The dream has died, but the nightmare goes on and on and on,,,,, I really thought we would qualify this time round but it all went ‘Pete Tong’. I blame Hamish Husband – was he not meant to be marking Lewandowski? Fair play to the Republic of Ireland though – they took four points off the World Champions – and I wish them all the best.
All I want to say about the Poland game is that I hugged David Stuart enthusiastically – twice – in the 45th and 62nd minutes – but ultimately it was all for nothing. Poland’s killer equaliser came deep into Richard Goughski time and as sore ones go it was like getting the anal probe with a cheese grater. See photos for flares and false scorelines.
I’m not as well traveled as many fellow Scotland supporters so the game against Gibraltar in Faro will be my first ever, totally meaningless, away tie. Sunshine and sipping beers by the swimming pool are no substitute for a chance to make the play-offs. However as the Martin Luther King Tartan Army are wont to sing – ‘We shall overcome. We shall overcome….’
Hopefully WGS will not have the brassneck to be a pontificating pundit during the Euro Finals next summer and that he’s hiding from our British and Irish neighbours like the rest of us until the World Cup qualifiers begin. Meanwhile for us masochistic collectors, we can look forward to the pain of completing an associated Panini stickers album that includes England, Wales, Northern Ireland and maybe the Republic of Ireland, but no us! Will I ever get a Scott Brown shiny?
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m away into a darkened room to drink McEwan’s Export and to listen to my Carpenters CD. Make the pain go away, Karen……
Can you imagine the naivety of two guys meeting in a pub and thinking “Hey WGS is taking us all the way to France, let’s ride that crest of a wave and launch a Scotland fanzine”? What were we thinking? It was a near thing though wasn’t it; we nearly sold enough copies to keep us going. We had some good performances along the way. I mean look at those covers each one was better than the one before and we had issue four’s cover all planned out. It was going to be a caricature of Wee Gordon holding the Henri Delaunay Trophy aloft with even tinier Shaun Maloney and Ikechi Anya hanging on to it.
Well bang goes that plan.So is this the end of the Scotland Epistles, Bullshit & Thistles? Is it whit! It’s time to kick on and move onwards and upwards; we will be bringing out an issue four in Spring 2016, even though Robert will need to remortgage his house to pay for it.
Things have been a wee quiet on the Facebook front as I have been working on a website. It’s still in its infancy and probably needs some tweaking here and there. The Facebook page has been great and we will continue to post stuff as often as before but with the website we hope to do other things such as galleries of Scotland football cards, stickers, posters, programmes or whatever.
I have also managed to put just about every Facebook posting on the site, which makes it easier to find old posts and photos as you can make searches for articles on players, managers, teams etc and find them all.
We will also be on the lookout for contributors, so feel free to contact and help us out via the website. As always please let others know about the Epistles; whether on Facebook, Website or indeed the actual magazine. Thanks to everyone who has shared a post or commented or liked us; it all helps.
Robert and I decided tonight that in future we won’t try to sell the fanzine at the game as it takes a lot out of our enjoyment of what should be a great occasion as we worry and fret over sales and don’t get to go to the pub beforehand.
So please if you haven’t already buy a copy and help us out. We love doing this but sometimes it can be difficult to sustain particularly on a night like tonight when victory has been snatched away from us with the very last kick of the ball.
Fresh on from their successful 1970 World Cup coins set, the guys from Esso came up with these crappy things; Squelchers. They were tiny booklets and each of the 16 covered differing topics from the World Cup Story to the Language of Football (?) to one for each of the Home International teams. This is of course is the Scotland one with Billy Bremner leading out the team at Wembley followed by goalkeeper Jim Herriot and you can also see the Colin Stein, Billy McNeill and John Greig in the background and I suspect it’s Tommy Gemmell hidden behind Herriot. Unfortunately, it’s 1969 and the Scots got pumped 4-1 that day.
