A selection of Scotland home match programme front and back covers showing how design and quality have improved over the years as well as giving an overview of some of the opposition Scotland have faced and the competitions we have taken part in. Many of the back page adverts also make for an interesting look at social history.

1948ENG1948ENGR

April 1948  British Championship      Scotland 0  England 2.

[135,376 were ‘treated’ to goals from Tom Finney and Stan Mortensen]

19491949B

April 1949  Friendly match    Scotland 2   France 0.

[Useless piece of info – The Scotland line up consisted of five Williams, two Georges plus James, Samuel, Robert and Lawrence. France had three Rogers.]

1950ENG1950ENGR

April 1950  British Championship/World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 0  England 1.

[This defeat for Scotland – this time with six Williams in their line-up – meant they finished in second place in the British Championships and as a result the SFA declined FIFA’s invite to the World Cup Finals, our explanation being that we would only travel to Brazil if we were British Champions. Our place was then offered to France who also declined the invitation.]

AAAUS50

December 1950  Friendly match    Scotland 0  Austria 1

[This was the fourth time we had played Austria – going back to 1931, and it would be lucky seven before we recorded a victory against the one-time ‘Wunderteam’].

1952ire1952irer

November 1952   British Championship    Scotland 1 Northern Ireland 1.

[Last Minute Reilly saves the day].

AASWED53

May 1953  Friendly match   Scotland 1  Sweden 2

[This was Sweden’s first visit to Scotland and 83,800 saw them defeat a Scotland team that was skippered by George Young and which gave debuts to Tommy Ring of Clyde, Rangers’ John Little and John Henderson of Portsmouth].

19541954B

April 1954  British Championship/World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 2  England 4.

[Again Scotland finished as runners-up in the British Championship which doubled as a World Cup Qualifying group. This time however we went to the World Cup Finals – where we lost our two group matches 0-1 to Austria and 0-7 to Uruquay].

AAWAL55

November 1955   British Championship   Scotland 2  Wales 0

[Both of Scotland’s goals came from Bobby Johnstone of Manchester City who had joined the Maine Road club from Hibernian earlier in the year].

AAYUG56

November 1956   Friendly match    Scotland 2  Yugoslavia 0.

[Yugoslavia’s first visit to Scotland and Rangers’ Sammy Baird scores on his international debut. Jackie Mudie of Blackpool got the first goal].

1957SWITZ1957SWITZR

November 1957    World Cup Qualifier     Scotland 3  Switzerland 2.

[A crowd of 58,811 saw Scotland qualify for the 1958 World Cup Finals thanks to goals from Clyde’s Archie Robertson, Blackpool’s Jackie Mudie and Alex Scott of Rangers].

19581958B

May 1958   Friendly match     Scotland 1  Hungary 1.

[Both sides would head to the World Cup Finals in Sweden the following month and the Scotland eleven – which included a debut for Stewart Imlach of Notts Forest – would also start in our opening World Cup match against Yugoslavia. Jackie Mudie gave us the lead against the Hungarians].

AAGER59

May 1959   Friendly match    Scotland 3  West Germany 2

[103,415 see the first-ever visit of WEST Germany to Scotland as three Motherwell players make their international debuts – Bert McCann, Andy Weir and Ian St John. Falkirk’s John White also debuted. Weir and White also scored as did Fulham’s Graham Leggat.]

1959wales1959walesR

November 1959    British Championship     Scotland 1  Wales 1.

[A goal from Fulham’s  Graham Leggat cancels out an earlier strike from Wales and Juventus legend John Charles].

AAIRE60

November 1960  British Championship  Scotland 5  Northern Ireland 2

[Jim Baxter makes his Scotland debut as does club-mate Ralph Brand and John Plenderleith of Manchester City. Brand also got two of the goals].

19611961R

September 1961   World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 3  Czechoslovakia 2.

[A goal from Ian St. John and two from Denis Law meant that both sides would meet again two months later in a one match play-off in Brussels. In the Belgian capital Scotland led 2-1 with eight minutes to go then Czechoslovakia equalised, won 4-2 after extra time and went on to lose to Brazil in the actual final in Chile the following June].

1962ENG1962ENGR

April 1962   British Championship  Scotland 2  England 0.

[Davie Wilson and Eric Caldow score the goals as Scotland are crowned British Champions with a 100% record, scoring ten goals and conceding only one].

1963WALES1963WALESR

November 1963   British Championship   Scotland 2  Wales 1.

[Goals from Spurs’ John White and Denis Law of Manchester United give the home side a victory in front of 56,167].

