The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

Here’s a great film of Scotland Germany in 1959 with the late Graham Leggat providing two assists and scoring one goal. A similar scoreline on Monday will be fantastic.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook September 2nd , 2015

Ex-Aberdeen and Fulham, Scottish Internationalist Graham Leggat passed away on August 29th at the age of 81. Graham generally played at outside right for the national team and in eighteen games was to score 8 times for Scotland including representing the side in the 1958 World Cup.

Graham was first capped as an Aberdeen player on 14th April, 1956 facing England at Hampden, playing alongside three of the Hibs Famous Five; Gordon Smith, Lawrie Reilly and Bobby Johnstone of Manchester City. Making his debut that day also, was John Hewie of Charlton Athletic, who passed away earlier this year. Graham put Scotland into the lead in the 60th minute but Johnny Haynes ruined a dream of a debut with an 89th minute equaliser.
Graham’s next game was against Wales at Ninian Park in October of ’56 where Scotland gained a two all draw with Lawrie Reilly and Willie Fernie of Celtic scoring. This was followed by Graham scoring the equaliser in a one each draw with Northern Ireland at Hampden a year later.
Timing is everything in football and although Graham never appeared in any of the qualifying games against Switzerland and Spain for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, he returned in time for the two warm up games against Hungary and Poland with Scotland drawing with the Hungarians 1-1 in Glasgow and beating the Poles 2-1 in Warsaw. Eddie Turnbull of Hibs would also play in these games.
Although, Graham never scored in either game, he was picked to play in the first two games of the tournament in Sweden. Scotland drew one all with Yugoslavia with the late Jimmy Murray of Hearts becoming the first Scottish player ever to score at the World Cup. This was followed by a 3-2 defeat to Paraguay with Jackie Mudie and Bobby Collins of Celtic scoring the goals
Sammy Baird of Rangers took Graham’s place in the last game of the tournament with the Scots going down to a narrow defeat to France 2-1 with Baird scoring the goal.
As usual changes were made in the first game, following the World Cup and Graham, by then a Fulham player, was brought back in to face Wales in Cardiff again in October ’58. Making their debuts that day were John Grant of Hibs, Willie Toner of Kilmarnock, David Herd of Arsenal and Denis Law, then of Huddersfield making his debut aged 18.

Scotland won three nil with Leggat netting the first, followed by Law and Bobby Collins, then of Everton completing the scoring. Further games in the 1958-59 Home International series followed with a 2 all draw against Northern Ireland at Hampden with David Herd and once more the Mighty Atom Bobby Collins scoring. And then came a one nil defeat to England in April 1959 in which Graham played alongside the final player of the Famous Five; future Scotland Manager Willie Ormond.
Graham then hit a purple patch and would score in five consecutive appearances for Scotland. First up a 3-2 friendly win over West Germany in May 1959 with debutants John White of Falkirk and Motherwell’s Andy Weir both scoring in the first six minutes. Graham Leggat is instrumental in both these goals with White’s coming in eighteen seconds. (There is Pathe video of it and it is well worth watching and if we’re lucky the admin guy will post it).
After beating the Germans you may as well go to Amsterdam three weeks later and put the Dutch to the sword, which Scotland did with that man Collins scoring as well as Leggat in 2-1 victory.
Graham missed the next Scotland match; a one nil defeat to Portugal in Lisbon but returned for the Home Internationals in October. Beginning with a four nil defeat of NI in Belfast with Leggat hitting the opener and followed by goals from John Hewie, John White and George Mulhall of Aberdeen completing the rout.

This was followed by two one each draws with Wales (November ‘59) and England (April 1960) respectively with no lesser players than first John Charles and then Bobby Charlton scoring for the opposition. Graham would only play in the first four games of the new decade but had completed his scoring for the national side. After the England game, three friendlies followed including a 3-2 defeat to Poland at Hampden, a 4-1 defeat in Vienna and finally in June 1960 a three all draw in Budapest with Hungary.
Although, his time with national team had come to an end, Graham did create a little piece of history on Boxing Day 1963, when during a 10-1 humping of Ipswich Town he scored a hat-trick for Fulham in three minutes which was a English top flight record until Sadio Mane of Southampton scored a quicker one in the EPL last May.

