The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

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

Jimmy Johnstone and David Hay had very contrasting World Cups In 1974. As we all know one of the major controversies of the ’74 was that Manager Willie Ormond never picked Jimmy to play nor did he come on as a substitute in any of the games. In fairness to Ormond though he had brought Jimmy back from the International wilderness after a two year break. After defeat to Northern Ireland on 11th May, 1974 Willie had chosen Jimmy Johnstone ahead of Willie Morgan for the coveted right wing position for the Wales game a few days later. At this point in a ten year period with the Scotland team Jimmy had only accrued a measly 17 caps as no doubt his reputation as a difficult player to handle had made Managers wary of picking him. Although Jimmy received his first cap in 1964, it is interesting that in his seven game part time reign as Scotland’s Manager in 1965, Jock Stein never chose to play him either, generally choosing Rangers’ Willie Henderson ahead of him.

Scotland beat Wales 2 nil and this was followed up by what is seen as Jinky’s greatest performance in the Dark Blue of Scotland in the 2-0 win over England on 18th May. Even this game was clouded with controversy as a few days before, Jimmy had been involved in the infamous Largs boat caper and had at the end of the game give the ‘V’ sign to the gentleman of the press who pilloried him in their rags all through the previous week.

So it seemed Jimmy was on his way to World Cup glory as he also played in the warm-up games but alas no as Willie Morgan was reinstated to the team for two of three games.

As for David Hay, his conversion in the Celtic team from full back to midfield dynamo had seen him become indispensable to the Scotland team. He had become one of the first names on the team sheet for Willie Ormond and by the end of the ’74 World Cup his stock was high after some outstanding performances in midfield. By the end of the World Cup David had earned 27 caps.

The sadly remarkable thing is that only Jimmy ever played for Scotland again. Jimmy would be picked to play in Scotland’s first two games after the World Cup; a 3-0 win over East Germany and a 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Euro Qualifiers, both at Hampden.

As for David Hay, bad luck would dog him for the rest of his short career with injuries, an eye operation and even a family bereavement all preventing him from playing for Scotland again. By 1979, David Hay had been forced to retire from the game. He had been one of my early Heroes in a Scotland shirt and if fate had been kind to him, he would’ve won many more caps too.

As to what’s wrong with these pictures? Neither player gained a cap with the clubs mentioned. Jimmy’s time at Sheffield United was very brief; only making 11 League appearances and of course David Hay never did so with Chelsea as already stated.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook July 26th, 2015

So David Stuart and I [and a few hundred others] go along to Hampden for free beer[initially] and some complimentary pies and then we sit back as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour [aka Strachan, McCall & Peter Martin] talk us through the opening scenes of ‘The Road to Russia’. Unfortunately the live link to St. Petersburg for the draw went awry to the extent that would be slagmeister Peter Martin went all fish-like and morphed into Peter Flounder. If ever a team cried out for Alan Rough…..

A wise man once said something or other, about something but I’m not sure what it was. So there I was beer after beer awaiting the draw for the World Cup to find that like my sex life it was all over before I knew it. One minute it’s all anticipation and queuing up (such a bad metaphor but I’m a bit tired and alcohol fuelled) waiting for the climax and then the moment has passed (or is it pissed) and in a heartbeat it’s England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta. Anyway that’s how it happened to me but enough of my shortcomings.
There are some things in life that it is worth waiting for and for your edification this is one of them. Issue 3 of the Scotland Epistles is just about ready to go to the printers and if I can sober up enough to give it a final proof read; it might even get sent to the printers tomorrow. It’s not the greatest picture of it as it’s a scan of a print but once I get a copy I will post another picture.
As always Robert, Alan and I are grateful of the support you have all given us over the last year. We are struggling to keep it going financially but each and every Like keeps us going, for each and every copy of the Epistles we sell we get more determined to keep it going also. We are committed to 4 issues but then I think of the prospect of England in the World Cup Qualifiers (and who knows how that might end,) and it has given us that extra spark for next year and more issues.
So once more I ask that you take us there; start to share articles, start to add likes and comments, start to write your own and send them to Alan. Let’s try together to get to 300 likes in the next month or so. So over the next few weeks let as many people know as you can about the magazine and the Facebook page. Hopefully the next issue will be out in the next week or two and if you haven’t bought the mag before please do.
Oh I just remembered what it was the wise man said “Buy the magazine and let us live the dream”.

So there I was on Tuesday morning quietly pleased with myself for having managed to buy tickets on line to watch Thistle v Wigan for the Tuesday night and then for Rotherham on Saturday when my fellow Epistler or is it Bullshitter Baldy Boabby Marshall emails me to say he has won tickets to watch the World Cup draw at Hampden on the Saturday too.
It was a slight dilemma for me, but when Robert told me the details i.e. a drinks reception at Hampden, Gordon Strachan and Stuart McCall in attendance along with Peter Martin sans Alan Rough, well what can I say but Robert you had me at a Drinks Reception.
So I’m looking forward to it although I am going straight from work, so will probably fall asleep half way through the CONCAF draw. Like Gordon Strachan I don’t have a preference for who we get, although the Isle of Man and Guernsey would be nice especially if they came out of Pot 1 and 2. You never know with these Russians and the shenanigans at FIFA of Mr. Blatter. Seriously though, it doesn’t matter who you get for in a years’ time, one team slumps whilst another one improves and before you know it we’re chasing our tails trying to qualify.
Still, couldn’t we just forget about the qualifying stages and just make it a knockout cup tourney every year, with seedings so that our World Cup journey starts against the Pitcairn Islands (why should Australia always get the big scores?), Belize, Greenland or Cape Verde Islands that way we don’t need to worry about getting out of the group stages. I suppose the only thing is the draw would take hours. (Ball number 4 Algeria v Ball 239 Tuvalu).
Anyway here’s hoping we get a decent draw but the question you’re no doubt asking is will Robert and I be punting the Epistles at the draw or having pictures taken with WGS holding #1 and 2 in his hands. I can’t help thinking we should but we won’t. Hopefully we might see some of you there although I don’t know who any of you are; unless of course Thistle sign make a major signing in the morning and by that I don’t mean a Feckin’ Mascot.PS Happy Birthday to Jim Leighton for the 24th and Darren Jackson for the 25th.

I know it’s still a couple of months away, but with the Germany and Poland home ties next up, with Georgia away in between, I can’t help but get excited about the prospect of a good result in each game and what that might lead to – hopefully a place in France 2016. There might be a hermit living in a cave on Pluto just about to be discovered by NASA’s latest mission who doesn’t know that our last proper finals appearance was in France 98, but we all know and for some that seems auspicious. I personally don’t go for auspicious dates or suspicious signs or the planets being in alignment, I am fully aware that all we need is good results to get us there. I want to experience that festival again.