AAAAAFIN64

October 1964    World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 3  Finland 1.

[Kilmarnock’s  Jackie McGrory makes his Scotland debut as the World Cup qualifying campaign gets off to a winning start – that doesn’t always happen for us]

19651965R

November 1965   World Cup Qualifier     Scotland 1  Italy 0.

[A superb solo effort from Rangers’ John Greig two minutes from time gives Scotland a famous victory. Unfortunately a home defeat against Poland the previous month ultimately proved costly and so Scotland were unable to go to the 1966 World Cup Finals… and save the game…]

1966IRE1966IRER

November 1966   British Championship/Euro Qualifier  Scotland 2  Northern Ireland 1.

[Celtic’s Bobby Lennox nets the winner on his Scotland debut].

1967USS1967USSR

May 1967   Friendly match    Scotland 0   USSR 2

[Our first-ever meeting against the former USSR didn’t go well despite having Jim Baxter as skipper and the inclusion of eight players from Celtic who would become legends in Lisbon some fifteen days later. In the four games we played the Soviet Union the best we managed was a disastrous 2-2 draw in Malaga in the Spain 82 World Cup!]

AAAAAENG68

February 1968  British Championship/Euro Qualifier Scotland 1  England 1

[A victory for Scotland would have taken us through to the Quarter-Finals of the European Championships but we could only manage a draw in front of a competition record crowd of 134,000].

1969CYP1969CYPR

May 1969   World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 8  Cyprus 0.

[Colin Stein scores four but ultimately it is West Germany who top our qualifying group and head for Mexico in the summer of 1970, where they will beat England in the Quarter Finals].

AAAAAWAL70

April 1970  British Championship  Scotland 0  Wales 0

[Scotland scored only one goal in the 1970 British Championships so let’s concentrate on the positives-we managed three shut-outs and two of them, including this one, are credited to Hearts keeper Jim Cruickshank].

AAAAADEN70

November 1970  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 1 Denmark 0

[Scotland’s first-ever Euro qualifier against ‘Foreign’ opposition. Sandy Jardine makes his debut and John O’Hare of Derby County scores the winner].

1971PORT1971PORTR

October 1971  Euro Qualifier    Scotland 2  Portugal 1.

[Tommy Docherty’s first game as manager of Scotland. Ultimately we failed to make the finals – winning all three home qualifiers but losing all three away].

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April, 1972 International Friendly Scotland 2 Peru 0

(This night saw the return of the King as Tommy Doc brought Denis Law back into the fold after an absence of almost three years. Denis was made Captain for the night and scored the second goal, with Derby County’s John O’Hare hitting the first. Ally Hunter, Asa Hartford and Willie Donachie all made their debuts. Iain Philip of Dundee and Partick Thistle’s Denis McQuade made the squad but would never progress to Full International status. Hector Chumpitaz and Teofilo Cubillas both played for Peru that night as they would six years later in Argentina.)

1972NI1972NIR

May 1972   British Championship  Scotland 2 Northern Ireland 0.

[Scotland took the lead when Denis Law scored his 30th and final goal for his country in a match switched from Belfast to Glasgow due to ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Peter Lorimer got the other goal- his first for Scotland. Technically however, the match programme produced is a Northern Ireland Home programme].

19731973R

June 1973  SFA Centenary Celebration match  Scotland 0  Brazil 1.

[Scotland undeservedly lose to the reigning World Champions thanks to an own goal by Derek Johnstone].

1973CZ1973CZR

September 1973   World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 2 Czechoslovakia 1

[100,000 see Scotland do it the hard way by gifting the opposition a goal before hitting back through Jim Holton and Joe Jordan to qualify for the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany – our first finals for 16 years, and we thought that was a long wait!]

scan0028

November 1973 International Friendly Scotland 1 West Germany 1

(As part of their World Cup preparation Scotland got to play host nation West Germany, home and away. Jim Holton would put Scotland in front after 7 minutes but Uli Hoeness would hit the equaliser with ten minutes remaining. The night would mark George Connelly’s second and last appearance for Scotland.)

1974ENG1974ENGR

May 1974  British Championship   Scotland 2  England 0.

[Our first victory over England in eight games coupled with a dazzling performance from Celtic’s Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone sends us to the World Cup Finals in fine fettle].

19741974R

November 1974  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 1  Spain 2.

[Scotland were in confident mood going into the Euros having returned from the World Cup Finals early, but undefeated. And so Billy Bremner gives Scotland the lead after 11 minutes but we miss a penalty and contrive to lose 1-2. This was Jinky Johnstone’s last game for Scotland. It was Billy Bremner’s last home game and despite good results in Valencia, Bucharest and Copenhagen we didn’t make it to the Euro finals].

