The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

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Another one of those cuttings that I’m not sure where it came from whether it was a magazine or an annual but it doesn’t matter as it’s a cracker. Here we have five Scottish players who made their mark in the late 50’s and early 60’s and of course for the Lawman a wee bit further too.

So who do we have? Top left hand corner is Ralph Brand of Rangers. Ralph would only play eight times for Scotland between 1960 and 1962, scoring two goals against Northern Ireland on his debut in November 1960; Denis Law, Eric Caldow (penalty) and Alex Young were the other scorers in a 5-2 win at Hampden. Scoring against Ireland; be it Northern or the Republic was a speciality of Ralph’s as he scored four against Northern and three against their Southern cousins. His eighth and final Scotland goal came against Uruguay at Hampden in May 1962 in his final game. 8 caps and 8 goals and he couldn’t keep his place; if only we had someone with that type of record now.

Next to him is Graham Leggat who recently passed away at the age of 81. Graham’s first cap came in 1956 when he scored Scotland’s goal in a 1-1 each draw with England at Hampden. Graham was an Aberdeen player at the time and would win seven caps as a Don including two appearances at the 1958 World Cup. He would win a further eleven caps as a Fulham player and like Ralph Brand would score eight goals in total.

In the middle is George Herd who was a Clyde player during his time with Scotland and although he would play over 300 games for Sunderland he was never capped as an Anglo. George first played for the National side on April 19th, 1958 and if you were one of the 127,874 crowd you probably don’t want a reminder of the score. (Whisper it, we lost 4-0). George only played five times for Scotland but is one of only 11 Scottish players to have played against Turkey! This was in a 4-2 defeat friendly in Ankara in June, 1960. His only goal would come in a 3-3 draw with Hungary just a few days before this. In his final game he played with Messrs. Brand, Mackay and Law; three of the other kingpins.

Bottom left hand corner we have the irrepressible Dave Mackay. Dave would play twenty two times for Scotland starting as a Hearts player in 26th May, 1957, where like George Herd he didn’t have the best of starts with Scotland going down 4-1 to Spain in a World Cup Qualifier but thankfully we had already beaten Spain 4-2 at Hampden and would qualify for Sweden 1958. Surprisingly, Dave didn’t feature again until just over a year later when he was drafted in as part of the team for our final game of the World Cup Finals against France which was lost 2-1.

Dave would score four times for Scotland; the first two as mainly consolation goals in 4-1 defeat to Austria and then in a match against England where we scored a paltry 3 goals and England scored a few more but like the play ‘Macbeth’ maybe it’s one those things we shouldn’t give a name to. Happier times were ahead when he scored two against Norway in November ’63 with Denis Law hitting four in a 6-1 friendly win at Hampden. Dave would play his last Scotland game in October ’65 in a 3-2 defeat to Northern Ireland with fellow Spurs player Alan Gilzean netting a double.

Finally there’s Denis Law, who scored on his Scotland debut in October 1958 in 3-0 win over Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff; Graham Leggat was also among the scorers that night with Bobby Collins hitting the third. Of course Denis went on to be the legend that he still is, with a Scotland career spanning 16 years and 55 caps making his swansong appearance in the first game of the 1974 Wold Cup against Zaire. Denis, is of course our equal top goalscorer of all time with Kenny Dalglish on 30.

So five Scotland players with 51 goals between them from around the same era; which would be nice to have again sometime.

David Stuart

Arthur Graham will be 63 on October 26th. Arthur gained 11 caps for Scotland, all whilst playing for Leeds United although due to his appearance’s in football cards in the early 70’s I always think of him as a winger for Aberdeen. Arthur also went on to play for Manchester United and Bradford.

His first cap came shortly after his move from Aberdeen to Leeds; coming on as a sub against East Germany for Willie Johnston in a friendly in September, 1977 at the Weltjugend Stadion in East Berlin. Scotland lost one nil with Leeds teammate and goalkeeper David Stewart making his one and only Scotland appearance that night. Like many players, first capped by Ally Macleod, Arthur was never given the chance to establish himself as Ally seemed to prefer players capped by Willie Ormond and his predecessors.*

His second cap came after the 1978 debacle, when he replaced Joe Jordan in a Euro Qualifier against Austria in Vienna. Within minutes of him coming on Scotland went three down but a late revival through goals by Gordon McQueen and Andy Gray must have impressed a watching Jock Stein as he was to be in charge in Scotland’s next game.

