The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

First posted on Facebook on October 10th, 2016

Happy birthday to Dundee United legend Paul Sturrock. Paul was capped nine times at Under-21 level and won 20 full caps between 1981 and ’87.
It was Jock Stein who would give the striker his first cap in May, 1981 at the Vetch Field, then home of Swansea. Paul came on in the 85th minute for Arthur Graham who was winning his eleventh and final cap. Scotland had been 2-0 down since the twentieth minute and that was how it finished. Also, making his debut was former Dundee United team mate Ray Stewart, then playing with West Ham.
Sturrock played the whole of the 2-0 win over Northern Ireland a few days later and was given ten minutes of the victory over England at Wembley with John Robertson providing the game’s only goal from the penalty spot.
His first goal came in his next International; a dead rubber of a game in Lisbon with Scotland having qualified for the World Cup in Spain. Scotland lost 2-1 but along with Northern Ireland qualified leaving Portugal, Sweden and Israel in their wake.
He was a bit part player in the 1982 Home International series making 3 substitutes appearances and would also make the World Cup Squad, however Paul would not take part in any of the games.
He would though come on, in the 71st minute of the first game of the 1984 Euro Qualifiers and would score Scotland’s second goal four minutes later as the Scots ran out 2-0 winners against East Germany at Hampden.
It’s fair to say, that was as good as it got for Sturrock and Scotland in the qualifiers as away defeats to Switzerland and Feckin’ Belgium soon followed with two home draws to both and a final defeat in Halle, Germany.
Sturrock did play all ninety minutes of the June ’83 tour of Canada but still kind of flitted in and out of the team. His third and final goal for Scotland came in that amazing night at Hampden in September, ’84 as the Scots routed Yugoslavia 6-1 at Hampden. The other goals came from Cooper, Souness, Dalglish, Johnston and Nicholas; Paul was in exalted company in that scoring list.
Paul won his 15th cap that night but would have to wait until after Scotland had qualified for 1986 World Cup before playing again. The premature death of Jock Stein meant that it was Alex Ferguson who would reinstate him to the team, in a 1-0 friendly win in Tel Aviv against Israel in January, ’86.
Fergie seemed to favour Dundee United players in particular during the World Cup in Mexico and Sturrock was given a starting place in the opening 1-0 defeat to Denmark, being replaced by West Ham’s Frank McAvennie late in the second half. He was left out for the Germany game but returned to the side for that dire, dire game against Uruguay in the Estadio Neza, in which Scotland failed to fashion very few chances despite being one man up for almost the entire 90 minutes. I have a recurring nightmare where I end up in hell and the devil repeatedly plays the game over and over again. I wonder if Stevie Nicol has the same dream.
Paul would gain one more cap, this time with Andy Roxburgh in charge, unfortunately for both parties, it was a Euro Qualifier in Brussels in April, 1987. Scotland were crushed 4-1.
And so that was it for Paul, although he would play for Dundee United for a few more seasons before moving into coaching and then management.
Happy Birthday Paul and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on October 8th, 2016

So first of all thank you to everyone that bought a copy of the magazine tonight. Our sales were not earth shattering but a steady push towards breaking even . . . maybe.
As we were leaving Robert Marshall said to me “David, you know you’re going to have to put something positive on the Facebook page and I just did, however the other thing Robert said to me was ” Does that mean we haven’t won at Hampden in our last three qualifiers?” The answer is of course, it’s true but dig deeper and it gets worse. In our last twelve qualifiers at Hampden which does go all the way back to the Craig Levein days and the game against the Spain we have won three; beating the mighty Gibraltar 6-1 last year, Croatia in 2-0 in 2013 and then back to the victory over Lithuania, 1-0 in 2011.
We have drawn five – Lithuania, Poland, FYR Macedonia, Serbia and the Czech Republic and lost to Germany, Belgium and Wales and Spain..
Oh well, maybe next time we should concentrate more on scoring the actual goals rather than what feckin’ song we are going to play!

A year ago today a crowd of 49,359 trooped out of Hampden; the majority of us disappointed, sullen, heartbroken with the bitter taste of defeat (even though it was 2-2 it felt like it) which was made all the more unbearable by the noisy jubilant sound of the Polish fans who had outsung us throughout the match. Having had victory snatched from us with very last kick of the ball; we also had a kick in the balls with the news from Dublin that the Germans had failed in their patriotic duty to beat the Irish and so we were out. Had we won and Irish lost, a Polish victory the following week would have saw us through to the play offs but really the damage was done in Tblisi in a that dreadful 1-0 defeat to Georgia.
However, it was not be but in a positive note we saw two wonderful moments in the game; Matt Ritchie’s unstoppable shot from the edge of the area and Fletcher wonderfully sublime left foot curler from the just inside the box.
Scotland’s team that night were;
Marshall, Hutton, Whittaker, Martin, Hanley, Forrest, Darren Fletcher, Brown, Steven Fletcher, Naismith, Ritchie with Maloney, McArthur and Dorrans among the used subs.

