The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

Good news at last; pity it’s old news. On this day, November 13th in 1991 Scotland more or less qualified for the 1992 Euros. Scotland played against San Marino at Hampden and won 4-0 thanks to goals from Paul McStay, Richard Gough, Gordon Durie and Ally McCoist.
However, we would still need to wait until the conclusion of two other games to ensure our qualification. A couple of hours later and a one nil victory to Romania in Bucharest against Switzerland saw the Swiss out of contention but now the Romanians had the chance to grab the place in the qualifying place.
It must have been quite nervy the following week as the Romanians went into the lead in Sofia but a goal from Sirakov gave the Bulgarians the draw and Scotland qualification.
The team against San Marino was Andy Goram, Dave McPherson, Maurice Malpas, Craig Levein, Richard Gough (Captain), Paul McStay, Gary McAllister, Stuart McCall, John Robertson, Gordon Durie and Ally McCoist. Subs were Kevin Gallacher and making his final appearance for the team; Mo Johnston. Johnston’s Scotland record was played 38 scored 14.

David Stuart

1th November. Scotland have only played on this date on three occasions and on each one we have been victorious. The first came in 1970 in a European Championship Qualifier against Denmark at Hampden. 1970 was a funny year in that Scotland didn’t play particularly well in any game but managed to go through it without losing a game or conceding a goal. The first three games were a 1-0 win against Northern Ireland in Belfast, followed by a nil nil draws with both Wales and England at Hampden.
Bobby Brown was still in charge for this first qualifier and fielded the following team: Jim Cruickshank (Hearts), David Hay (Celtic), John Greig (Rangers), Pat Stanton (Hibs), Ronnie McKinnon (Rangers), Bobby Moncur (Newcastle United, Captain), Jimmy Johnstone (Celtic), Willie Carr (Coventry), Colin Stein (Rangers), John O’Hare (Derby County), Willie Johnston (Rangers). Peter Cormack of Nottingham Forest and Sandy Jardine both made subs appearances.
It was John O’Hare who would score the game’s only goal in the 14th minute. O’Hare had scored the goal against Northern Ireland also, meaning he was the only Scot to score in 1970 for the national side.

On this day in 1970 Sandy Jardine made his Scotland debut coming on in the 77th minute for David Hay in a World Cup Qualifier. Sandy would go on to win 38 caps representing Scotland in both the 1974 and ’78 World Cups, scoring on one occasion from the penalty spot against Wales in 1974. Sandy is mostly remembered for his partnership with Danny McGrain and captained Scotland on nine occasions.

On this day in 1987 Gary Mackay scores that goal to give Scotland victory and send Ireland euphoric.

On this day in 2011, Scotland beat Cyprus with two cracking goals

On this day in 1971, Tommy Docherty gave Kenny Dalglish his debut for Scotland coming on as a sub for Alex Cropley in the 48th minute in a European Championship Qualifier. John O’Hare scored in the 6th minute and that was enough to give Scotland a rare win over Belgium at Pittodrie. Kenny of course, scored the second goal in our 2-1 victory over England at Wembley, 1977.

Twenty years ago to the day, who can forget this one. John McGinlay scored in the 8th minute to put Scotland ahead against Sweden. Jim Leighton would put on a superb display for the remaining 82 minutes to make sure it stayed that way to help us on our road to France ’98.

On this day in 1960, a crowd of 34,564 phoned in sick as the kick off was 2.30pm as it was played on a Wednesday afternoon, to see Scotland beat Northern Ireland 5-2. Making their debuts that day were Rangers pair Jim Baxter and Ralph Brand as well as Manchester City’s Jackie Plenderleith.
Brand would make the biggest impact with two goals; the otehr scores were Denis Law, Alex Young and Eric Caldow from the penalty spot.
Why oh why do people write on their programmes. Damn them.

Scotland have never been beaten on this date, having played 5 games. The greatest of the wins was surely 51 years ago as a goal in the 88th minute from John Greig saw Scotland beat Italy 1-0 in a World Cup Qualifier.

