The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

With all the effort I have put in over the last few months on the Facebook page and the magazine, my hard, more J Jonah Jamieson than Lou Grant, editor in chief Robert Marshall has granted me some time off. So today I am off to sunnier skies . . . no not England but to Greece and the island of Kos. My bags are packed, mainly with small cash notes and my Saltire budgie smugglers are all set to be modelled on the beaches of Mastihari.

Unfortunately this means I won’t be posting any articles and with such luminaries as Paul Lambert, Neil McCann, Bobby Murdoch and Ronnie McKinnon all having birthdays they will be missed out too. I am most disappointed in not being able to revisit Stewart Kennedy’s Scotland career. Unbeaten in four games and then pumped severely at Wembley.

John Wark was one of those players I loved as an Ipswich Town player, not so much as a Scotland player. Sometimes though it’s all about timing; who is it you’re playing alongside, which positional changes are made to fit you in the team, where does the Manager want me to play etc.

For John, all of this is true. Ally MacLeod brought him into the squad apparently for the East Germany friendly in June 1977 but a hamstring injury forced him to withdraw. It is quite intriguing to think of John making his way into the team and contention for Argentina and how much of a difference it could have made.

However, it was not to be and John would have to wait until 19th May, 1979 for his Scotland debut. It was not the most auspicious of starts as we were thumped 3 nil by Wales with John Toshack scoring all three. Also making their debuts that day were Alan Hansen, Paul Hegarty and George Burley.

The first few years of Jock Stein’s reign weren’t that spectacular, as I have said before; a lot of the time he would play with three centre halves almost. It was not uncommon to see Miller, McLeish and Narey in his line ups, alternating with Hansen and even Wark making up the trio. So for the most of his early games John seemed to be a holding midfielder whereas his Wikipedia page describes him as an offensive midfielder. With that moustache and long unkempt hair I can understand what they mean. Seriously though John’s look was one of the things I liked about him; that whole couldn’t give a monkeys if facial hair was unfashionable thing.

In some ways you couldn’t argue that John didn’t get a good initial run in the team for he played in all nine Scotland games that year. It’s a pity we only won 2 games, drew 2 but lost the other five including a 3-1 defeat to England with John scoring his first Scotland goal. Of course, we did suffer the double curse of playing in Euro Championships and also playing Belgium, who thumped us both home and away.

John doesn’t play at all in 1980 for Scotland, his club stats suggest he was an almost ever present for Ipswich at this time; he does however return for a World Cup Qualifier against Israel in Tel Aviv in early 1981 where Scotland scrape by 1-0 with Dalglish scoring the only goal. As Scotland slouched towards qualification his goal against Northern Ireland in a one all draw at Hampden was quite important but ultimately it would be wins against Sweden that would see us though to Spain ’82 along with Northern Ireland.

John would also score against the Irish in 1981-82 Home Internationals just before the World Cup. He would go on to play in all our World Cup games scoring two against New Zealand in our 5-2 win.

Another disappointing Euro campaign followed, although Scotland did start with a win against East Germany at Hampden with John scoring the opening goal but with Belgium and Switzerland in our group defeats soon followed. John would score against the Swiss at Hampden in the two all draw that saw Charlie Nicholas burst onto the International scene with that brilliant goal.

Caps 27, 28 and 29 came as a Liverpool player, the final one being John’s last. John played the first half against Yugoslavia in that famous 6-1 win, which was only attended by 18,512 but which 30,000 claim to have been at. Although, John’s first full season at Liverpool was quite successful as he scored 27 goals in total; injury and the signing of John Barnes would see him play less and less for the Reds and with that his Scotland career finished. John played 29 times for Scotland scoring 7 goals, which would be quite good for a Scotland striker never mind a midfielder.

Happy Birthday John and all the best for the coming year.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 4th, 2015

Belgium/Netherlands 2000, Portugal 2004, Austria/Switzerland 2008 and Poland/Ukraine 2012 -21st century Euro Finals that we’ve failed to qualify for. Gonnae no add to this list, Scotland – just gonnae no….

They say that suffering is good for the soul however, so here’s a brief reminder of how those not so fab four qualifying campaigns panned out.

Former Rangers and Scotland full back Sammy Cox died on August 2nd, aged 91 after a short illness. I can’t tell you a lot about Sammy in terms of what type of player he was; I never saw him play but what I can put in context is his time with the National team. I think it’s important that even although most of us would struggle to know who he was and when he played, we still remember him and his service to Scotland.