FIVE YEARS AGO

Five years ago today we were deeply entrenched in the mire that was Craig Levein’s reign as Manager. On this occasion we were to play Lichtenstein in Vaduz. We already had the farce that was his 4-6-0 plan, we also had the embarrassment that was the 2-1 win against Lichtenstein at Hampden. Of course what we didn’t know that night, that it would be James McFadden’s last game for his country, which given he was subbed at half time by Levein seems such a sad end to a fine career for Scotland. In fairness to Levein we did have victory snatched from us in the game against the Czech Republic in the 90th minute as that fud Kevin Blom gave a penalty against us.
The game in Vaduz wasn’t much better although Scotland would come away with a 1-0 victory thanks to Craig Mackail-Smith’s only goal for Scotland. However, once more it was not enough.
The team against Lichtenstein was McGregor, Hutton, Bardsley, Berra, Caldwell, Adam, D. Fletcher, Bannan, Mackail-Smith, Morrison and Naismith.
Subs used – Forrest and Cowie.

First posted on Facebook on October 5th, 2016

Happy Birthday to Drew Jarvie who turns 68 today. Drew was capped by Scotland three times in the early ’70’s, Drew was an Airdrieonians player at the time and is currently the last Airdrie player to be recognised at full International level. The most famous player capped whilst at Airdrie was the great Hughie Gallacher who was capped five times during his Broomfield days. Hughie also hit a double against England in this spell as Scotland defeated the Auld Enemy 2-0 at Hampden in April,1925. Three years later and as a Newcastle United player, Hughie was part of the Wembley Wizards team that destroyed England 5-1. Surprisingly given his high scoring rate for Scotland (24 goals in 20 appearances), he failed to find the net that day.
Back to Drew, who gained his first cap in the Estadio da Luz, Lisbon in April ’71 in a European Nations Cup Qualifier. He would replace Jim McCalliog in the 63rd minute. Scotland were already one down due to a Pat Stanton own goal and were to lose another to the great Eusebio with 8 minutes left to play. Also making their debut that night were Jim Brogan of Celtic and Davie Robb of Aberdeen.
Drew’s next game would come in the Home Internationals as Scotland faced Northern Ireland at Hampden in May. Scotland would lose 1-0 to a John Greig own goal. Again Drew would come off the subs bench but this time for the whole of the second half replacing John O’Hare.
His final game would be at Wembley where he came on for Tony Green of Blackpool for the last eight minutes. All the goals came in the first half as Scotland lost 3-1 with Hugh Curran hitting the Scotland goal.
And so that was it for Drew and though his time with Scotland may have resulted in three defeats; he shared the park with such greats as Eusebio, George Best and Bobby Moore so I imagine he still looks back on his time with Scotland with pride.
Happy Birthday Drew and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook October 5th, 2016

Happy Birthday to Willie Donachie who will turn 65 today. Willie played 35 times for Scotland from 1972 until 1978. It was Tommy Docherty who gave the Manchester City left back his first cap playing against Peru in 1972 in a friendly at Hampden in April ‘72. Scotland would win 2-0 and Donachie would play in two of the Home internationals that year and then all three of the Brazilian Independence Cup games. Initially partnered with John Brownlie of Hibs and then with Alex Forsyth of Partick Thistle.
Willie would play in Willie Ormond’s first game in charge; the disastrous 5-0 defeat to England. He would survive the cull of the defence from that game and lined up alongside Danny McGrain, making his debut to face Wales at Ninian Park in May 1973. Although Willie played against Northern Ireland a few days later, an injury suffered in this game would mean he would miss the England match a few days later.
Fate would deal Donachie a cruel blow in some ways as his replacement for the England game was to be Sandy Jardine and so the Jardine / McGrain pairing was born. Effectively this meant that over the next few years he would gain very few caps and at times with the likes of Forsyth, Stewart Houston and Frank Gray being capped ahead of him, it seems like he was the forgotten man.
However, Ormond would recall him for the 1976 Home International series that saw Scotland win all three games and from then on Donachie was the first choice left back. By September, 1977, Donachie had 26 caps but would be injured for the World Cup clash against Czechoslovakia that month and was replaced by Sandy Jardine.
Whether or not Ally MacLeod would have toyed with the idea of retaining the Jardine / McGrain partnership is unknown for a serious injury to McGrain would leave him out of the side for just over two years. Willie returned to the side for that memorable night in Liverpool as Scotland beat Wales 2-0 to qualify for the World Cup in Argentina.
Willie would miss the opening game of the World Cup due to suspension but returned for the dreadful draw against Iran and would also play in the victory against the Netherlands.
After the World Cup, Willie would play in the opening two games of the 1980 Euro Qualifiers, a 3-2 defeat to Austria in Vienna, in what as Ally MacLeod’s last game in charge and a 3-2 win over Norway at Hampden; Jock Stein’s first game as Manager.
His final Scotland game would be in November, 1978 as Scotland took on Portugal in a Qualifier in Lisbon. He replaced Frank Gray in 65th minute and this was to be his last hurrah as Stein would then continue with Frank Gray and then Iain Munro and so Donachie never got back into the side.
Willie would continue to play for Manchester City until 1980, he would then have spells in the U.S. with the Portland Timbers, Norwich, Burnley and finally Oldham where he would play until he retired in 1990.
One final thing I can’t go without mentioning, is that Willie never scored for Scotland but he did once score for Wales, skilfully by passing Jim Blyth with a pass back to give the Welsh a late equaliser in May, ’78.
Happy Birthday Willie and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook, October 4th, 2016