Like many of us I never saw Graham Leggat play but it doesn’t mean we can’t all appreciate his service to the Scotland side. May he rest in peace and our thoughts go to his family at this time.

Davids Stuart

First posted on Facebook September 1st 2015

Derek Whyte will be 47 on August 31st. Derek had a fairly unique Scotland career. He gained 12 caps in total, all in a twelve year period between 1987 and 1999; he made the squads for both the Euros of 1992 and ’96 and also 1998 without making an appearance at either Finals.

Derek was first capped as a Celtic player in October 1987 coming on as a sub for Maurice Malpas in the second half as Scotland managed to beat our Belgian hoodoo with two goals from Ally McCoist and Paul McStay. (Perhaps when we play Belgium again we should arrange for Hamish Husband to be on holiday for that one too.) Also making his debut that night was Gary Gillespie of Liverpool whilst Stevie Clarke of Chelsea and Ian Wilson of Everton were also in the line-up.
Derek’s next game was away against Luxembourg in December of that year in the last of our Euro qualifiers, as a makeshift right back. Derek could be happy that Scotland kept a clean sheet. Not so much, that Luxembourg did too.
Fast forward two years and Derek was on Rous Cup duty coming on as a sub for Gillespie as Scotland beat Chile 2-0 at Hampden with goals from Alan McInally and Murdo Macleod. Jump another three years for Derek’s next appearance; again as a sub for Dave McPherson v USA in Denver as the Scots won one nil with Pat Nevin scoring the only goal. As stated Derek made the cut for the Euro Finals that year despite not featuring in any more of the warm-up games.
World Cup Qualifiers in October and November ’92 saw Derek, then a Middlesbrough player play the full ninety minutes against Portugal and then Italy with both games being played at Ibrox. Again Derek could be happy with clean sheets in both, unfortunately so could the Portuguese and Italian defences.
A pattern begins to emerge as Derek waits almost another three years and a Kirin Cup appearance against Japan in Hiroshima in May 1995. Derek came on as a sub late in the game for Colin Calderwood as we Scotland drew nil nil.
Derek started the following Kirin Cup game against Ecuador as the Scots won 2-1 with goals from John Robertson and Stevie Crawford. Cap number eight and this is the first time Derek has played in a team that conceded a goal, which came from a penalty.
Derek finally taste defeat in a Scotland shirt as the Scots go down 2-1 to the US in another Euro warm up. Incidentally, why have we gone to the US to warm up for a tournament in the Europe for two finals in a row? Gordon Durie scored Scotland’s goal that day.

The Euros ’96, another tournament, another squad and again no game time.Cap ten and Derek played against Latvia in a World Cup qualifier in October ’96. Again another clean sheet but fortunately goals from John Collins and Darren Jackson saw Scotland win.

Derek returns to the Scotland team almost eighteen months later in April ’98 as an Aberdeen player with an appearance in a friendly against Finland in front of a sparse crowd of 14,315 at Tynecastle. The game ended up one each with Darren Jackson scoring Scotland’s goal.
World Cup 1998, another tournament, another squad and again no game time.Derek’s final Scotland game was as one of six subs in the shock 1-0 win against Germany when Don Hutchison supplied the goal in April 1999 in Bremen.
So Happy Birthday to the unique Derek Whyte not only for all those Finals squads but one defeat in twelve and nine clean sheets for a defender must be quite pleasing too.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 31st, 2015

The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming! So WHAT? Keep calm and give the ball to Anya..The last time Germany came to Hampden was for a Euro qualifier in June 2003 when they were lucky to go home with a point in my humble, totally unbiased opinion. Germany took the lead against the run of play [see I told you] when in the 22nd minute Fredi Bobic headed past Rab ‘The Cat’ Douglas. [It has to be be conceded however that sometimes ‘Cat’ was short for catastrophe].