Inside the Squelcher there are some photos of Scotland players in their club colours including Alan Gilzean, Denis Law, Charlie Cooke, Bobby Murdoch and others. There is also some dialogue with a brief history of Scottish football and some of the players and teams of the past and present but it also gives you such sentences as “Any Scotsman would give his best sporran for the chance to play against England in an International”.
There are two photos from the Scotland v England in May 1970, which ended in a nil nil draw. However, one of the photos credits John Greig when it’s Ronnie McKinnon. The other is of Jimmy Johnstone.
They are still pretty cheap to buy on Ebay but handle them gently as mine has just fallen apart when scanning it.
Having had Tommy photobomb in a couple of recent articles I thought it was time I did an article on him. Tommy was quite in unusual that all his caps came when he was a Kilmarnock player and not when he played for Rangers. In total, Tommy gained six caps and when you consider the calibre of player in his position at the time, he did well to earn them. As Bobby Brown had Charlie Cooke, Jimmy Johnstone, Willie Morgan and even Tony Green of Blackpool among others to choose from.
His first cap came in October, 1968 when Scotland beat Denmark one nil in a friendly in Copenhagen. Also making their debut that night was Colin Stein, who Tommy would play alongside for Rangers and Jim Herriot of Birmingham City. Bobby Lennox scored the only goal that night. Although, McLean, Herriot and Stein were all dropped for the next game; a vital World Cup Qualifier against Austria that Scotland won 2-1 they were reinstated to face Cyprus in December ’68 in Nicosia. Scotland won 5-0 nil with Stein and Alan Gilzean scoring two each and Bobby Murdoch hitting the other. Stein would hit 6 of his 10 Scotland goals against Cyprus.
I have tried to locate on the net, some photos from this game as I have a vague memory of seeing some at the time which showed the pitch to be mainly sand and with those crazy striped black and white goalposts. Any photos anyone?
Again all three were dropped for the next World Cup game against West Germany at Hampden in April ’69, but once more they were put back into the team for the first of that year’s Home Internationals against Wales at the Racecourse, Wrexham in May. This game was covered in the article ‘The M men March On’ a few weeks back in which we first saw Tommy in the background. Scotland won 5-3 with goals from McLean, Stein, Billy McNeill, Alan Gilzean and Billy Bremner. Jim Herriot only played in the second 45 when goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence of Liverpool was injured.
Although, Herriot and Stein would retain their places in the Scotland team over the next few games, Tommy would not return until a Home International game against Northern Ireland in April 1970. Making their debut that day would be Davie Hay, clubmate Billy Dickson, Willie Carr of Coventry and John O’Hare of Derby.
The only goal of the game came from a pinpoint, deep cross from McLean to O’Hare who headed past Pat Jennings to give Scotland victory. Tommy would keep his place for the Wales game at Hampden a few days later which ended in a nil nil draw. However, Tommy was to be dropped in favour of Jimmy Johnstone in the final game of the Home Internationals that year against England which would also end up 0-0.
Tommy’s final game would see him return to where it all began, as Scotland played the third game of their Euro Qualifiers in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, Finn Laudrup (Brian and Michael’s father; no, not them that sang ‘Matchstick Men and Matchstick Cats and Dogs’ in the 70’s but the football players) would score the only goal of the game that more or less saw the end to Scotland’s Euro chances and indeed Bobby Brown’s management of Scotland. Interestingly Tom Forsyth, also a future teammate made his debut that night as a Motherwell player.
It’s a silly game anyway……although if we win our last pool match against Samoa on Saturday we are through to the quarter finals of a World Cup – which is something that the host nation cannot now achieve. You have to feel for our friends and neighbours south of the border though don’t you….well don’t you? I always think it a shame when the host nation goes out at the group stages of a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championships – it’s like getting put to your bed early at your own party.
