The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

First posted on Facebook on September 28th, 2016

Bobby will turn 73 today. Inside Forward Bobby Hope of West Brom is probably not a name synonymous with the Scotland team, although he featured in a few Scottish football card sets of the late 60’s. Bobby played over 350 games for West Brom and also went on to play for Birmingham City, Philadelphia Atoms and the Dallas Tornado and in between a stint at Sheffield Wednesday.

Bobby must surely have one of the shortest debut games in Scotland history having started a match. In May 1968, Bobby started against Netherlands in Amsterdam but was subbed after only 12 minutes, when Jimmy Smith, then of Aberdeen, playing his first game came on. The game finished nil nil. However, Bobby did get another game for Scotland. In October 1968, Bobby lined up against Denmark in Copenhagen in a match that saw debuts given to Jim Herriot, Tommy McLean and Colin Stein. Bobby Lennox scored the only goal of the night and that was the end of Bobby’s international career.
The photo is Bobby playing with Philadelphia Atom.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on September 27th, 2016

Happy Birthday to Steve Archibald who turns 60 today.
Steve Archibald is another on the long list of failed Scotland strikers, despite playing in the great Aberdeen team under Alex Ferguson, an FA Cup winning Tottenham team and also Barcelona, he never made the grade with the national team. Steve would play 27 times for Scotland and would only score 4 goals.
Yet it started so well. Steve made his debut against Portugal at Hampden on 26th March, 1980. Scotland were already 2 nil up when Steve came on for Kenny Dalglish and within twenty minutes Steve had scored. Scotland would go on to win 4 nil. His Aberdeen teammate Alex McLeish would also make his debut that night, however this would be Steve’s one and only cap as a Don.
By the time of cap number two in May, Steve would be a Tottenham player. He was given a starting berth against Northern Ireland alongside Dalglish but Scotland would lose one nil. It is fair to say that the first couple of years of Jock Stein’s reign, Scotland were fairly poor and inconsistent.
Cap number three came in a friendly against Poland in Poznan in May 1980 with Dalglish, Joe Jordan and Archibald all starting. With that all starring forward line of course we got beat 1-0. Three days later in Budapest with Archibald starting alongside Alan Brazil, the Scots went down 3-1 with Steve scoring the consolation goal.
In fairness to Steve his Scotland career is one of the really being second to the likes of Dalglish, Jordan and Andy Gray in his early days. He did start some games in our successful 1982 World Cup Qualifiers including home games against Northern Ireland, Israel and away to Portugal. Goal number three came in rare win against Northern Ireland at that time but not in the Qualifiers rather in a 2-0 win in May ’81 at Hampden in the Home Internationals with West Ham’s Ray Stewart scoring his only Scotland goal. Steve continued upfront for the game at Wembley that year which saw Scotland win 1-0 with a John Robertson penalty which came after Steve was fouled by Bryan Robson. A slightly dubious but no doubt righteous decision. Archibald didn’t feature too much in the warm-up games for Spain ’82 as Alan Brazil seemed to be favoured more but he would come on as a sub against New Zealand in opening game of the Finals and score his last goal for Scotland in the 5-2 win. He was then chosen for the final two group games starting against both Brazil and the USSR.
After the World Cup he played in some Euro Qualifiers but it would be the rise of Maurice Johnston that would start to see him get less game time. Interestingly, he was returned to the team for a World Cup Qualifier against Spain in Seville. This was Steve’s first cap as a Barcelona player; Scotland lost one nil. Cap number 26, was as sub against Iceland in Reykjavik in Jock Stein’s penultimate game in charge in May 1985, in which Jim Bett scored the sole goal.
It would be a year later that his final cap came. Alex Ferguson chose him for the game against West Germany in Queretaro, Mexico which saw us go down 2-1.
That was it for Steve and Scotland as Ally McCoist and Mo Johnston became the preferred players in the next few years. The thing about Steve; he was more an individual than a team player, often seen as a greedy player, who if there was a chance to shoot would do so but that can be said about a lot of strikers. Although this led to a lot of goals for him it was not always the best choice for the team.