Goalkeeper Ally Hunter will turn 67 today. Ally was a very good goalkeeper on his day but perhaps is remembered mostly for the goal he lost against Czechoslovakia that overshadowed many of the fine performances he had for Kilmarnock and Celtic.
He was first capped by Tommy Docherty in April ’72 in a friendly against Peru at Hampden. Also, making their Scotland debut were two players who would achieve a number of caps between them; Willie Donachie of Manchester City (more on Willie tomorrow as it’s his birthday) who would win 35 caps and West Brom’s Asa Hartford who would gain a total of 50 caps.
Scotland won 2-0 with John O’Hare and the returning Denis Law scoring the goals.
Docherty went with Bobby Clark of Aberdeen for the upcoming Home Internationals but Ally was given a run out during the Brazilian Independence Cup facing Yugoslavia in Belo Horizonte. Scotland drew 2-2 with Lou Macari providing the Scottish goals.
Clark would start in Scotland’s first game of the 1974 World Cup campaign; a 4-1 win in Copenhagen but was then dropped in favour of David Harvey gaining his first cap in the home game of the Danish double header. Scotland would win 2-0 but it would prove to be Docherty’s last game in charge after he deserted Scotland for the Manchester United job.
Willie Ormond did not immediately turn to Hunter; playing first Bobby Clark who shipped five goals against England and then Peter McCloy. Injury to McCloy would see Hunter come in for the Home International against England at Wembley. It is worth noting that due to injuries Ormond’s second choice goalkeeper at Wembley was Tom McAllister of Sheffield United who would never be capped by Scotland at any level.
Scotland lost one nil to England with Martin Peters scoring the only goal; by all accounts Hunter who was now at Celtic following a £60,000 move from Kilmarnock had played well, however Scotland would play two June friendlies that would see McCloy back in between the sticks.
On October 17th 1973, Scotland would play their most important match for years; the vital World Cup Qualifier that would see them head to the World Cup in 1974. Willie Ormond would choose to go with Hunter and for Ally this would be the apex of his career but in some ways perhaps a low point that would haunt him too.
Czechoslovakia took the lead when Hunter allowed an innocuous Nehoda shot to go across him and end up in the net. Thankfully for Scotland Jim Holton would restore parity and Joe Jordan would then score that memorable goal.
As for Ally, he was pilloried in the press for his mistake and Ormond would in future choose to go with David Harvey. Hunter’s career would also dip, as his confidence suffered and he would no longer be in the International limelight. He would leave Celtic in 1976 and soon drift out of the game.
Although, he was never involved in the ’74 World Cup, Ally still managed to get himself in some of the stickers and cards that year. More details of this can be found in issue 3 of the Scotland Epistles magazine or indeed in the Kindle version of the magazines.
Happy Birthday Ally and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook, October 3rd, 2016

So when you were a wee boy, did you ever dream of playing for your country against England at Hampden in front of a crowd of 149,269, opening the scoring and to add to that dream were you the Captain of Scotland and all of this on your debut? Well, it did actually happen to one Jimmy Dougal who was born on this day in 1913. Jimmy was playing with Preston North End at the time.