Sammy won a total of 24 caps for Scotland from 1949-1954, remarkably Sammy’s record reads W16 D 4 L4. Two of the defeats were to England, one to Austria and Wales apiece. It is also worth noting that fate denied Sammy the chance to play in not one but two World Cups.
I wrote a few weeks ago about 1949 being the Perfect Year as Scotland played four games and won them all that year and Sammy was there right at the start of it. He made his debut on 9th April, 1949 against England at Wembley, a game Scotland won 3-1. A year later, the England game had bigger consequences to it rather than just winning the Home International Championship.

Qualification for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil would go to the two top teams in the Championship that season. By the end of 1949, both Scotland and England were assured qualification but in a moment of hubris the SFA declared they would only go as Champions. Defeat at Hampden to England by a solitary goal in April, 1950 put paid to that idea and so World Cup opportunity #1 passed Sammy by. Given Scotland’s other results around this time, it is sad that players of the calibre of Bobby Evans, George Young, Lawrie Reilly, Willie Waddell and Billy Steel were all denied this chance to shine on the World stage too.
Good consistent form followed the Scots and Sammy over the next few years and similarly the 1954 Home Internationals would be the platform for a World Cup place. Sammy played in all three games with Scotland defeating Ireland 3-1 in Belfast with Charlie Fleming of East Fife scoring two goals on his debut. Of course in true East Fife and Scotland fashion; Charlie like Henry Morris who scored a hat-trick against Ireland on his debut 5 years previously was sent packing back to Methil and never pulled on a Scotland strip again. A three all draw against Wales and funny enough there was no declaration of only going as Champions after that.

In the final game of the Championship and in what turned out to be his final Scotland game; Sammy was given captaincy for the game against England at Hampden. Willie Ormond of Hibs would make his debut that day. Despite Alan Brown of Blackpool giving us an early lead in 7 minutes by the time of Ormond’s goal in 89 minutes England had put 4 past George Farm in the Scotland goal.

Just like Ireland had Gary Mackay to thank for their qualification to the Euros in 1988; Scotland had Peter McParland of Ireland who put two past Wales that day to allow Scotland to go through to the World Cup.

So surely Sammy was not dropped because of the defeat to England and that’s why he never got to the World Cup in ‘54, you may ask? Well, no. Rangers went on an overseas tour that summer and the SFA allowed them to take the likes of Sammy, Willie Waddell and George ‘Corky’ Young with them. Sad but true.
After the World Cup Sammy was never picked again, although both Waddell and Young, who also retained his Captaincy, returned to the fold in the first games after it.
So here’s to Sammy Cox may he rest in peace.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 3rd, 2015

Steve Archibald is another on the long list of failed Scotland strikers, despite playing in the great Aberdeen team under Alex Ferguson, an FA Cup winning Tottenham team and also Barcelona, he never made the grade with the national team. Steve would play 27 times for Scotland and would only score 4 goals.
Yet it started so well. Steve made his debut against Portugal at Hampden on 26th March, 1980. Scotland were already 2 nil up when Steve came on for Kenny Dalglish and within twenty minutes Steve had scored. Scotland would go on to win 4 nil. His Aberdeen teammate Alex McLeish would also make his debut that night, however this would be Steve’s one and only cap as a Don.

By the time of cap number two in May, Steve would be a Tottenham player. He was given a starting berth against Northern Ireland alongside Dalglish but Scotland would lose one nil. It is fair to say that the first couple of years of Jock Stein’s reign, Scotland were fairly poor and inconsistent.

Cap number three came in a friendly against Poland in Poznan in May 1980 with Dalglish, Joe Jordan and Archibald all starting. With that all starring forward line of course we got beat 1-0. Three days later in Budapest with Archibald starting alongside Alan Brazil, the Scots went down 3-1 with Steve scoring the consolation goal.