First posted on Facebook on September 26th, 2016

Happy Birthday to George Wood who will turn 64 today. It is fair to say that Jock Stein was never fully enamoured with Alan Rough and tried out a few goalkeepers to replace him; one such was George Wood. George was capped four times for Scotland; the first three came as an Everton player. George had previously played with East Stirling and Blackpool. Scotland had played poorly down at Ninian Park in the opening game of the 1979 Home Internationals losing 3-0. One of the changes Stein instigated was to give George his first cap against Northern Ireland a few days later at Hampden Park. Scotland would win 1-0 with Arthur Graham of Leeds United hitting the only goal.
Jock took the decision to play Wood at Wembley a few days later and George would suffer the fate of many a Scotland goalkeeper at Wembley and have a poor game. Scotland took the lead through John Wark in the 21st minute but Woods was quite slow in getting down to a Peter Barnes shot which leveled the score just on the stroke of half-time. He was more culpable for the second England goal as he fumbled a Ray Wilkins shot dropping it at Steve Coppell’s feet to allow England to take the lead. Kevin Keegan would finish the Scots off with a goal in the 70th minute.
Alan Rough would start Scotland’s next game which was the famous friendly against Argentina in June ’79. George would replace Rough for the second half as the Scots lost 3-1.
However, it would be almost three years before Wood was picked again to start, with Billy Thomson deputising for Rough in the intervening years.
George who was by then an Arsenal player, played against Northern Ireland in Belfast in May,1982 in the opening game of the Home Internationals. The game would end in a 1-1 draw with John Wark hitting the Scots goal.
Although George never played again, he was chosen for the 1982 World Cup squad along with Rough and the uncapped Jim Leighton.
George would move from Arsenal to Crystal Place and then have spells with Cardiff, Blackpool and Hereford before moving to Welsh non-League football.

First posted on Facebook, September 26th, 2016

Bobby will turn 71 today.Bobby gained 17 caps for Scotland as goalkeeper but never really got to establish himself as the number one choice.
However, in researching Bobby’s career you really get a sense of what a remarkable man he is. Bobby is of course famous as the Aberdeen goalie from the late 60’s through to the 80’s when he relinquished the role to Jim Leighton. He also held the record for not conceding a goal in consecutive minutes at 1,155 minutes which he established in season 1970-71. Edwin Van Der Saar of Manchester United would finally break this British record in 2009. Fraser Forster would break the Scottish record in 2014.

He would also manage to turn out for Aberdeen as a full centre half for two games when he lost his goalkeeping spot to Ernie McGarr in season ’68-’69.

As for Scotland, Bobby played his first game in 1967. Bobby who played for Queen’s Park previously replaced Ronnie Simpson who also played for Queen’s Park at one time as did the Scotland manager Bobby Brown. His debut was in a 3-2 win over Wales at Hampden in a Home International match in November 1967. Two goals by Alan Gilzean and one by Ronnie McKinnon earned Scotland the win.
Another cap, six months later in a nil nil draw with Netherlands in Amsterdam followed. It would be another 11 games before he was capped again with Ronnie Simpson, Jim Herriot of Birmingham City, Tommy Lawrence of Liverpool and even the aforementioned Ernie McGarr all taking charge between the sticks. However, his return in a one nil win over Northern Ireland in April 1970 was a one off as Bobby Brown went with another former Queen’s Park goalkeeper in Hearts’ Jim Cruickshank’s.
Bobby’s longest run of games came in Bobby Brown’s last six games in charge from April ’71 to June ’71. Unfortunately, Scotland lost five out of the six games and it’s probably indicative of the times that the team sent out to play England was: Bobby in goals, John Greig (Rangers), Jim Brogan (Celtic), Billy Bremner (Leeds), Frank McLintock (Arsenal), Bobby Moncur (Newcastle), Jimmy Johnstone (Celtic), Tony Green (Blackpool), Peter Cormack (Nottingham Forest), Davie Robb (Aberdeen) and Hugh Curran of Wolves. Subs that day were Frank Munro, also of Wolves and Airdrie’s Drew Jarvie. Scotland got beat 3-1 with Hugh Curran scoring Scotland’s goal. Happy Birthday Hugh, who will be 73 on 25th September.
Although, Bobby would be replaced by Bob Wilson of Arsenal in Tommy Docherty’s first game in charge. Bobby would play in 7 of Tommy’s 12 games in charge including the Home International series of 1972 and two games of the Brazilian Independence Cup that summer.
Bobby’s 17th and last cap came in Willie Ormond’s first game in charge as Scotland were pumped 5-0 in a miserable night at Hampden by England. This game was played to celebrate the centenary of the Scottish Football Association. On a snow covered Hampden pitch and with an orange ball, we got Sweet FA and the You Tube video does not make great viewing. Avoid at all costs…..

Bobby would of course be named in many Scotland squads in following years, mostly as the experienced third choice goalie and although he was not chosen for the 1974 World Cup Squad, he was picked for the 1978 squad.
Bobby had gained three caps as an Under-23 player, when he was 21. At the age of 31, Bobby gained the first of three Under-21 caps as he was pitched in as the experienced over age player for some of the early Under-21 games.

