IT measures just 14cm by 8.5cm but is the biggest and most important item a Scottish football fan can have. Each year, its publication signals there is light at the end of the tunnel the footballing wilderness is almost over.

It is, of course, the Wee Red Book.

The Evening Times' legendary football annual is the essential guide to the season ahead.

Like pies, Bovril and disagreeing with the ref, the iconic Wee Red Book is an integral part of Scottish footballing life.

Some other essentials for the new season The Wee Red book is just one of the essential items you'll need for the forthcoming football season. Here SCOTT GRAY looks at what else you'll need... WITH the new season around the corner, you'll have to make sure you have everything you need to get through every gruelling fixture. But what are the essentials? Well, a true fan would have an authentic strip as he cheered his or her team on, so get down to your local sports shop. The new Celtic away strip will set you back £39.99 and the new Rangers version, which is launched next month, will be in a similar price bracket. Alternatively you could visit JJB's online store - www.jjbsports.com - and take your pick of last season's Celtic home and away shirts (£14.99 each) or Rangers home and away shirts (£14.50 each). Now that the shirt is sorted you have to get your season ticket. Celtic season tickets for adults for standard seats start at around £410 and with juvenile priced from £50 for those aged 12 and under. Average adult season ticket prices for Rangers fans cost £393 with juvenile ticket prices averaging £134. Of course you will need to keep yourself going during the game and what better way than by turning to the traditional football feast of a pie and Bovril. Now that the strip, the tickets and the food have been sorted out, you'll need a team scarf. A Celtic Lisbon scarf can be bought from www.celticsuperstore.co.uk for £12.99 and a Rangers RFC Executive scarf is a bargain at £2 from JJB Sports online. If, come the winter, going to the game feels like a chore, why not watch it on a Samsung 42" digital plasma TV in the comfort of your own home. The Samsung 42" is on special offer at Curry's for £749.99. A decent seat is essential to enjoying the game and what would be better than a custom made La-z-boy football chair. It puts the best seats in any stadium to shame. You can order one from www.lazyboy.co.uk and prices start from £995. But the football isn't going to just magically appear on your TV, arrangements have to be made and when it comes small screen football there are only two choices: Sky Sports and Setanta. With Sky you can get the basic Sky TV package with Sky Sports for only £35 per month with the option to upgrade to high-definition TV for an extra £10. Setanta offers a whole range of sporting action, including exclusive coverage of every Old Firm derby, and for those sports fans who want to keep up to date with football outside of Scotland they also offer live coverage of 46 Barclays Premier League games. Well, that's all anyone needs to survive the football season and all that remains for you to do is sit back in your La-z-boy chair, flip through your Wee Red Book and smugly flag up every little bit of football history and trivia that the commentators get wrong.

It is the first thing we put in our pocket before heading off to a match and the first thing we refer to when we want to settle a heated football debate.

It is an indispensable almanac of Scottish football history - and it's 80 years old this year.

Crammed with every imaginable fact and figure about Scottish football, it recalls great players and memorable games as well as details on every professional football club.

First published in 1928, the little book, which is bursting with fixtures, facts and trivia, is as important to the ordinary fan as it is to those in football's hierarchy. From the generals of the game, down through managers, players, referees and even amateurs who enjoy a kickabout on a Sunday afternoon, the Wee Red Book is an essential accessory.

Alan Brazil 13-times-capped- Scotland-player-turned-football pundit wouldn't be without his.

He may have gone on to a glittering career with Ipswich, Manchester United and Spurs but the Glasgow-born legend still remembers the influence the Wee Red Book had on a young football fan.

"Back in Glasgow in the early 70s when I was living in the South Side, I always remember seeing the vendors on the street shouting Get your Wee Red Book here,'' recalled the Talksport presenter. "I remember having to scrape enough money together to buy one.

"Now I use it for work. If I need to know anything to do with a Scottish player, I'll refer to it. I'm always saying Oh I remember him'. It's very handy.'' Former Scotland goalkeeper Alan Rough won't let his copy slip through his hands. The Real Radio host said: "It's a great wee book and it helps us keep up to date for the show."

Evening Times columnist and Only an Excuse creator Phil Differ is spellbound by the Wee Red Book.

"It's a football fan's Harry Potter,'' he said. "It seems to sell out really quickly. I've spent afternoons running from newsagent to newsagent and chased vendors down the street to get hold of a copy.

"'I've bought them for as long as I can remember. I was at my mother's the other day and found copies from the 60s.

"I remember buying them during the school holidays and we all used to quiz each other on who scored where and whether a goal' was offside. Whenever anybody said anything ludicrous we threatened them with revealing the facts in the Wee Red Book."

Evening Times columnist, Rangers legend and broadcaster Derek Johnstone is among the Wee Red Book's biggest fans.

He said: "It's an absolutely great thing, and has been for at least as long as I've been involved in football.

"It's great to have close to hand when you're commentating on matches.'' Fellow columnist and Celtic hero Tosh McKinlay added: "It's part of the history of football. It's an institution in itself."

The very first edition of the Wee Red Book was published in 1928 and was originally called The Evening Times Football Annual.

There was no Wee Red Book from 1940-45 but as soon as football resumed after the Second World War it was back on sale.

As well as full, detailed fixtures of all Scottish League and international matches, it also give you a run down of all English Premiership League games and junior fixtures.

And for the first time ever it contains details of fixtures of the Scottish Women's Premier League.

So, whether you support Rangers, Celtic or Auchinleck Talbot, you'll need to get your hands on a copy of the Wee Red Book from your friendly Evening Times vendor.

If you're serious about football, you're serious about getting a copy of the ultimate football almanac.

You can pick up a copy of the Evening Times Wee Red Book from Evening Times street vendors and most newsagents today, priced £3.50.