Scottish councils were prevented from taking control of safety at football grounds less than six months before the Ibrox disaster, it has been revealed.

Official records made public after more than 30 years show that an official request by councils to take on the responsibility was dismissed by the Scotland Office.

Government officials said in July 1970 that any change offered only "marginal" benefits and insisted that the time was not yet right for legislation.

Less than six months later the worst tragedy in British football history to date would happen in Glasgow.

A memorial plaque at Ibrox

On 2 January 1971 Rangers and Celtic played their traditional New Year derby at Ibrox Stadium.

In the dying seconds of the match Rangers scored an equaliser and hundreds of fans turned on stairway 13.

In the crush that followed 66 people were killed and hundreds more were injured.

The tragedy was eventually to lead to the 1974 Safety of Sports Grounds Act which required local councils to issue safety certificates - a move the government blocked before the disaster.

According to 1971 government records made public at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, this decision was not taken lightly.

Voluntary code

Memos between civil servants at a time reveal that hooliganism, rather than crowd safety, appears to have been the main worry.

They eventually concluded that a revised and updated voluntary code should be given a chance to prove itself.

The debate was prompted by a letter from the Scottish Counties of Cities Association in March 1969 calling for councils to be given greater powers over crowd safety, fire safety and hygiene at bigger football grounds.

On July 15, 1970, Scotland's big local authorities finally got their reply. The Secretary of State, they were told, felt that licensing could only be justified if there were to be substantial benefits.

"For the reasons given, he considers that the improvements which might follow the introduction of a licensing system would at best be marginal ... and he therefore feels no step should be taken to introduce legislation to this end at the present time," said a letter to the councils.