The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

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

I don’t buy a lot of collectible photos but I saw this one recently on eBay with the late Sandy Jardine’s autograph and bought it. As with anyone who grew up around the Seventies supporting Scotland, Sandy was a favourite of mine and in the end it only cost me around £8.
The photo itself is quite interesting as it comes from a World Cup warm-up against West Germany on 27th March, 1974 at the Wald Stadium in Frankfurt. Scotland would go on to play both Brazil and Yugoslavia in the World Cup there too. Scotland would lose 2-1 but by all accounts played well that night. Kenny Dalglish would score our solitary goal.
Willie Ormond was obviously trying out a few players for the game with some making their debuts. Going from left to right the line up is; Denis Law, Willie Morgan (both Manchester United), Kenny Burns (Birmingham City), Tommy Hutchison (Coventry City), Pat Stanton (Hibs), Martin Buchan (Manchester United), Erich Schaedler (Hibs), Kenny Dalglish (Celtic), Sandy Jardine (Rangers), Thomson Allan (Dundee) and David Hay (Celtic). This would be Hay’s second and last game as captain of Scotland. I’m sure my Dad would have said at the time, they could all do with a haircut.
In goals for his first cap is Thomson Allan of Dundee. The goalkeeper position for Scotland was up for grabs as Ormond had dropped Ally Hunter after his howler in the Czech game at Hampden but even before that there was no definitive choice for goalie as Bobby Clark, Peter McCloy and David Harvey had all been used over the last couple of years. Thomson looks a wee bit nervous and maybe that’s why his shorts are pulled so high. Thomson would play in one more game against Norway, Scotland’s last warm up game before the World Cup. Scotland won 2-1 in Oslo with Jordan and Dalglish scoring. Winning his one and only cap was Hibernian’s Erich Schaedler. Erich would take his own life on Christmas Eve, 1985 and if you’ve read the excellent book ‘Shades; The Short Life and Tragic Death of Erich Schaedler’ by Colin Leslie you get a sense of how profound his loss was to those around him including former teammates; perhaps the most chilling is of Ian Redford trying to come to terms with it, when his death would leave others with the same sense of grief in January of last year.
For Erich the game against Germany was of particularly poignant for him as his Father was a German P.O.W., who remained in Scotland after the war. Erich would also make the squad for the World Cup that year.
Winning the first of his twenty caps is Kenny Burns and what a nice feather cut he has too or is it a page boy? Unlike Allan and Schaedler, Kenny would not make the squad, however he would play two games in Argentina unfortunately neither of those was the Dutch game. The only other player not to make the squad would be Pat Stanton; indeed this would be Pat’s final appearance in a Scotland shirt.
Bobby Robinson of Dundee would come off the bench and make the first of his four appearances for Scotland. Donald Ford of Hearts would also come on for his second of three games for the National side and he would too would make the Finals squad.
As for the German team, eight of their team that night would play in the 1974 final against Holland including Sepp Maier, Berti (the cursed) Vogts, Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller as well as goalscorers against Scotland; Paul Breitner and Jurgen Grabowski.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 25th, 2015