David Stuart

On this day in 1957, Scotland qualified for the 1958 World Cup. They had begun their campaign with a fine 4-2 win over Spain which included a Jackie Mudie hat-trick with John Hewie scoring the other from the penalty spot. This was followed up with a crucial 2-1 win over Switzerland in Basle where goals from Mudie again and Bobby Collins saw Scotland victorious.
A no doubt vengeful 4-1 defeat to Spain in May ’57 followed, however it was 2-2 draw between the Swiss and Spain in Madrid before Scotland had even kicked a ball in the qualifiers that would prove decisive. Scotland would have to beat Switzerland at home to qualify for the World Cup; as usual the Scots the crowd of only 58,811 a few scares along the way.
It would be Scotland who would open the scoring through Archie Robertson of Clyde in the 29th minute but the Swiss would equalise in the 35th minute to send the sides in at 1-1.
Jackie Mudie would score once more in the 52nd minute to put Scotland ahead and then in the 70th minute Rangers winger Alex Scott scored a third to give Scotland a commanding lead.
But with this being Scotland a second Swiss goal was scored in the 80th minute to give the crowd a nervous ten minutes or so before the final whistle went and qualification was assured.
Blackpool’s Jackie Mudie scored 5 goals in the qualifying rounds in total but also scored in the 3-2 defeat to Paraguay at the Finals. His tally for Scotland was 9 goals in 17 caps; if only we had someone like that around today.
The Scotland line up was as follows: Tommy Younger (Liverpool), Alex Parker (Falkirk), Eric Caldow (Rangers), Willie Fernie and Bobby Evans (both Celtic), Tommy Docherty (Preston North End Captain), Alex Scott (Rangers), Bobby Collins (Celtic), Jackie Mudie (Blackpool), Archie Robertson and Tommy Ring (both Clyde).

The programme cover comes as usual form our website.

A few years on from 1957 and Scotland also played a World Cup game in 1968 on this day. This was the opening match in our 1970 World Cup campaign. Scotland would begin with a 2-1 win over Austria. Manager Bobby brown sent out a side packed with Scotland legends lining up as follows: Ronnie Simpson(Celtic), Tommy Gemmell (Celtic), Eddie McCreadie (Chelsea), Billy Bremner (Leeds United), Ronnie McKinnon and John Greig (both Rangers), Jimmy Johnstone (Celtic), Charlie Cooke (Chelsea), John Hughes (Celtic), Denis Law (Manchester United) and Bobby Lennox (Celtic).
With that mouthwatering line up, is it any surprise Scotland went 1-0 down after two minutes. However Denis Law would soon restore parity in the 7th minute but it would take until the 75th minute for Scotland to grab the winner with Captain Billy Bremner scoring. Denis Law would make way for Alan Gilzean of Spurs just after the goal. A crowd of 80,856 watched this game, that would be a last Scotland outing for Ronnie Simpson with Jim Herriot of Birmingham City playing the majority of otehr games in the group. West Germany would of course qualify for the Finals from the group.

David Stuart

On this day in 1952 Scotland played Northern Ireland at Hampden in a Home International. The game would end with two late goals; Seamus D’arcy scoring the first for the Irish in the 80th minute. Scotland would equalise in the last minute through who else but Lawrie Reilly of Hibs.
Lawrie scored 22 times for Scotland in 38 caps; injury would see Reilly retire before his 30th birthday. Who knows how many goals he would have scored had he played on for a few more years. If you compare his stats to that of Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish it is quite interesting.
For Denis it would mean his cap total would finish at 42; so there would be no second coming of Denis; no World Cup in ’74. However, it would make his goalscoring total more interesting as he would then have 28 in 42 games.
For Kenny Dalglish it would mean he would only gain 78 caps and there would be no 1982 World Cup. His goal tally would then be 24 goals in 78 games.
The team that day at Hampden was George Farm (Blackpool), George Young (Rangers, Capt.), Sammy Cox (Rangers), Jimmy Scoular (Portsmouth), Frank Brennan (Newcastle United), George Aitken (Sunderland), Tommy Wright (Sunderland), Jimmy Logie (Arsenal), Lawrie Reilly (Hibs), Billy Steel (Dundee) and Billy Liddell (Liverpool).
Jimmy Logie was winning his one and only cap that day. Logie played 328 times for Arsenal scoring 68 goals. It is a remarkable stat as it took him over six years to make his debut. Jimmy had signed in June 1939 but with break out of war he was called up for the Royal Navy serving throughout the war. His time with Arsenal would see him win two First Division Championships as well as the FA Cup.
Jimmy’s career started out at Lochore Welfare as did Willie Johnston, Craig Levein and Colin Cameron.
The programme is from our website, love the creases.