Arthur started against Norway at Hampden in October, 1978 and would win the penalty in the 87th minute which meant big Jock’s first game in charge would be a win as Scotland won 3-2 with two goals from Kenny Dalglish and the penalty from Gemmill.

Arthur would miss Scotland’s next game a one nil defeat to Portugal but following that he would play in the next seven games, only being on the bench for one of them.

Arthur played in all three games of the May, 1979 Home International series, which saw Scotland get thumped 3-0 by Wales and especially John Toshack as he hit a hat-trick; in the first game. A small crowd of 28,524 saw Scotland beat Northern Ireland with Arthur scoring the only goal of the game to give Scotland victory. The final game of the series saw Scotland go down 3-1 to England at Wembley.

Defeat was also to follow in June ’79 at Hampden as the newly crowned World Champions Argentina turned up in Glasgow with a young Diego Maradona giving the Scots a masterclass in football. The game is not so much remembered for Arthur’s second Scotland goal which came as a consolation in the 85th as the Scots toiled 3-1.

Five days later, Arthur would be part of the team that beat Norway 4-0 in Oslo with Jordan, Dalglish, John Robertson and Gordon McQueen scoring. Although both Robertson and Arthur played in this side together, it would perhaps be Robertson coming more to the fore as an important player for Scotland and taking the left sided berth that would see Arthur’s Scotland career peter out.

Interestingly enough, Arthur would be a sub come the next Scotland game in September of 1979; he would replace Davie Cooper. It would take a few years though for Cooper to install himself as a favourite of Jock’s. Scotland drew one each with Peru at Hampden with Asa Hartford scoring the Scots goal.

A return to Euro Qualifiers in October against Austria at Hampden saw Scotland draw one each with Cooper coming on for Graham this time. Scotland’s goal was scored by Archie Gemmill with Hans Krankl scoring for Austria.

Arthur then dropped off Jock’s radar and returned for his final cap against Wales in May 1981 when the Scots again lost to Wales 2-0 with Ian Walsh hitting a double.

(Arthur’s final appearance)

So Happy birthday Arthur and all the best.

David Stuart

* For further information of the players Ally MacLeod gave debuts to; please type in ‘Ally Oops’ as a search.

Your fanzine needs you – or at least a small amount of your money as we strive to convert ‘Likes’ into ‘Sales’ or ‘Scotland Epistles’ is likely to go the same way as fellow Scotland fanzines ‘Que Sera, Sera’ and ‘Haggis Supper’ etc only with considerably fewer editions produced – albeit glossy, full colour, B5-sized editions…..

I suppose an alternative ‘ending’ would be to go online like ‘The Famous Tartan Army Magazine’.

And so it came to pass that Scotland were eliminated from the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup at the Quarter Finals stage – the sixth time we have gone out at this point in the competition and the second occasion that Australia have done us in. But we came close, helluva close to making it to the semi-finals and in many ways it was even more painful than the recent Poland result. Cue reference to Glorious failure, defeat from the jaws of victory etc etc etc.Now call me a sore loser, but time for a quick chant of – ”Rolfie Harris, he’s one of your own…….”

Paul will be 39 on the 17th October. Paul gained his one and only Under-21 cap at the age of 19 in 1996 as a Millwall player having started out at Hamilton. Maybe he was the scapegoat that day as the Under 21s got beat 4-0 and it took a while for Paul to get back onto the International scene. Club stints at Raith, Hibs, St. Johnstone and even a loan spell at Morton would all happen before as a Hearts player, Paul was thrown quite literally into the arena as a Scotland player.

In his first game in charge in March 2005, Walter Smith surprisingly gave Paul his debut against Italy in Milan in a World Cup Qualifier. Paul would be the only uncapped player in Walter’s team that night. Scotland were to be undone by the magic of Andre Pirlo as he scored the only two goals in the game. Still, Paul had done enough to prove his worth and would be a big part of Scotland’s revival under Smith and then Alex McLeish.

Next up for Scotland and Paul was a two nil victory against Moldova at Hampden with Christian Dailly and James McFadden providing the goals in a 2-0 win. Paul would also play in the return game against Italy, which saw Scotland go into a 1-0 lead in the thirteenth minute with a Kenny Miller heading in from a perfectly flighted cross from Hartley. No doubt Italy had their chances to equalise but it was not until the 75th minute that Grosso was able to score.