AAAAAPORT75

May 1975  Friendly match to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the granting of Glasgow’s burgh charter in 1175 – Scotland 1 Portugal 0.

[The Wombles provide the half-time ‘entertainment’ whilst Portugal enter into the spirit of things by putting the ball into their own goal to give Scotland victory].

scan0031

December 1975 European Championship Qualifier  Scotland 1 Romania 1

(Scotland had fell at the first hurdle in their qualifiers losing out to Spain at Hampden in November ’74, this draw would see them finish third behind Spain and Romania. Bruce Rioch would score the Scotland goal. Jim Cruickshank, John Brownlie and Ted MacDougall would all play their last Scotland game that night. Johnny Doyle of Ayr United would make his only appearance for Scotland.)

AAAAAENG76

May 1976  British Championship   Scotland 2  England 1.

[This game is probably remembered most for Scotland’s winning goal – a miss-hit shot from Kenny Dalglish that somehow squeezed through Ray Clemence’s legs and into the net. This was Scotland’s penultimate British Championship crown, and the last time we did it with a 100% record].

1977CZ1977CZR

September 1977  World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 3 Czechoslovakia 1.

[Scotland put the reigning European Champions to the sword with some style and the hype goes up a notch or two. Everyone knows it all ends in tears the following summer in Argentina.]

AAAAANOR78

October 1978  Euro Qualifier  Scotland 3  Norway 2.

[Jock Stein takes over from Ally MacLeod as Scotland manager and sends out eleven Anglo-Scots to do the business. Scotland trail 0-1 and 1-2 but a penalty converted by Archie Gemmill three minutes from time gives Mr. Stein a winning start.]

1979P1979PR

June 1979  Friendly match   Scotland 1 Argentina 3.

[The reigning World Champions turn on the style with two goals from Leopold Luque and one from a young upstart called Diego Maradona. Arthur Graham got a late consolation goal for Scotland].

1979BEL1979BELR

December 1979  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 1  Belgium 3.

[Scotland were taken apart by an excellent Belgian side that would go all the way to the actual final of Euro 80 before losing to West Germany. John Robertson of Notts Forest got Scotland’s consolation goal].

scan0031

May, 1980 British Championship Scotland 1 Wales 0

(It’s a one goal wonder as Willie Miller hits the winner; his only Scotland goal in 65 appearances)

AAAAAENG80

May 1980  British Championship   Scotland 0  England 2

[It’s a bad day when Trevor Brooking scores against you – Steve Coppell’s addition just made things worse. The Scotland line-up that day included future managers Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan and George Burley].

1981NI1981NIR

March 1981    World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 1  Northern Ireland 1

[Billy Hamilton gave the Irish the lead before John Wark equalised for Scotland.The draw didn’t prove costly to either side however as ultimately both countries qualified for the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain].

1982ENG1982ENGR

May 1982  British Championship  Scotland 0  England 1.

[Scotland were all at sea as Paul Mariner netted the winner for England. Sorry..

Danny McGrain made his 60th appearance for Scotland, Kenny Dalglish his 86th].

scan0014

October, 1982 European Championship Scotland 2 East Germany 0

(Jim Leighton takes over between the sticks from Alan Rough as Scotland start their Euro campaign with goals from John Wark and Paul Sturrock)

1983SWIT1983SWITR

March 1983  Euro Qualifier  Scotland 2  Switzerland 2.

[Richard Gough made his debut, as did Charlie Nicholas whose goal -along with John Wark’s – helped give Scotland a draw after being two-nil down. Scotland finished bottom of the four-team qualifying group however which was won by Belgium].

scan0026scan0027

September 1983 Friendly Scotland 2 Uruguay 0

(David Dodds makes his debut after 17 minutes and soon wins a penalty that John Robertson dispatches; Dodds hits Scotland’s second goal. What a debut; Dodds will only ever play for Scotland once more. I wonder who’s advert was withdrawn at the last minute to give us that blank back cover)

scan0019

October 1983, European Championship Qualifier Scotland 1 Belgium 1

(A draw against Belgium except for a win way back in November ’71 under Tommy Docherty, it’s as good as it gets for Scotland versus The Red Devils. Charlie Nicholas provided the Scottish goal).

1984WALES1984WALESR

February 1984  British Championship  Scotland 2  Wales 1.

[Our last-ever match against Wales in the British Championship. Watford’s Mo Johnston scores on his debut having come on as a second half substitute for Frank McGarvey. Davie Cooper converted a penalty in the first half whilst Robert James, and not Ian Rush, scored for Wales].