Bobby’s story does not end as his goalkeeping career finished, Bobby at 71 is still coaching at the famous University of Notre Dame in the US, where he is the head soccer coach.
David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on September 25th, 2016

Don’t often post things on Scottish League select teams as it is not full International as such. However, I came across this one in an old copy of Football Scot (looking for more if anyone has some to sell) and wanted to post it. Sorry for the photo but I can’t scan a double page so just took it with my phone.
The line up is as follows from left to right;
Trainers : Jock Wallace and Ronnie McKenzie, Keith McRae (Motherwell), David Hay (Celtic), Bobby Clark (Aberdeen), Tom Forsyth (Motherwell), Ronnie McKinnon (Rangers), Davie Robb (Aberdeen), George Connelly (Celtic), Billy Dickson (Kilmarnock), Manager Bobby Brown.
Front row : Drew Jarvie (Airdrie), Tommy McLean (Rangers), Jim Brogan and Tommy Callaghan (both Celtic), Donald Ford (Hearts) and Quinton Young (Ayr United).
Only Tommy Callaghan, Quinton Young and Keith McRae would never gain full caps.
This was the squad for a game against England in March 1971 at Hampden where Ralph Coates of Burnley would score the only goal.
Scotland lined up as follows; Clark, Dickson, Hay, Forsyth, McKinnon, Brogan, McLean, Callaghan, Robb, Jarvie and Ford.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on September 25th, 2016

Happy Birthday to Hugh Curran who will be 73 today. Hugh played for Scotland 5 times from 1969 to 1971. Unfortunately for both Scotland and Hugh he would feature in five defeats.
His first game came in the final 1970 World Cup Qualifier in Vienna, Austria in November, 1969. Bobby Brown took a makeshift side to Vienna for this dead rubber of a game, no doubt due to withdrawals and Hugh who was with Wolves at the time was given a start upfront alongside Alan Gilzean. Also making their debuts that night would be Francis Burns of Manchester United in his only Scotland game and making a subs appearance Peter Lorimer. Scotland lost 2-0.
John O’Hare would come into the side in the following year and Curran would be sidelined but he would return for Bobby Brown’s last four games in charge in May / June 1971.
Four defeats followed; losses to both Northern Ireland and England in the Home Internationals with Curran scoring his only Scotland goal at Wembley in a 3-1 defeat to England.
The writing was on the wall for Brown already by this point but an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Denmark in Copenhagen in a Euro Qualifier and a 1-0 loss to the USSR would see his position as Scotland Manager untenable and so Bobby stood down.
Tommy Docherty would come in but there would be no place for Curran. Hugh would go on to play for Wolves until 1972 and then move on to Oxford and then Bolton before a final return to Oxford and retiring in 1979.
Happy Birthday Hugh and all the best.

First posted on Facebook on 24th September, 2016

Happy Birthday to Gary McSwegan who will turn 46 today. Gary gained two caps for Scotland both coming during his time with Hearts. He would come on as a late late substitute i.e. 89th minute against Bosnia and Herzegovina in October ’99 but would be given a starting place four days later as Scotland faced Lithuania also at Hampden. McSwegan would score in the second half to give Scotland a two nil lead following Don Hutchison’s earlier goal. Colin Cameron would round up the scoring as the Scots won 3-0.
It may not be the most noteworthy of Scotland careers but I’m sure Gary treasures his Scotland goal as you can see by the photo how much it meant to him at the time.
Happy Birthday Gary

First posted on Facebook on 24th September, 2016

Happy Birthday to John O’Hare who will turn 70 today. John was a favourite player of Brian Clough who signed him at Derby County, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest. John would win two League Championships; one each with Derby and Forest and two European Cups and perhaps one of the few players who also won the Texaco, Watney and Anglo-Scottish Cups.
As for Scotland, John played 13 times and scored five goals. It was Bobby Brown who first picked him in April, 1970 to play against Northern Ireland in Belfast. John would score the only goal of the game, heading in from a deep cross from Tommy McLean.
John would also score the only goal against Denmark at Hampden in a Euro Qualifier in November ’70.
Tommy Docherty would also reap from John’s goalscoring as O’Hare scored in both Doc’s opening games; the 2-1 win over Portugal at Hampden in October ’71 and then the 1-0 win against Belgium up at Pittodrie. Both there were Euro ties. John would also go on to score for Scotland against Peru at Hampden in April ’72, with Denis Law hitting the other in the 2-0 win.
John’s undoing would be club Manager Clough’s unwillingness to let him travel to Brazil for the Independence Cup in the summer of 1972 and by the following season he was consigned to International history.
John can certainly hold his head up high for his efforts for Scotland as his five goals all came in 5 victories and with four being vital to the result. All his caps came as a Derby County player.
Happy Birthday John and all the best.

Ex Hibs and Leicester City player David Gibson will turn 78 today. Dave played seven times for Scotland banging in three goals. He gained his first cap against Austria in a not so friendly game at Hampden in May 1963 that was abandoned due to one or two thrown punches and a general melee. Scotland were 4-1 up when the match was abandoned. Gibson had been slotted into the team to replace the injured John White. He would score his first Scotland goal in June that year as Scotland trounced Spain 6-2 in a remarkable victory at the Bernabeu, Madrid. Fellow Leicester City player Frank McLintock would also score that day.
David would also score in the 3-2 defeat to Wales down at Ninian Park in May, 1964. His final goal would come in the 3-1 victory over Finland at Hampden in a World Cup Qualifier in October 1964 with Denis Law and Stevie Chalmers hitting the others.
Happy Birthday David and all the best.