In fairness to Steve his Scotland career is one of the really being second to the likes of Dalglish, Jordan and Andy Gray in his early days. He did start some games in our successful 1982 World Cup Qualifiers including home games against Northern Ireland, Israel and away to Portugal. Goal number three came in rare win against Northern Ireland at that time but not in the Qualifiers rather in a 2-0 win in May ’81 at Hampden in the Home Internationals with West Ham’s Ray Stewart scoring his only Scotland goal. Steve continued upfront for the game at Wembley that year which saw Scotland win 1-0 with a John Robertson penalty which came after Steve was fouled by Bryan Robson. A slightly dubious but no doubt righteous decision. Archibald didn’t feature too much in the warm-up games for Spain ’82 as Alan Brazil seemed to be favoured more but he would come on as a sub against New Zealand in opening game of the Finals and score his last goal for Scotland in the 5-2 win. He was then chosen for the final two group games starting against both Brazil and the USSR.
After, the World Cup he played in some Euro Qualifiers but it would be the rise of Maurice Johnston that would start to see him get less game time. Interestingly, he was returned to the team for a World Cup Qualifier against Spain in Seville. This was Steve’s first cap as a Barcelona player; Scotland lost one nil. Cap number 26, was as sub against Iceland in Reykjavik in Jock Stein’s penultimate game in charge in May 1985, in which Jim Bett scored the sole goal.
It would be a year later that his final cap came. Alex Ferguson chose him for the game against West Germany in Queretaro, Mexico which saw us go down 2-1.
That was it for Steve and Scotland as Ally McCoist and Mo Johnston became the preferred players in the next few years. The thing about Steve; he was more an individual than a team player, often seen as a greedy player, who if there was a chance to shoot would do so. Although this led to a lot of goals for him it was not always the best choice for the team.
As for the spotlight article from Match magazine. Steve picks Danny McGrain for both his best all time British and International teams, with Dalglish being the only other Scot in his British team. His favourite food is not Steak but Lamb. Favourite TV shows are ‘Soap’ and ‘Fawlty Towers. However, it is perhaps in his Superstitions that we get a clue to his failed Scotland career. His superstition is “I always wear a long sleeved shirt”. Steve have you had a look at your photo? Of course, if you do look at photos of his time with Scotland, there’s not too many long sleeved shirts in them and given the stock players and indeed fans give to these things, then maybe just maybe . . .

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 2nd, 2015

I had this idea of doing something on the First ever Under-23 match and the last, you know putting together facts and figures etc., who made it through to full International scene, who did diddly squat but then I discovered in Scotland’s first Under-23 International that took place on 8th February, 1955, we got pumped 6 nil by England – so bugger that.

Actually to tell the story of their last Under-23 game you have to tell the story of their last European Under-23 Championship in 1975-76. Scotland had drawn Romania and Denmark in their group and despatched of them very quickly. Starting with two away games, first a 2-1 win in Romania with the two Willie’s scoring. Young of Aberdeen and Pettigrew of Motherwell followed by a 1-0 win in Denmark with Hibs Des Bremner scoring.

The home games were won with consummate ease, something that is rarely said of any Scotland team, with a 4-1 win against Denmark that included an Andy Gray, then of Aston Villa hat-trick and a fourth goal by Hearts’ Rab Prentice in his only appearance for the Under-23 team.

This was followed by a 4-0 trouncing of Romania with two goals by Willie Pettigrew, another for Des Bremner and a penalty converted by team Captain Tommy Craig of Newcastle.

Scotland then drew Holland in their quarter-final tie with the first leg away in Breda. Tommy Craig would miss this game due to his club not releasing him but also missing was Andy Gray due to injury (wasn’t he always?). It would also seem that Willie Pettigrew was injured too. So who did Scotland decide to play in his place? Surely one of our up and coming stars? Nope. Step forward 33 times capped for the full team; Kenny Dalglish, who was 24 at the time.

I don’t know if the Dutch played some ‘ringers’ in their team or not but in our line-up we had a few players who were capped already; John Brownlie of Hibs, Willie Miller of Aberdeen, Graeme Souness of Middlesbrough, Kenny Burns of Birmingham and Rangers ‘Derek Johnstone. Also playing that night were Thistle’s Alan Rough, Chic McLelland of Aberdeen, Willie McVie of Motherwell, Des Bremner, Joe Craig of Partick Thistle. David Narey came on as sub for Willie McVie.

Of course, with that all-star line-up we got beat 2 nil!

The return leg at Easter Road in March, 24th 1976 was to be the last Under-23 game, Scotland would play. From the programme notes; Willie Ormond is in charge, however Jock Stein had started out in charge of the Young Guns, until a car accident which nearly killed him in 1975 prevented him from seeing his team through to the knockout stages of the tournament. Dalglish was dropped for this game; either that or he couldn’t be bothered with it and was replaced by young Joe Jordan, also a sprightly 24. In fairness, Joe had been out with a back injury for a while and Ormond probably wanted to give him a run-out.