Four days later Scotland would go to Norway and with Miller on fire would go into a two nil lead with Hartley again supplying a cross that would lead to Miller’s second goal. Kenny was injured in the 40th minute but anyone who saw that game will tell you had he not; he would have surely broken Scotland’s hat trick hoodoo that night, such was his finishing. Scotland held out for a 2-1 win.

A month later in what was to be Smith’s poorest game in charge of Scotland as we lost 1-0 to Belarus, Scotland’s chances of qualifying were gone but the damage had been done long before Smith and Hartley had been involved with the National team. A home draw against Slovenia followed by defeat at Hampden by Norway under Berti Vogts early in the campaign had been our undoing.

With this in mind, perhaps it was the freedom to play without any consequences that saw Scotland beat Slovenia 3-0 in Celje with all three goals being top quality with perhaps Hartley’s only Scotland goal being the best; a wonderful chip with the keeper stranded from the edge of the area was executed perfectly.

Hartley would play in the most important games of the 2008 Euro Qualifiers winning his tenth cap in the 1-0 win at Hampden with Gary Caldwell providing the great moment. Hartley’s 12th cap on 24th March, 2007 came with two major changes; at this point he was now a Celtic player and Alex McLeish was in charge of the national team. A nervy 2-1 win with a Craig Beattie winner in the 89th minute was enough to get McLeish off to a winning start.

It was back to Italy for Hartley and Scotland a few days later but poor defending was our undoing as Luca Toni gave Italy a 2-0 win.

However, happier times awaited Scotland on September 12th, 2007 as James McFadden provided that piece of magic in Paris that has gone down in Scotland folklore; football and otherwise. We all remember where we were that night when Scotland beat France 1-0; as for Paul Hartley I’m sure he remembers too as he was picking up cap 16.

Paul missed the next two games of the Euro campaign; a 3-1 win against Ukraine at Hampden followed by the misery of the 2-0 defeat in Tbilisi to Georgia.

November 17th, 2007 will long live in the memory as Scotland went 2-1 down to Italy at Hampden and there’s not a lot I can add to that except that was never a foul!

Next up a game a friendly against Croatia at Hampden that ended in a one all draw and another change of manager with George Burley now in the revolving chair.

Paul played in the first game of our 2010 World Cup campaign; a toothless one nil defeat to Macedonia in Skopje and was dropped for the game against Iceland in Reykjavik. Scotland would grind out a 2-1 win with goals from Kirk Broadfoot (!!) and James McFadden.

Hartley wouldn’t be involved in the next four games of the campaign but would return as a Bristol City player in September 2009 coming on as a sub against Macedonia for Scott Brown at Hampden. Brown had literally taken the game by the scruff of the neck and  a few Macedonians too if truth be told and had opened the scoring in 56 minutes; 17 minutes later it was a case of replace him or have him sent off choice for Burley. Some of that fire seems to have gone out of Scott Brown if our latest failed campaign is anything to go by. A wonder goal by James McFadden would see out the game.

Paul started in the do or die game against Netherlands four days later where a Scotland win would see us get through to the play offs. Despite hitting the woodwork it was not to be and a David Weir mistake in 82nd minute gifted Netherlands the games’ only goal.

Another campaign and another failure but both Norway and Scotland had been poor in so many games with both ending up with ten points each, a full 14 behind the winners Netherlands.

Paul’s final and 25th cap came with another Manager in charge of his first game; Craig Levein. Paul came on as a sub at half time in a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic with Scott Brown providing the winner.

So Happy Birthday Paul and all the best.

David Stuart

Scorcher and Score 1972

Well, it’s not quite a classic Magazine cover but it is a great Comic cover all the way from May 1972 with Scotland as the Top team on the cover.

It’s a montage of Denis Law with Hughie Gallacher in the long pants as part of the Wembley Wizards; he looks about fifty though. The final drawing is of Tommy Docherty, the then Scotland Manager and Billy Bremner. So if Billy’s about 5ft and 5in., what height is Tommy Docherty if Billy’s a whole head height above him? In saying that I quite like the illustrations as at least they are drawn well.

Inside there are quite a few comic stories including the classic Billy’s Boots (if only I had a pair when I was younger, the Glasgow 277 BB would have won so much more), Nipper and even the Lags Eleven which was all about a prison football team. Personally I preferred the Tiger. There’s also some real football features but I’m not getting too excited over colour pictures of Nobby Stiles, Hereford United and others when Colin Stein Star of the Week is in black and white.

