REFEREES dish out cards like confetti in modern football and many players are lucky to go through a season without a booking.

However, in days gone by, officials were a little more lenient and men like Gary Lineker went through an entire career without a yellow card.

LOVIN' SPOONFUL (Glasgow) says: In his autobiography, Tommy Smith claims he was only booked three times in his professional career. Was one of these at Highbury around 1970? If so, full details please. The museum does not keep records of bookings etc concerning English football - you could try contacting Liverpool FC or the English Football Museum at Preston.

Tommy Smith did play for Liverpool at Highbury in league fixtures on March 14, 1970, and November 21, 1970. Several websites suggest that Tommy did only receive three bookings (which seems surprising).

Incidentally, one of his bookings is said to have been at Wembley during the 1974 Charity Shield match between Liverpool and Leeds United. This is the game in which Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner were sent off for fighting.

FRANK (Firhill) - Can you give me details of the testimonial game for Partick Thistle's veteran centre-half Jackie Campbell? The game took place in October 1980, between a Partick Thistle select, which included former Rangers and Scotland winger Davy Wilson, and the Partick Thistle 1971 League Cup-winning side. The teams shared 12 goals between them and Thistle's 1971 side delighted the crowd with their passing display despite the nine-year gap since they had won the trophy. Campbell himself capped a memorable day with two goals.

BOB SMITH (Kilmarnock) - I have some photographs of the opening match of the 1998 World Cup between Scotland and Brazil, but some of the players are difficult to identify. Can you tell me which Scottish players wore numbers 4, 17 and 22? The No.4 jersey at the Stade de France was worn by Colin Calderwood, and Christian Dailly wore No.22. No.17 was Billy McKinlay, who came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Darren Jackson.

DAVID COYNE (East Kilbride) - A family history search has revealed that my great-uncle James Smith Dickson (born Belfast 1897 and living in Bridgeton) considered his full-time occupation in 1934 to be a professional footballer. Family seems to think it was Dunfermline FC, but I can't find any trace. Can you help? Dunfermline Athletic certainly had a player named James Dickson, although he seems to have played at a slightly earlier time than your information would suggest.

Jimmy Dickson (sorry we have no note of his middle name) joined Dunfermline on October 26, 1923, and remained at the club until season 1929/30, a little earlier than your suggested date of 1934.

Perhaps this information might enable you to carry out further research with your family history.

T MILLAR (Shawlands) - I know that Third Lanark won the league championship in the 1903/04 season. Could you tell me how many teams were in the league at that time and what was the Thirds' winning margin? The top league for that season had been increased from 12 teams the year before to a total of 14 teams and giving each team a total of 26 league matches.

Thirds had a great season, winning 20 and drawing three out of 26, for a total of 43 points (two points for a win in those days) This resulted in a four-point margin over second-placed Hearts with Celtic and Rangers occupying third and fourth places.