The full line-up was; Alan Rough, John Brownlie, Frank Gray (Leeds United), Rangers Colin Jackson, Willie Miller, Tommy Craig, Des Bremner, Willie Pettigrew, Joe Jordan, Joe Smith of Aberdeen and Derek Johnstone. Peter Dickson of Queen of the South would replace Joe Smith during the game.

In front of a crowd of over 32,000 Scotland grabbed two goals; one each for Rangers’ players Colin Jackson and Derek Johnstone to level the tie. However, we were to lose 4-3 on penalties and so ended our campaign and the last ever Scotland Under-23 game.

Holland lost out to eventual winners, the Soviet Union in the semi-finals but it was not all an unhappy ending for some of these these players as a fortnight later Rough, Frank Gray, Tommy Craig, Willie Pettigrew and Des Bremner were all given their full debut caps in a 1-0 win against Switzerland at Hampden in front of a measly crowd of 15,531. For Des Bremner and Tommy Craig these would be their only caps but then again it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all as the song goes.

As to the programme, on the front cover we can see Kenny Dalglish challenging for the ball and the unmistakeable taches’ of Messrs. Souness and Bremner. I have also scanned a picture from the inside just to enjoy the size of the lapels on David Narey and Willie Millers shirts.

Thanks to the Fitba’stats website for some of the facts as always.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook 30th July, 2015

The upcomng Georgia game reminded me of a mildly bizarre episode involving the home tie. My group had four tickets but my daughter couldn’t make it because of work and my pal Colin’s group from Fife had eight tickets but two of them couldn’t make it because they had returned from a recent trip to Thailand with a tropical disease (well they’re claiming it was tropical but I’m not so sure). So we had three spare tickets between us, but as you know this game was not exactly an instant sell out. Fans were very unhappy at the price of the tickets and the fact that we had to give up Hampden to the commonwealth games.

Collectors are generally a sad lot, take my fellow Bullshitter Robert Marshall; the article he wrote about the World Cup Draw was his usual clever, funny self. However, that’s not the sad thing. If you look at the article there’s a photo of a card that says Russia 2018. That’s actually a free drinks voucher; that instead of using, Robert kept as a souvenir of the day and but still bought beers at £4.50 a throw. Sad, sad man.
However, this is not about his collecting it’s about mine as it’s a wee while since I used a football card to tell a story. So here it is, Graeme Sharp from the Topps 1988 Saint & Greavsie set.The story of Graeme Sharp, really is the story of many a Scotland striker; to be found wanting. There are very few over the years who have excelled on the international front since the eighties perhaps Mo Johnston, Ally McCoist and Kenny Miller are the only ones with any real goals return. Falling by the wayside around the time of Sharp would be Stevie Archibald, David Speedie, John Spencer, Gordon Durie, Brian McClair and Charlie Nicholas among others.
Like Sharp, some were really good club players in English First Division but couldn’t cut it on the International front. Graeme’s goal average for Everton is about 1 in every three games scoring 111 League goals in total; for Scotland it was 1 in 12.
Graeme is one of only three Scottish players to have won the Goal of the Season award since it was first gifted in the early Seventies, having won it with a peach of a goal against Liverpool in ’84-’85.
The other Scots to win it are Archie Gemmill in 1977-78; but not for that goal but for another outstanding one in the same season for Nottingham Forest. Kenny Dalglish probably could have won it most seasons, such was his plethora of great goals for Liverpool and yet his is for a Scotland goal. In 1982-83 when he scored that wonder goal against Belgium in the Heysel Stadium of all places.
It was Jock Stein that gave Graeme his first cap in a World Cup Qualifier against Iceland in Reykjavik, which Scotland crucially won in the last few minutes with Jim Bett’s only goal for Scotland (see the Ten One Goal Wonders posted on Facebook June 27th for more details). Fellow Evertonian Andy Gray started upfront alongside Graeme in what was to be his last game for Scotland.
Jock gave the nod to Graeme to start against Wales alongside David Speedie on that fateful night that Jock would pass away.
With Alex Ferguson taking over, Graeme would be sidelined for the play-offs against Australia with Frank McAvennie making his short lived but crucial appearances on the International scene. A couple starts in winning friendlies against Israel and Romania came and went without Sharp opening his goal account.
By the time of the World Cup it was quite clear; we didn’t have an effective striker in place with Maurice Johnston having been left out due to a falling out with Fergie and Kenny Dalglish withdrawing, Charlie Nicholas and Stevie Archibald had both been given their chances in the opening games but both were found wanting and so Fergie turned to Sharp to start against Uruguay and the rest as they say is Misery.
Andy Roxburgh would give Sharp a couple of more chances but with the rise of Ally McCoist and the reinstatement of Mo Jo as first choice strikers, it would mean his time was over. It is ironic that his only Scotland goal came in his final game a 1-1 friendly draw with Malta in Valletta. If Graeme was around today he probably would be our first choice striker but probably wouldn’t be good enough for Everton and no doubt would playing in the lower echelons of the Premiership or indeed in the Championship.
Oh for an International Class Striker!As for the card set, there was quite a few Scotland players in the set which was made up of club cards as well as separate Internationals ones. Among the Scotland ones were; Strachan, Gillespie, McGhee, Malpas, Leighton, McClair, Miller, McLeish, Collins, Sharp, Nicholas, McCoist, Durrant and Sturrock mostly all wearing those namby pamby shorts of the time.