There’s also an illustration of some Scotland and England action including the Colin Stein incident from 1970 when Brian Labone hacked him down and we never got the penalty and a drawing of Bobby Moncur and Bobby Moore leading out the teams the year before.

Of the adverts there’s one for Cresta juice. It’s frothy man!

David Stuart

I recently bought some cuttings from 1978 just before the World Cup and it’s interesting to get a flavour of things. Somebody recently asked me if at the time, I thought Scotland were going to win the World Cup. Well, to be to be honest I can’t remember thinking that but who knows I was only fifteen at the time. However, it is interesting looking at some of the comments from the TV times 8 page pull-out on Scotland’s chances.

Ally MacLeod: “The thought of Scotland coming back without the World Cup just hasn’t entered my head” Ally goes on to say: “We want to be in Argentina playing the Scottish way: tactics are secondary.”

Brian Clough: “Scotland have a lot of talent, but it must be blended. I have only one reservation I would have dearly loved to have seen Andy Gray in the team: he’s the best centre forward in Britain.”

Mike Smith (Manager of Wales): Scotland have a superb pool of players whom I expect to do well. Of the 16 finalists I pick Argentina, West Germany, Brazil and Scotland to share the first four places.” And he also says “But one word of warning to the Scots: don’t take Iran – whom we recently beat 1-0 – too lightly.”

Ron Greenwood (Manager of England): This World Cup is one of the most open for years. And if a little fortune smiles on Scotland, they could go all the way to the final.”

Danny Blanchflower (Northern Ireland Manager): Scotland have a great chance of winning their group: they have great belief in themselves, they’ve always been brash enough to think they could win anything.”

Sir Matt Busby: They have a very good squad – not just 11 but 20 or more top-class men and that’s very important in a competition that which takes place over three weeks. I am very optimistic – I don’t put it beyond Scotland to win the World Cup.”

So even the great and the good can be wrong sometimes.

Elsewhere in the pull-out it notes that bookmakers William Hill have made Scotland fifth favourites with Brazil, West Germany, Argentina and Holland in front of us. Odds on Scotland to win it were 8-1.

There’s not too much hyperbole in the Radio Times cuttings nor the Sunday Telegraph although it is interesting in their front cover they feature three players that never took part in the World Cup; Danny McGrain was a long term injury and was never part of the squad. Gordon McQueen had been injured in the Home Internationals and although he would travel to Argentina he never regained fitness. Andy Gray was also shown but only made the reserve list for the World Cup. Also on the list were Jim Stewart of Kilmarnock, John Blackley of Newcastle, Arthur Graham of Leeds, Willie Miller of Aberdeen and Coventry’s Ian Wallace.

David Stuart

Who? You know . . . Warren Cummings, the last Scot to be capped whilst a Chelsea player? No, not yet? Don’t you remember he replaced Maurice Ross (Oh dear another duff player) for the second half against the mighty Hong Kong Select in May 2002.

Nah, still don’t remember him. Well, it’s his birthday on October 15th and he will be 35. 35? Is he still playing then?

Well, I know you’re expecting me to tell you a tale of injury woes and such like, given he was one of Hans Hubert’s boys. Well, sort of; he did suffer a double leg break while playing for Bournemouth in 2005 and also a broken arm in 2007 but he did play for Bournemouth for nine years playing over 250 games. He never did get a game for Chelsea though but played on loan for West Brom and Dundee United.

However, Warren Cummings is still out there kicking a ball with Havant and Waterlooville in the Conference South.

Although he only played for the full squad the once, Warren played nine times for the Under 21 team. As said his only cap came in the Reunification Cup against Hong Kong Select. The full team for that day was as follows;

Rab Douglas, Lee Wilkie, Robbie Stockdale (remember him?), David Weir, Christian Dailly, Maurice Ross, Scott Severin, Scot Gemmill, Allan Johnston, Kevin Kyle and Steven Thompson.

Cummings, Scott Dobie, Gareth Williams, Goalkeeper Paul Gallacher, Garry O’Connor and Graham Alexander all made second half appearances.

Goals from Kevin Kyle, Steven Thompson, Christian Dailly and Scot Gemmill gave Scotland a “famous” (LOL) win.

Happy 35th birthday Warren and all the best for the season to come.

David Stuart