Bobby will be 72 on August 30th. Like many of his contemporaries whether Lisbon Lions or not, Bobby deserved more caps but the competition for places was so fierce at the time and with generally no subs for most of the sixties, opportunities were not as readily available.
In total, Bobby played ten times for Scotland only suffering one defeat and playing a major part in the triumphant defeat of England at Wembley in 1967.
His first cap came in a Home International game against Northern Ireland at Hampden in November 1966. This game doubled up as a qualifier towards the 1968 Euros. Bobby started alongside club mates; Tommy Gemmell, John Clark, Bobby Murdoch, Joe McBride and Stevie Chalmers. Rangers trio John Greig, Ronnie McKinnon, Willie Henderson and goalkeeper Bobby Ferguson of Killie along with lone Anglo Billy Bremner made up the rest of the side. Scotland won 2-1 with the two Bobby’s, Murdoch and Lennox scoring the goals.
Bobby’s next game was the 3-2 win at Wembley in 1967. Bobby would score the second Scotland goal with Denis Law and Jim McCalliog supplying the other two. 53,497 turned up at Hampden a month later to watch Scotland play the USSR in a friendly, which was the only time Bobby suffered defeat in a Scotland shirt. A delightful own goal lob from Tommy Gemmell gave USSR the lead which was followed by goal from Medved late in the first half to complete a 2-0 defeat. Gemmell’s goal seems to have grown in stature over the years but as the video shows; it was not the rocket shot from 40 yards that has oft been described.

Bobby missed the 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in October 1967 at Windsor Park, where George Best ripped us apart and ultimately saw us fail to reach the Euros. Bobby played in the game against Wales a month later that Scotland won 3-2 with an Alan Gilzean double and a Ronnie McKinnon goal giving us the victory. The final game of that seasons’ Home Internationals came against England in February 1968, with Scotland needing a win to progress through to the Euros last eight; alas it was not to be with a one all draw being played out with John Hughes supplying the Scotland goal and England going through. Cap number six and goal number three came in a one nil win against Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen.Bobby’s next three games were at the start of our World Cup Qualifiers for Mexico ’70. The campaign got off to a good start with a 2-1 win v Austria at Hampden in November with Denis Law and Billy Bremner supplying the goals. Bobby came on as a late sub for Chelsea’s Charlie Cooke in the 5-0 win against Cyprus a month later. All the goals had come in the first half with doubles from Alan Gilzean and Colin Stein and a solitary Bobby Murdoch goal.

Next up, was in front of a crowd of 95,951 at Hampden against West Germany with Vogts, Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller all playing. Muller had given the Germans the lead in 39 minutes but once again Bobby Murdoch was to provide the goal to equalise in the 88th minute. Murdoch only played 12 games for Scotland but managed to score six goals, which is the type of record any Scotland forward would be proud of.
Bobby’s Scotland career petered out with only one more appearance as a sub in a nil nil draw with Wales in April 1970.So Happy Birthday Bobby and all the best. Thanks for the memories and in particular Wembley ’67.

Happy Birthday also to fellow Celts and Scotland players Peter Grant (50) and Kris Commons (32).

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 31st, 2015

Football and contrived photographs tend to go together like Laurel and Hardy or John Martin and Airdrieonians and so just for the hell of it I’ve picked out a couple of my favourites from ‘Fitba’ magazine from 1998.

Leaving aside the anomaly that there tends not to be Mexican bandits in Argentina it’s hard to imagine other National Managers/Coaches acting the goat in the same way as Oor Ally. Cesar Luis Menotti as a Pirate of the Caribbean complete with stuffed parrot on shoulder or Helmut Schon as Ming the Merciless with ray-gun in hand? I don’t think so.The ability to be able to laugh at yourself is deemed healthy but perhaps on occasion we take it a step too far.