On this day, in 1969 Peter Lorimer made his debut for Scotland. He would be the last player to win his first cap in the 1960’s coming on as a sub in a World Cup qualifier against Austria. West Germany had already qualified at the expense of both sides. Scotland would lose 2-0.
As for Peter, he didn’t feature again until 1971, when Peter played in a 0-0 draw with Wales and a one nil defeat to Northern Ireland.
He played in all three games in the 1972 Home Internationals underTommy Docherty and indeed scored in the 2-0 defeat of Northern Ireland and hit the only goal as Scotland beat Wales 1-0 at Hampden as were all the games that year. Scotland lost one nil to England in the final game of the series, which was a rather bruising encounter. There were twenty fouls committed in the first twenty minutes and I do wonder how much actual playing time there was.
Lorimer like a lot of English club players didn’t travel to Brazil for the Independence tourney; mostly at the behest of their respective clubs but Docherty did play him in our opening games of the World Cup Qualifiers, away and at home against Denmark which marked Tommy’s last games in charge. Scotland won the first game in Copenhagen 4-1 and Peter scored the second goal of the game at Hampden as they won 2-0.
Peter scored in six minutes and started off a rout in Scotland’s next game unfortunately it was an own goal and was followed by four more as Scotland lost to England in Willie Ormond’s first game as manager in February 1973 aka the Valentine Day’s Massacre.
Lorimer would again feature in a defeat to England as the Scots narrowly lost 1-0 at Wembley in May that year.
Timing is everything and although Peter did not play on the night of the victory over Czechoslovakia and World Cup Qualification, he did play in the game against England a year later which Scotland won 2-0 and was then an integral part of the team; which we all know because of his most famous moment in a Scotland jersey as he walloped in the first goal of our World Cup against Zaire. Peter then did his trademark celebration clapping his hands above his head.
Peter played in the games against Brazil and Yugoslavia; in the Brazil game if you watch the highlights he takes a few free kicks outside the area from a long way out such was the power in his shot.
Although, Peter would play in a few more games after the World Cup with the emergence of the likes of Masson and Rioch he became surplus to requirement and that was it for Scotland, although he would play on for quite a few years and would become Leeds United all time goalscorer, a record which he still holds and is doubtful it will ever be broken. Peter gained 21 caps scoring 4 goals.

David Stuart

On this day, a way back in 1959 Scotland drew 1-1 with Wales at Hampden in the Home Internationals. Welsh and Juventus legend John Charles opened the scoring after 8 minutes. Graham Leggat of Fulham would score the equaliser in the 46th minute. Bertie Auld would win his third and final cap that day and Denis Law would be winning his sixth and final one whilst playing with Huddersfield Town.
The Scottish team lined up as follows: Bill Brown (Spurs), Eric Caldow (Rangers), Dave Mackay (Spurs), John Hewie (Charlton Athletic), Captain Bobby Evans of Celtic, Bert McCann (Motherwell), Graham Leggat (Fulham), John White (Spurs), Ian St. John (Motherwell), Denis Law (Huddersfield) and Bertie Auld (Celtic).

The programme comes from the Match Programmes Home Section.