Anyway, this Rugby World Cup is a bit of an expensive malarkey -serves me right I hear you say. My ticket for the Leazes corner end at Newcastle’s St.James’ Park for the game against South Africa cost £85. That’s more than the combined amount I paid this year to see The Stranglers AND Sydney Devine – perhaps the SFA were the pricing consultants. Add to that, the match programme was a tenner and it was £4.50 for a pint of bitter in the stadium – which is a pretty impressive, if somewhat lopsided stadium.
I tried to imagine what the place looked like when former Scotland internationalists Hughie Gallacher [1920s] and Bobby Moncur [1960s/1970s] strutted their stuff at St.James’ Park – vast, open terraces, muddy pitches and cheap beer – before Roy Aitken and Steven Caldwell helped usher in the modern era.
Back to the present and Scotland Epistles’ ‘Unlikely Lads’ [David Stuart and myself] will be at Hampden on Thursday flogging fanzines before cheering on Scotland to victory over Poland – hopefully.
Scotland’s egg-chasers will have to beat Samoa this coming Saturday without my assistance however as I’ll be flying out to Faro for the Gibraltar game. Let’s hope it’s still a meaningful fixture – there’s nothing worse than a dead rubber -as England v Uruquay at the rugby world cup will testify. Fnarr! Fnarr!
If Jimmy Johnstone had lived 30th September would have been his 71st birthday. To celebrate here is a cracking photo of him and that other ginger giant of the time, Billy Bremner. I’m not sure if Jinky has given the two fingers to the press by this time or not, after his mesmerising display against England in May 1974, a few days after the legendary boat escapade. Scotland have just won 2-0 with goals from Joe Jordan and a Colin Todd own goal. If you look at the video Jordan’s goal is really another own goal scored by Mike Pejic but the record books record it as a goal for Joe. So that’s how it is.
Jimmy is wearing Peter Shilton’s top which is about ten sizes too big for him. Also pictured is Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, Peter Lorimer (I think) and Joe Jordan.
So here’s to Jinky and indeed to Billy too! Will we ever see their likes again?
That was for Jacksonville 2012 – I’ll take my revenge anyway I can get it……
So, even if I only understand about half the rules of rugby union, I still thoroughly enjoyed drinking my beer and watching Scotland [eventually] demolish ‘The Interfering Imperialists’ from my seat in the south stand – the site of the once-famous ‘Scratching Shed’ – at Elland Road Stadium, Leeds.
Actually if truth be told, one of the reasons I chose to attend this Rugby World Cup Finals match in Leeds was because it afforded me the opportunity to visit the Elland Road ground for the first time. I was at school throughout the late sixties and early seventies, when Elland Road and Leeds United enjoyed the services of a whole string of SuperScots. Players such as Billy Bremner, David Harvey, Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray, Frank Gray, Joe Jordan and Gordon McQueen helped make Leeds United a success both domestically as well as in Europe.To a schoolboy in 1970s Maryhill, venues such as Elland Road, Old Trafford and Anfield were mythical Kingdoms that I dreamed of visiting one day so I don’t know why it took this lapsed groundhopper until I was 56 before I eventually reached the Yorkshire city that was the home of ‘The Good Old Days’ in more ways than one.
Of course Leeds United are now in the second tier of English football and were in the ‘Third’ Division from 2007 to 2010. Furthermore, their Scotland caps in recent years have not quite matched ‘The Galacticos’ of the Don Revie era and have included David Hopkin,Dominic Matteo and Ross McCormack.The old memories live on however and the magnificent statue of Billy Bremner outside the south-east corner of the ground just reinforces my view that for a time, Elland Road was the Venue of Legends – Scottish International Soccer Legends.
Anyway, it’s now only nine days to the Poland game and my anal nerves are a-twitching. Apologies for the images this may conjure up,,,,,,,
Jock Stein has been quite rightly lauded recently for his legacy to Scottish Football but as controversial as it sounds, his first two years in permanent charge of the Scotland team were pretty appalling and in this day and age with fans forums and a less respectful media there would have been shouts for him to quit or be given the boot.