Another Scottish Football title that I recently recovered at the back of the garage was ‘Fitba’ – a magazine from the late 1990s which was produced by Brass Tacks Publishing from York Place, Edinburgh.

The two contrasting images are from issue 2 [March 1998] with the photo of Billy Bremner leading out the Scotland team [at Wembley I think] relating to an article on arguably our greatest ever captain who had died three months previous, just two days short of his 55th birthday. Some of the tributes are worth repeating – ‘He was Oor Wullie with balls. He was an inspiration on the pitch and in the bar. He duffed up Kevin Keegan in 1975. He was a bloody great footballer.

I know, some of you are thinking, why are we saying Happy Birthday to that dick, after all he missed that penalty in Argentina. That’s fair enough but does that really tell the story of Don’s time with the Scotland team? It’s funny how we remember that one in Argentina and don’t recall the one he scored at Anfield against Wales to put us there.

I did a Focus On piece on Don a few weeks back so I’m not going to go into much detail on this one but Don had a blistering start to his Scotland career especially in the 1976 Home International Series that Scotland won at a canter.

This excellent review of the fanzine by Easton Thain appeared in the Highland League match programme for Forres Mechanics v Huntley on 15th August. Enjoy.

I feel I must point you, dear reader, in the direction of a fairly new magazine which, in my humble opinion, is a MUST for all Scotland fans. Entitled ‘Scotland: Epistles, Bullshit and Thistles’ the magazine for Autumn 2015 is Issue 3 and I have to say every mag so far has been nothing short of superb as Scotland fans reflect on their experiences or air their views on subjects relating to the national side. These articles have been witty, interesting and thought provoking in every issue so far (back copies can be found on e-bay, as will this issue probably) and the latest rendition is no different. Before reflecting on all that I urge every Scotland fan out there to track down this magazine for that could be crucial to its survival and, trust me, you will not be disappointed! The cover of the latest mag depicts various album stickers of Scotland players over the years (relates to article inside) but below that the legend says it all – ‘The third in a short series of unofficial, but highly collectable souvenirs for Scotland supporters produced in tandem with a successful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign…Oh God please’.

Edited by Robert Marshall (of Dark Blue Anorak Productions) the balance of stimulating reading and humour is there from start to finish in a series of brilliant articles. The magazine has had some notable supporters viz this part of the Foreward by the Ed, which instantly gave me the first of many chuckles when reading the mag. ‘A special thank you to journalist Stewart Cosgrove for giving the fanzine a couple of mentions on his BBC Radio Scotland Show Off The Ball. To those other individuals in the media and retail industry that did not even give us the courtesy of a reply, I hope your next one is a hedgehog….’. Oh come on you must know what Robert means by that last quip! There is actually some reading before the Foreward as inside the cover under the heading ‘Since You Last Held Me ‘(an innovative heading in its own right!) there are short reviews with programme covers of the Scotland games vs. Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, Qatar and away to Ireland. And so to this issues motley collection of articles and a diverse selection it is but all fascinating in their own way. Briefly they are as follows –

‘Echoes From A Foreign Country’ – This looked back to the World Cup Finals of 1950, 54, 74 and 78 and the reflections of the writer, Andrew Stuart, a former merchant seaman who was docked in Brazil in 1950 hence mention of these finals which Scotland were not at despite an invite, whose son, David is a member of the magazines crew. The one-page article was originally written in 2000 and Andrew is sadly no longer with us but what he wrote was fascinating especially in regard to 1950 when he had to tell others on that voyage ‘Soy Escoses, No Inglez’ (I’m Scottish not English) after the earth shattering result Estados Unidos 1 Inglaterra 0 (USA 1 England 0).