There is of course, a twist to the tale; Scotland got beat 2-1 and it was also Jimmy’s first and last game for Scotland. Why would such a thing happen? Well, Hitler decided to invade Poland. So Britain declared war and by the time Internationals were played again after the war Jimmy was out of the picture. Talk about bad timing.
But let’s go back to Jimmy’s Wembley game in April, 1939. Lining up alongside him were some famous names; in goals was Jerry Dawson of Rangers also known as ‘The Prince of the Yellow Jersey’, George Cummings of Aston Villa who went by the nickname the ‘Granite-Hard Full Back’. Can’t see Alan Hutton ever being called something like that. Then there was fellow Preston North End player Bill Shankly in the line-up. England had some notable players too, such as Tommy Lawton, Joe Mercer and Stanley Matthews.
The only Scotland player able to bridge the gap from pre to post war International football was Jimmy Delaney then of Celtic who won his 9th cap against Wales in November, 1938. His tenth would be awarded against England in 1947. Jimmy was by then a Manchester United player and would win 15 caps in total, scoring 6 goals. His grandson John Kennedy also played for Scotland, as I’m sure most of us know John suffered a horrendous injury on his debut for Scotland in March, 2004 against Romania and was destined never to play for Scotland again.
As to Jimmy he would play for Carlisle United and then Halifax Town before retiring in 1949. Jimmy passed away in October, 1999.

First posted on Facebook October 2nd, 2016

Happy Birthday to John Robertson, Hearts legend who will turn 52 today. John gained 16 caps in total, scoring 3 goals in the process. His first came on his debut in a Euro Qualifier against Romania at Hampden, stabbing home a knockdown from an Ally McCoist header. Scotland would win 2-1 with McCoist hitting the other.
John would also score in his second game; taking the responsibility for a penalty kick which he slotted home with aplomb. This was the second of the Qualifiers and a second win as Scotland beat Switzerland 2-1 at home. A good start that would provide the backbone to our successful campaign to the Euros in ’92.
As to John he would not get to those finals losing out to the likes of McCoist, Kevin Gallacher, Gordon Durie and Duncan Ferguson for a place in the squad.
John would score one more goal in the Land of the Rising Sun when Scotland played Ecuador in their first Kirin Cup venture in May 1995. Scotland would win 2-1 with Stevie Crawford hitting the other goal. He would play some part in the Qualification for the 1996 Euros but would take no part in the Finals having played his last game for Scotland in October ’95 in a 2-0 friendly defeat to Sweden in Stockholm.
Happy Birthday and all the best John

First posted on Facebook on October 2nd, 2016

News has just come in that Manchester United and Scotland player David Herd has just passed away at the age of 82 following illness. Our thoughts at this time go to his family. Earlier in the year I did a pen pic on his Scotland career and will now post it below.
David Herd was perhaps is one of the forgotten men of Scottish football in Scotland itself but will be remembered fondly in the city of Manchester. David came from a footballing family as his father played for Manchester City and his Uncle Sandy was capped once for Scotland as Hearts player in the thirties. David gained five caps for Scotland from 1958 to 1961, whilst playing for Arsenal. His debut cap came in Scotland’s first game after the 1958 World Cup against Wales at Ninian Park. Scotland fielded four new caps that day in November, ’58 with John Grant of Hibs and Willie Toner of Kilmarnock making the first of both their two caps. The lad chosen to play upfront with Herd was none other than 18 year old Denis Law. Scotland won 3-0 with Denis bagging his first International goal with Graham Leggat and Bobby Collins supplying the others.
However, David would open his goal account in the next game as he scored the first v Northern Ireland in a 2-2 draw at Hampden in November with Bobby Collins supplying the other goal. He would play in the final game of the Home Internationals as Scotland lost 1-0 to England at Wembley in April, 1959.
David was left out of the Scotland set-up for two years and returned to the line-up after the disastrous 9-3 defeat at Wembley. David lined up alongside Ralph Brand of Rangers upfront against the Republic of Ireland at Hampden on World Cup duty in May 1961. Scotland won 4-1 with Brand hitting a first half double and Herd a second half one.
David would miss the second of a double header against the Irish 4 days later as the Scots won 3-0 with Brand scoring one and Everton’s Alex Young hitting a double. However, a week later he was back in the line-up as Scotland lost 4-0 to Czechoslovakia in their third World Cup tie in Bratislava. This would prove to be David’s last game for Scotland.
He would leave Arsenal in July 1961 having scored 107 goals for them in a seven year period and currently lies 15th in their all-time goal scorer list. So did David’s career take a nose-dive after leaving the Gunners; thus why he never gained another cap? It certainly did not.
Arsenal were not a particularly successful team in this period and David moved to Old Trafford. This is where David could be seen as the forgotten man of Scottish football. Scotland teams were generally built around Denis Law at this time and often the question would be who would play up front alongside of him. It does seem surprising that his Man. Utd, teammate was never chosen again.
David continued to score a lot of goals during his time at United. He scored two goals in the 1962-63 FA Cup final with Denis scoring the other as United won 3-1 over Leicester City. He would also be a big part of the Championship winning teams of 1964-65 and 1966-67. David would break a leg in March ’67 and like a lot of players from this era did not really recover from this. He would not feature in United’s European success and soon moved on to Stoke City. David scored a remarkable 145 goals in 265 games for Manchester United and is currently 13th on their all-time goal scoring list.
Rest in peace, David