If you look at his first 17 games his record was pretty poor; Played 17, Won 5, Drawn 2 and lost 10. Of course at this time, Scotland were always pitiful in the Euro qualifiers and always seemed to suffer a World Cup hangover as old players left and new ones came in.
Ally McLeod had been in charge at the start of our Euro campaign as we were defeated by Austria 3-2 in Vienna. A month later and with Jock in charge, Scotland fielded an almost unchanged team against Norway at home in front of a crowd of 65,372. Arthur Graham of Leeds United who had replaced Joe Jordan late in the second half in Vienna retained his place and Aberdeen’s Stuart Kennedy dropped out for Man City’s Willie Donachie.
Scotland struggled to a late win with Dalglish’s second of the night in the 82nd minute and an Archie Gemmill penalty in the 87th giving us a 3-2 win.
In fairness to Jock, it was a difficult qualifying group with Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Norway as opponents. 1978 closed with a narrow one nil defeat to Portugal in Lisbon. Jock played David Narey, Martin Buchan and Gordon McQueen in this game and quite often this puzzling line up with three central defenders ensued, normally with one deployed in the midfield with Alan Hansen, Willie Miller. Alex McLeish and Paul Hegarty all thrown into the mix.
Next up in the Euros in June ’79 was Norway in Oslo whom we comprehensively beat 4-0 with goals from Joe Jordan, Kenny Dalglish, John Robertson and Gordon McQueen. Despite a poor Home Internationals where we beat Northern Ireland one nil but lost 3-0 and 3-1 to Wales and England respectively and a friendly defeat to Argentina with Maradona stealing show, an expectant crowd of 67,895 turned up to see Scotland in their home game against Austria in October ’79.
A disappointing one all draw saw Scotland’s hopes of qualifying start to fade and finally squashed by two defeats in a row to Belgium as usual losing 2-0 in Brussels and then truly pumped 3-1 at Hampden in front of a crowd of 25,389.
Our last qualifier saw a crowd of 20,233 turn up to watch Scotland demolish Portugal 4-0 with goals from Dalglish, Andy Gray, Stevie Archibald on his debut and an Archie Gemmill penalty once more.
Once again, our Home Internationals were poor with a one nil defeat to Northern Ireland in our return to Belfast, followed by a one nil win over Wales at home with Willie Miller supplying the killer touch. A two nil defeat to England at Hampden saw us finish last as Northern Ireland claimed top spot.
Defeats in friendly away games to Poland and Hungary rounded up the ’79-‘80 season and so to the ’80-’81 season and a World Cup campaign. Again it was a difficult draw with Sweden, Portugal (again), a very good Northern Ireland side and a tricky minnow in Israel to overcome but with two to through automatically hopes were high of success.
The first game would be against Sweden in Stockholm and as always a good start to your campaign is vital and although my original premise of: did Gordon Strachan save Jock Stein when he scored the only goal is probably a stretch it gave Scotland the confidence to move on through a very cut-throat group where the dynamics seem to change rapidly.
By the time of our first game, the Swedes had already drawn to Israel and been beaten 3-0 by Northern Ireland; so effectively they were always playing catch up after we beat them. Although we were to beat them at Hampden by two goals to nil in the return game; Sweden beat Portugal twice when we could only draw with Portugal at home and were defeated away in Lisbon 2-1 in a game that didn’t matter as qualification had already been secured with our second draw with Northern Ireland in the series.
The article is from Match Weekly and is a recreation of Gordon’s wonderful goal and you are better man than me if you can work out what actually happened. It’s so much easier looking it up on You Tube.
So was it down to Strachan’s goal; probably not as the more vital goal was scored in Tel Aviv by Kenny Dalglish as we became the only team to secure both points away to Tel Aviv but it was vital and mebbe just mebbe he did.
The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine 