The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

It pains me to say this but there are probably several grounds in Scotland where it is better to view a Scotland game than at Hampden. Celtic Park, Ibrox Stadium and Pittodrie have mostly better sightlines than the old lady of Mount Florida and when full of Scotland supporters [and we’re winning] the atmosphere can be fantastic…..but these Hampden-substitutes are just not ‘home’. You know you are a guest in someone elses’s hoose.

The Parkhead ‘Guesthouse’ has staged more Scotland internationals than any other guesthouse with Chez Ibrox next in line. The ‘Beachhouse’ at Aberdeen is also in double figures.When they rebuilt the two Glasgow grounds towards the end of the 20th century both Celtic and Rangers wisely decided to eliminate the running tracks despite them holding numerous records for both athletics and cycling at one time. No room for sentiment here, just get the crowd closer to the football action.All the postcards date from the late 1990s so there will be some changes since then – if not to the actual stadia then to their environs.

Since it’s Graeme Souness’ birthday I thought I would also add another Shoot cover. This is of course three Liverpool greats and perhaps only two Scotland greats. However, maybe Alan Hansen shouldn’t mind too much as unlike Graeme, he is one of only twenty two players inducted into the Liverpool FC Hall of Fame. Dalglish is also included but out of the twenty two, there are eight Scots altogether. Along with Dalglish and Hansen there are Billy Liddell, Donald McKinlay, Jimmy MacDougall, Matt McQueen, Alex Raisbeck and Ron Yeats. All of them have Scotland caps but for most it’s only handful including Ron Yeats, the ‘colossus’ as he was christened by Shankly, who only received a paltry two. Interestingly enough, three of them Hansen, MacDougall and Raisbeck all played for Partick Thistle. Okay not that interesting for 99% of you but it is to me.
As to the photo and the birthday boy, this is from Shoot of April 21st, 1984 and shows the three amigos with the Milk Cup or the English League Cup as it was once known. It was Souness who scored the only goal in a replayed cup final against Everton. Inside there are colour photos of the winning strike. There is also a piece on the FA Cup Semi-Finals and includes photos of Mo Johnston resplendent in the red and yellow of Watford.
One final thing on Souness. He was obviously won of the hardest men ever to wear the Dark Blue of Scotland but can anyone recall seeing him play in gloves in one of his very early caps at Hampden or have I just made that up?
David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on May 6th, 2015

Former Scotland midfield hardman Graeme James Souness is 62 on 6th May 2015 although he probably wouldn’t thank me for telling you that. Souness won the first of his 54 caps in a friendly match at Hampden against the German Democratic Republic [East Germany] in 1974. Scotland won that game 3-0 and Celtic’s John ‘Dixie’ Deans got the first of his two caps that evening as well.

Graeme’s final Scotland appearance also came against the Germans – when he skippered his country in the 1986 Mexico World Cup Finals match versus the Federal Republic [West Germany]. Gordon Strachan gave us the lead in that tie but unfortunately goals from Rudi Voller and Klaus Allofs spoiled everything. Souness also played in the 1978 and 1982 World Cup Finals with the first of his four international goals being the last minute equaliser against the U.S.S.R. at those 82 finals in Malaga. Another heartbreaker.

The current Hampden Park was completed in 1999 [but in roughly the same style as it was in 1919] with its official inauguration being the Scotland v. France match in March 2000. The then World Champions won 2-0 with second half goals from Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry. The French also threw the likes of Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Marcel Desailly and Didier Deschamps at us. For our part, we gave debut caps to Paul Telfer of Coventry City and Hearts’ Steven Pressley whilst ‘threatening’ the French with Billy Dodds and Mark Burchill.

On Friday 4th May 1984 former Scotland player and manager Willie Ormond sadly passed away aged just 57. Willie took over as manager in 1973 after Tommy Docherty left in the huff. He took us to the Finals in the then West Germany, where we once again failed to get beyond the first round, but we did have the distinction of being the only unbeaten team in the whole of the tournament.

Whenever I hear or read anything about oor Willie though, I don’t think about his playing or managing achievements, I always remember a midweek game at Hampden, don’t remember the game but it may well have been a qualifier for the 74 world cup. We were winning the game and the fans were showing their appreciation for the manager, chanting and clapping, “Willie Ormond”, clap clap, clap clap clap…over and over. The guy next to me says to his mate, “Whit you singin?”

David Stuart’s excellent postcard of Hampden 1968 reminded me of the paradox that was the former version of our national stadium – latterly a semi-derelict, run-down old relic but still a thing of breathtaking beauty that I loved with a passion greater than my combined love for chocolate, Tartan Special and the actress Fenella Fielding in the film ‘Carry on Screaming!’

Er, anyway, the final phase of the re-building of Hampden into what it is today commenced in 1996 with the demolition of the West and South Stands with the two photographs dating from September and October of that year.

Pepys Card company were quite well known for their range of playing cards in the 30’s and 40’s. In 1948 they produced a set of International Football Players, with each of the Home International teams having a suit each. It’s not all that clear which suit Scotland were meant to be and there was only 44 in the pack with eleven players each.

As to the cards picked, it does seem a bit random going by internationalists, as Partick Thistle legend Jackie Husband is among them and he only won one cap, Tommy Kiernan of Celtic also featured, only ever played for the Scottish League XI which suggests that it was maybe based on a League representative side. Overall there are 5 Rangers players, 2 Hibs, two Partick Thistle and one each from Aberdeen and Celtic. However, these were lean times for Celtic and in season ’47-’48, Hibs won the league with Thistle coming in third.The full line up is Bobby Brown (Rangers and future Scotland manager), Jackie Husband (Partick Thistle), Davie Shaw (Hibs), Willie Waddell (Rangers), Willie Thornton (Rangers), Gordon Smith (Hibs), George Young (Rangers), Hugh Brown (Partick Thistle), Willie Woodburn (Rangers), Tommy Kiernan (Celtic) and George Hamilton (Aberdeen).

Happy Birthday Willie Miller

Former Scotland sweeper/central defender William Ferguson Miller hits 60 years of age on 2nd May, 2015. Scary isn’t it? We also nearly missed it, sorry Willie.Willie won his first cap against Romania in a Euro qualifier in Bucharest in June 1975 and his 65th and final cap against Norway at Hampden in November 1989. Both matches finished 1-1 and the latter game saw Scotland clinch qualification for Italia 90. Alas Miller did not make it to Italy as an injury sustained in the Norway game effectively ended his playing career which had included appearances at the World Cup Finals in Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986.

I’ve always thought it must be very frustrating/bitterly disappointing to be included in a squad that travels to the World Cup or Euro Championship Finals but never get on to the actual pitch. I know how upset I was when I regularly sat on the sidelines with my Boys Brigade team!

Our first appearance at the Euro Finals- at Sweden 92- against the Netherlands, World Champions Germany and the C.I.S. resulted in 16 Scottish players from the squad of 20 getting a piece of the action. No fewer than 10 players also appeared at some point in all three matches, however with the third match meaningless [we were oot by then!] surely Manager Andy Roxburgh could have found room for Henry Smith, Derek Whyte, Dave Bowman and Alan McLaren – or am I just a soft, sentimental old fool?