‘The Auld Enemy’ – This superb article by Alan Nelson was written before the World Cup draw was made but reflects on how games with the ‘Auld Enemy’ have/ are and should be perceived where he basically has a go at us spending our time sniping at the English whilst still wanting any team playing them to win though, as he says ‘I am not devastated if they don’t’. The ‘old friend’ of the Scotland fans, Jimmy Hill, also gets a mention mainly about his passion for his country and, as the writer brilliantly puts it, ‘He [Jimmy Hill] has the cheek to wear a bow tie with wee St George’s crosses on it and meanwhile the guy lambasting him is wearing a Scotland top, kilt, pipe majors jaiket, Glengarry hat and spouting on about how we were ‘Unofficial’ world champions for the day we beat England 3-1 at Wembley a year after they had become ‘Official World Champions’… I concur with everything in the article although I still hate the media of their coverage of England games, does my t**s in!

‘Scotland Managers: Their Part In My Downfall’ – another superb article this time by the editor himself on how various Scotland managers unwittingly shaped his footballing life going from the manager of Scotland when he first saw them, Tommy Docherty through to the fair-haired one now in charge. The waxing lyrical he does about his favourite boss, Ally MacLeod, is one highlight of some brilliant writing – wish I was as talented!

‘Between A Rock And A Hard Place’ – Scott Cockburn reflects on the match against Gibraltar, a no win situation for the Scots against a country, as he says, is the size of Wishaw but the main gist of the fascinating article is the problem with ‘minnows’ playing in international competitions and the problems Scotland have had against them!

‘Hanging Around: Georgia 2007’ – In this article Kevin Donnelly reflects on the first visit to Georgia in 2007 and the feeling is that despite the result (Scotland lost 0-2 in that stupid kit albeit that is positively brilliant compared to the fruit salad away strip of now!) it was a memorable trip for him and I can assure you it is a bit of an eye-opener.

‘Back To The Sixties’ – Here the aforementioned David Stuart reflects on Scotland’s record in the ‘swinging sixties’. It was a time that is reflected as being a ‘golden era’ of great players and great Scotland teams (probably because of some results v England, 67 anyone?!) and yet, as he astutely points out, in that decade Scotland failed to qualify for any finals. A smattering of important stats backs this up but near his conclusion he does feel players of that era do deserve the tag of ‘cult hero’ due to the way they played.

‘World Cup ’74: Two Dimensional Heroes’ – This time David Stuart reflects on Scotland stars portrayed in the collectors football cards that abound in 1970’s and later the sticker variety. His opening salvo to when he got ‘hooked’ on cards after the famous win over Czechoslovakia took us to the 74 finals in West Germany (hence the title) contains some brilliant humour and he goes on to wax lyrical about various sets that appeared and who was depicted on them with some real puzzlement as to why some players were featured.

‘Erza Free Tickets’ – Alan Nelson again this time reflecting on a bit of a farce regarding tickets for the Gibraltar game and the recollections of a phone call to the SFA says it all.

‘Money To Burn’ – I will wager when you attend a Scotland match at Hampden you are wowed by all the pizzazz before-hand notably the pyrotechnics, well this time Alan Nelson asks you to think about the costs associated with all of this and what he feels would be a better alternative!

‘Odd-Shaped Balls’ – When I saw that Robert Marshall had penned an article on Rugby my initial thought was ‘what?!’ What’s this doing in a footie mag? It actually turns out to be a very good article reflecting the two codes of football and how they can relate to each other, having followed both he is qualified to do just that. You will be surprised how the article grips you and is thought provoking!

Ah now then I have forgotten the one other article that comes after Back to the Sixties and is entitled ‘When The World Cup Came To Scotland’, hmm you may have heard of the writer, a chiel called Easton Thain! Here he reflects on when the U-16 World Cup came to Scotland in 1989 and his personal memories of the young Bravehearts run to the final where they eventually lost out to the Over-45’s from Saudi Arabia – you will need to get the mag to understand that last reference! Of course this is the most brilliant article of the lot he says modestly! I am joking of course, was just delighted that Robert allowed me to contribute to a superb mag that deserves your support so what are you waiting for!

Easton Thain

First posted on Facebook August 25th, 2015