cosy chat today. Rafferty turns around a classy piece from not a lot of material. There isn't a line about the final anywhere else.

Barcelona countdown – game day

IT IS May 24, the day Waddell's team play the Russians and the only mention of the final on the front page of the Glasgow Herald is in the bottom left hand corner, in a story about a Rangers fan who fell over a hotel balcony in Barcelona and damn near killed himself. Inside, there is one preview piece. It's a stylishly written scene-setter that covers all the bases but that's all there is; one piece. It fights for prominence with a story about Belle Robertson's quest for the Scottish women's golf championship in Machrihanish and a live report from the English women's tournament in Woodhall Spa.

There's yachting and rifle shooting, bowls and more bowls. There's the horse racing results from Nottingham and a bold-headlined preview of the big one from Folkestone. "Headmaster taken for women's race" it announced in the vicinity of the "big read" from Barcelona. The Rangers coverage is maybe 900 words long from start to finish, with no picture. Ray Illingworth, the cricketer, gets that honour for a reason that is not all that obvious.

The Record has an interview with Rinus Michels – "the 50,000 a year boss man of the rich Barcelona club" as Candid calls him. Strange, but the word exclusive is nowhere to be found despite it being an exclusive property. Michels predicts a Rangers victory, "a profound and cheering conclusion", says Alex. There's a plea in the sports pages to their loyal readers. "Please don't phone for news of tonight's big game as production could seriously be affected. Instead make sure you read tomorrow's edition."

Between the lot of them, the tabloids and broadsheets, they filed in a week what one modern newspaper will produce in a day. Maybe half a day. That was the way of it back then. That was the norm. Look at the sedate reporting of the 1972 final and contrast it with the hype and hoopla of today and you are reminded of the famous opening line of LP Hartley's novel The Go-Between: "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there."

Not better or worse, just different. Oh so different.