Alex Cropley could on one hand be considered a very unlucky player due to injuries including leg breaks he suffered in his career but had he been playing a decade earlier he would not have played for Scotland at all.
Alex was born in Aldershot; I had always assumed that like Bruce Rioch who was also born there that he was an ‘army brat’ but no his father Jack was playing for Aldershot FC at the time. Alex started his football career at Easter Road and was part of Turnbull’s Tornadoes.
When Tommy Docherty became Manager of Scotland in 1971, he quite quickly took advantage of the rule that allowed players who were born outwith Scotland but of Scottish parentage to play for the National team. In his first game in charge he picked Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson to the chagrin of many a Scotland supporter and in some cases players but Alex Cropley was also given his debut. Doc’s first game was on 13th October, 1971 against Portugal at Hampden in a Euro Qualifier, having already lost to Belgium, Portugal and Denmark away, the Scots were out of the reckoning by this time. However, Docherty rallied the troops and Scotland won 2-1 with John O’Hare and Archie Gemmill supplying the goals.
Cropley held his place in the team for the next game, another qualifier taking place up at Pittodrie against Belgium in November 1971 with John O’Hare scoring the only goal of the game. Although, this was to be Alex’s last game for Scotland, he does hold two claims to fame. One; he was substituted in the second half to let Kenny Dalglish come on for his Scotland debut and two; he was in a Scotland side that beat bloody Belgium!
After leaving Hibs, Cropley went to Arsenal for £150,000 but within a month of his debut he broke a leg and indeed shortly after his return from that injury he broke his leg again. He would only make thirty odd appearances before moving to Aston Villa where incredibly he was to suffer a third leg break. Alex would retire from football aged 31.
As to his answers for the Focus On piece; Favourite player was Denis Law with Sandy Jardine as his most difficult opponent. His most memorable match was his debut for Scotland as well as being capped his Biggest Thrill. I love his Professional Ambition which was to be “ in a Scotland team which beats England at Wembley”. Sadly he never managed this but here’s hoping a few others do come November 2016.
As for some of the other stuff; his favourite food is . . . drumroll please – Steak! TV Shows – Dad’s Army and Morecambe and Wise. Singers are Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra. His Actor / Actress are Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen (oh goodie another photo op).

Here’s a cracking video. Well, not so good if you’re looking for a Scotland win but just look at that mud; it looks more like the Belgian battlefields of 1917 rather than the Stade Sclessin in Liege. According to the SFA site this game took place at 3pm but it is more likely a night time game surely; either that or it gets really dark in the Belgian winter.
The Scotland team that night were; 1 Jim Cruickshanks, 2 David Hay, 3 Tommy Gemmell, 4 Pat Stanton, 5 Ronnie McKinnon (watch out for his own goal), 6 Bobby Moncur, 7 Archie Gemmill (watch out for his great sliding tackle), 8 John Grieg (nice petulant kick at a Belgium player), 9 Colin Stein, 10 John O’Hare and 11, Charlie Cooke. Stanton and Stein came off at half time with Jim Forrest (number unknown) and Tony Green (16) replacing them. See who you can spot?
Other than the McKinnon own goal, Paul Van Himst scores the two other goals including a peach of a free kick

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 23rd 2015

Also, having a birthday on August 21st is Paul Ritchie, who will turn 40. Like David Hopkin, Paul Ritchie only played seven times for Scotland and although their careers overlapped, they never played in the same team.
If you have read Scott Cockburn’s excellent ‘Club and Country’ article in the first Scotland Epistles, Paul Ritchie is one of the players mentioned in it. The gist of the article is about Scott’s ambivalence in supporting Scotland because as a Hearts fan over the last twenty years or so, he’s had to endure many a Jam Tart making the grade as an Internationalist for Scotland and then leaving Hearts, primarily for Rangers. If you think about it there’s Ritchie, Dave McPherson, Alan McLaren, Andy Webster, David Weir, Neil McCann, Allan Johnston and even Lee Wallace who all ended up at Ibrox even if via other clubs.
As for Ritchie, although he only played seven times; he managed to play in games against Germany, England, France and the Netherlands, which not too many have on their résumé. Paul’s first appearance was in a friendly with Germany in Bremen, which rather surprisingly the Scots won 1-0 (what we would give for that score next month?) with a goal from Don Hutchison. Paul had come on as a sub for Colin Hendry in the 66th minute just after Don scored. Also making his debut that night was club teammate Colin Cameron who won 11 of his 28 caps as a Hearts player.
Paul’s next game saw him line up alongside Colin Calderwood in defence for Scotland against the Czech Republic in Prague in June 1999. This was to be a night of ecstasy and agony for the Scots and Ritchie. It all started well with Paul heading a goal in the 30th minute, which was then added to by former Hearts player Allan Johnston who was with Sunderland at the time, 62 minutes into the game.