First posted on Facebook, November 4th, 2016

Happy Birthday to DJ.
Derek Johnstone will turn 63 today. Derek played 14 times for the Scotland and perhaps was hindered in being available as both a striker and centre half in his career and maybe if he had stuck at one or the other, may have accumulated more caps. Ultimately though, Derek will be known more for the games he didn’t play in, rather than the ones he did.
Derek’s first burst of games for Scotland came in May / June 1973 where he was picked by Willie Ormond as a centre half. With the Scots having been roundly beaten by England 5-0 the previous February, Ormond decided to go with a new central pairing for the Home Internationals.
Derek would start his first game against Wales at the Racecourse, Wrexham in May 1973 lining up alongside Manchester United’s Jim Holton.
Also, making their debuts that day were fellow Rangers players Peter McCloy, Derek Parlane and one Daniel Fergus McGrain of Celtic. Scotland won 2-0 that day with George Graham, then of Manchester United scoring both goals.
Unfortunately for Johnstone and Scotland that was as good as it got that summer. Defeats followed at home to Northern Ireland (2-1) and then a 1-0 loss to England at Wembley. Two friendlies followed; the first a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland in Berne and then the big one. Scotland v Brazil; the World Champions at Hampden on June 30th. 78,181 people turned out for this game including my young self, seeing his first Scotland game. Although, there was no Pele; there was still Rivelino, Jairzinho and Clodoaldo from the 1970 World Cup winning team. As for Derek, he scored the only goal of the game unfortunately it was in his own net!
Next up for Scotland was that famous night at Hampden where we qualified for 1974 World Cup with Holton providing one of the goals, as for Derek he was dropped and replaced by Celtic’s George Connelly making his debut that night.
World Cup ’74 would come and go before Derek got another chance to prove himself, however it was only a four minute appearance as he came on as a sub for Kenny Dalglish as the Scots beat East Germany 3-0 in a friendly at Hampden in October, 1974. Another sub appearance six months later, April ’75, in a friendly against Sweden in Gothenburg saw him in a more midfield position after coming on for Lou Macari inn 54 mins. Scotland would equalise though Ted MacDougall of Norwich City in the 86th minute.
Again, Johnstone would disappear from the national scene returning a year later in a starting line-up that included Johnstone, Andy Gray, Kenny Dalglish and making his debut Willie Pettigrew all in attack. Pettigrew would score in only two minutes and this was to be the game’s only goal.
Derek would also make two subs appearance in that years’ Home Internationals coming on in both the 3-0 win against Northern Ireland at Hampden in May ‘76 and also the 2-1 victory at Wembley a week later.
1978 and things had changed; Willie Ormond had stepped down and the ebullient Ally MacLeod had taken charge in the previous year. Scotland had already qualified for Argentina without Johnstone being involved, however he was racking up the goals for Rangers that season and merited his chance for a place on the plane to Argentina.
Derek came on as a sub against Bulgaria in the February as Scotland won 2-1 at Hampden with goals from Archie Gemmill and Coventry’s Ian Wallace.
May, 1978, Rangers had won the treble with Johnstone contributing 38 goals, Derek had won both the Writers and Players Player of the Year award. He was given a starting place against Northern Ireland and lightened up a dull affair of a game with an equalising flying header in the 36th minute. Another lacklustre performance against Wales a few days later from the team, saw Derek being one of the few who would come off the pitch with some credit due to a 12th minute goal, in a game that is perhaps best remembered for Willie Donachie’s own goal from a pass back to goalie Jim Blyth of Coventry.
However, two goals in two games, a great season and the mandatory perm was not enough for Ally, as Derek was dropped for the game against England at Hampden, which Scotland lost 1-0.
MacLeod’s preference to start with Joe Jordan is often seen as flawed, both in the England game and all three of our World Cup games but to be fair, Joe did make contributions in both the Peru and Dutch games. However, it was Ally’s choice of utilising Joe Harper as a sub instead of Johnstone in the poor one all draw with Iran that is perhaps the hardest to fathom.
Scotland had both the Scotland and England Players of the year that season and neither Johnstone nor Andy Gray would see a minute of play in the Argentine; Gray wouldn’t even make it into the squad.
MacLeod out and Jock Stein in; the winter of ’78 would herald a new era for Scotland, sadly for Derek he was not to be part of it and would only make one more appearance in a Euro Qualifier in December 1979, when he started up front alongside Kenny Dalglish. Belgium would blitz Scotland with three goals in a thirteen minute period in the first half, which we never recovered from with John Robertson managing our only counter in the second half.
So that was it for Derek, with the younger Stevie Archibald starting the next game and Andy Gray getting a consistent place in the team he was never to pull on the Dark Blue of Scotland again and ultimately we are left with another of Scotland’s If Only conjectures. Happy Birthday Derek. Oh and Chris Sutton wishes you all the best.

David Stuart

The Scotland 1982 Uefa European Under 18 Champions. Scotland were victorious against Czechoslovakia in the final winning 3-1 with goals from John Philiben, Pat Nevin (Player of the Tournament) and Gary Mackay. Here’s the winning team with their trophy.