David Stuart

Sometimes you see a photo and you just love the sheer joy portrayed in it. Of course, this is Ally McCoist just after scoring and there will be hundreds of photos of him with that exuberant smile but this one would have been a bit more special.
To tell the whole story, you have to go back over two years beforehand to April 28th, 1993 and a 5 nil defeat to Portugal in Lisbon in a World Cup Qualifier. Scotland had lost to Switzerland away from home and drawn with Portugal at Ibrox; a poor start to the campaign for USA ’94. We would finish fourth with Italy and Switzerland going through to the finals.
At the heart of the Scotland team that night were five Rangers players; Andy Goram, Richard Gough, David McPherson, Stuart McCall and Ally McCoist. Although, Andy Roxburgh would only have three more games in charge of Scotland, he never played any of the five again. He never really ahd any choice as Ally in attempting to score had been calttered by a Portuguese defender and had his leg broken. For Gough and David McPherson it meant the end of their Scotland careers, McCall and Goram would be reinstated quite quickly under Craig Brown but for Ally it would take a long time to put the Dark Blue of Scotland on again.  Of course as one player goes out, another comes in and Colin Hendry was one of the players that would make his debut in the very next game.
So let’s skip forward over two years to August 16th, 1995. Scotland have had a very good start to their Euro Qualifiers for 1996. We have despatched Finland, Faroes and San Marino without any major hitches, we have drawn home and away against Russia and our only reverse was against Greece losing 1-0 to a penalty in Athens. In the meantime McCoist has not had the greatest of times after recovering from his leg break, other injuries meant he had missed a lot of football.
If we beat Greece, then the finish line in sight with games at home against Finland and San Marino to come. The Greeks had already been beaten by Russia and Finland, so this was to be their last chance to qualify but also for Scotland there was the possibility of having to play in a play-off and winning against Greece would count towards avoiding that.
For 71 minutes Scotland’s forward line of Darren Jackson and Duncan Shearer have been unable to pierce the sturdy Greek defence, Craig Brown decides it’s time for Ally to make his International return and also brings on John Robertson. Within a minute, John Collins crosses over and Ally nips in to place a perfect header in the far corner.
In the photo, there’s the joyful McCoist, toothless Craig Burley and John Robertson all almost choreographed in their movements, although I think Colin Calderwood in the background should be substituted as he appears to have only one leg. What you don’t see is Ally jumping over the advertising hoard, running around the goal and jumping another hoarding before stopping to celebrate. John Robertson has followed him off and on the pitch to get a hold of him. Great times.
As for Ally the story didn’t finish there, Craig Brown would use him as a substitute over the next few months and he managed to score against San Marino in another qualifier in a 5 nil rout at Hampden. Ally would be made Captain of the team for his 50th cap in a home friendly, in which of course he would score the only goal. Typical Ally.
So onto Euro ’96 and Ally would come on as a sub against England at Wembley but enough said of that, as Ally would start against Switzerland in what was to be our final game of the tournament. Ally was of course to score the only goal with a great drive from the edge of the box but alas it was not to be enough. Ally played in some of the qualifying games for France ’98 and there are plenty of people who feel he should’ve been part of the squad for that year’s finals and with the likes of Simon Donnelly getting there, perhaps there is a case to be heard. Indeed his final games would be in the campaign for the 2000 Euros in . . . wherever it was, we never got there so it’s not that important.
So here’s to Ally and here’s hoping we get to see a few photos like this one in the next few months of other Scotland strikers.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook July 27th, 2015