Unfortunately, for Scotland the Czechs got one back almost immediately and followed this up with an equaliser ten minutes later. More misery was added on, as that carthorse of a player Jan Koller, scored with a header with three minutes to go.
Cap number three came in the final game of our Euro 2000 group in October 1999 with Paul lining up alongside Brian O’Neill, then of Wolfsburg at the centre of defence. Scotland beat Lithuania 3 nil at Hampden with goals from Hutchison and Gary McSwegan and Colin Cameron both of Hearts. Their place as runners up was well assured prior to this and so it was off to the play-offs against . . . England.
Paul played in the first leg, a month later at Hampden which as most of us know Scotland lost 2-0 with a Paul Scholes double doing the damage. Paul missed out on the return leg with Mr. Hutchison once again finding the net for the solitary goal on a night we pummelled England but failed to get that second goal to take it into extra time.
Although we never made it to the finals we were in demand as opposition for those going to the finals as games against France at Hampden and Netherlands at Arnhem in March and April 2000 respectively were arranged. Paul was to play in both these games but was no longer a Hearts player having fallen out with the club over the refusal to sign a new contract and so was shipped to Bolton on loan. Scotland lost to France 2-0 and drew nil nil with the Netherlands. Although, Paul finally got the move to Rangers, he apparently desired in the summer of 2000, he never kicked a ball for them and was shipped off to Man City for £500,000 a few months later. As for Scotland caps, Paul was to receive another in 2004 during Berti Vogts’ tenure as the Scotland manager whilst playing for Walsall. Sadly for Paul, this came on the night Robbie Earnshaw ran riot for Wales scoring a hat trick in a four nil mauling. Happy Birthday Paul and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 21st, 2015

David Hopkin will be 45 on August 21st. If you’ve read Scotland Epistles #3 you will know that being included in a World Cup card or sticker set does not mean you are going to the World Cup, such a fate befell Mr. Hopkin too. Of course given the photo they used, perhaps David who has been known to make the list of ugliest Premiership players ever, would have preferred to have been omitted.
And yet it looked good at one point, David had gotten himself into the Scotland team just at the right time. He was due to play for Scotland against Wales in late May 1997 but having scored the play off winner for Crystal Palace against Sheffield United at Wembley a couple of days before he called off for the game. However, Craig Brown did not hold it against him and a few days later on June 1st he made his debut in a friendly against Malta in Valetta. Scotland won 3-2 with two goals from Darren Jackson after an early goal for Christian Dailly. David would be substituted early in the second half with Scot Gemmill replacing him, this scenario would be repeated a week later in Minsk, Belarus, as Scotland scraped a one nil win with a Gary McAllister penalty to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

In the summer of 1997, David moved to Leeds United for £3.25million. He would also be named as team Captain under George Graham at Elland Road. David would win his third cap up at Pittodrie against as Scotland cruised to a 4-1 win with Hopkin coming on as a substitute in the 50th minute and making an instant impact with a goal four minutes later. His second and Scotland’s fourth was a great individual effort, which made it seem as though David was going to be an important player for Scotland in years to come.
Alas, it was not to be as David had an indifferent start to his Leeds career, with injuries, suspension and regularly being substituted, all hindering his impact at Elland Road. He would only play one more game prior to the ’98 World Cup, making a one minute appearance against France in November, 1997. The 2-1 defeat would be the start of Scotland going on their longest run without a win, in a run of 9 games that unfortunately included the whole of the World Cup in France. David would return 18 months later in March 1999, starting the infamous game against the Czech Republic at Parkhead, where Gary McAllister was booed by some sections of the Scotland support. Scotland would lose this Euro Championship qualifier 2-1 and McAllister announced his retirement shortly after.
Cap number six would come against Bosnia in Sarajevo in September ‘99 as a makeshift left back. Scotland won 2-1 with goals from Don Hutchison and Billy Dodds. His seventh and final cap came a month later, also against Bosnia at Ibrox, in his more recognised position in midfield as Scotland won one nil with a John Collins penalty.
And that was it for David, if only his Scotland career had progressed the way we hoped it would that night at Pittodrie, but it was not to be. Happy Birthday David Hopkin and thanks for those brief glittering moments all those years ago.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 21st 2015