1984YUG1984YUGR

September 1984  Friendly match   Scotland 6  Yugoslavia 1.

[Yugoslavia, who had played in a Euro Finals consisting of just eight teams some three months previous were taken apart by Scotland in front of a crowd of just 18,512. Yugoslavia actually took the lead after 10 minutes before Scotland hit back with six different scorers – Davie Cooper, Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, Paul Sturrock, Mo Johnston and Charlie Nicholas. Steve Nicol of Liverpool made his debut].

PROG1985PROG1985R

May 1985    Rous Cup   Scotland 1  England 0.

[Scotland win the inaugural Rous Cup – a short-lived replacement for the British Championship – thanks to a goal from Richard Gough].

1985AUS1985AUSR

November 1985  World Cup Qualifier Play-off 1st leg

Scotland 2  Australia 0.

[Following the tragic death of Jock Stein in Cardiff in September, Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson takes over as caretaker Manager and steers Scotland through the play-offs to the Mexico 1986 World Cup Finals. In the first leg goals from Davie Cooper and Frank McAvennie gave Scotland the advantage which is followed by a goal-less draw in Melbourne].

1986BUL1986BULR

November 1986   Euro Qualifier  Scotland 0  Bulgaria 0.

[Andy Roxburgh is now at the helm as Kenny Dalglish – who missed out on the Mexico World Cup- wins his 101st cap. The Republic of Ireland would be the surprise winners of this Euro  qualifying group].

AAAAAbra1987

May 1987   Rous Cup     Scotland 0  Brazil 2.

[The Rous Cup becomes a triangular competition with an invite being extended to a ‘guest side’. Brazil duly won the cup in 1987 which I’m sure helped make up for the disappointment of seeing their great rivals Argentina win the World Cup the previous year].

AAAAAcol1988

May 1988   Rous Cup  Scotland 0  Colombia 0

[Kevin Gallacher of Dundee United and Celtic’s Andy Walker make their international debuts].

PROG1989PROG1989R

March 1989  World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 2  France 0.

[France – who included Laurent Blanc, Frank Sauzee and Jean-Pierre Papin in their ranks -are put to the sword en-route to our appearance at the Italia 90 World Cup Finals – our fifth such finals in a row! A double from Mo Johnston – who was playing his club football in Nantes at the time – did the trick].

Scan0043.jpg

April 25th, 1990 International Friendly   Scotland 0 German Democratic Republic 1

(Thomas Doll scores the only goal in what will be the third last ever International for East Germany. Doll will also play for the reunified Germany against Scotland at Ibrox in 1993. Gary McAllister will make his first Scotland appearance on this night)

PROG90PROG90R

September 1990  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 2  Romania 1.

[Three months after a disappointing World Cup Finals in Italy, Scotland get off to a winning start in the Euro Qualifiers thanks to goals from Rangers’ Ally McCoist and John Robertson of Hearts – who was making his Scotland debut. Tom Boyd of Motherwell also made his debut in front of a disappointing crowd of just 12,801].

AAAAAsanm1991

November 1991   Euro Qualifier    Scotland 4   San Marino 0.

[San Marino’s first visit to Scotland was for our final Euro 92 qualifier,  with goals from Paul McStay, Richard Gough, Gordon Durie and Ally McCoist ensuring an emphatic home victory. Subsequent results involving our group rivals ‘going our way’ meant that ultimately we qualified for our first-ever Euro finals].

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March 1992 International Friendly Scotland 1 Finland 1

(Dave Bowman of Dundee United would make the first of his six Scotland appearances on this night. Paul McStay would score for Scotland with Jari Litmanen hitting the Finnish equaliser.)

AAAAAfitaly1992

November 1992   World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 0  Italy 0

[The likes of Maurice Malpas, Derek Whyte and Ian Durrant cancelled out the likes of      Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Roberto Baggio …… and vice versa. Ultimately, Italy would go all the way to the actual final of the 1994 World Cup where they would lose on penalties to Brazil].

1993MALT1993MALTR

February 1993  World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 3  Malta 0.

[We didn’t record a victory in the qualifying campaign until match number four when Malta made their first-ever visit to Scotland. Ally McCoist got the first two goals before Pat Nevin added a third. Alex McLeish made his 77th and final appearance for Scotland].

1994NET1994NETR

March 1994   Friendly match  Scotland 0  Netherlands 1.

[The Netherlands with the likes of Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars were preparing to go to the 1994 World Cup Finals in the USA. Scotland with the likes of Alan McLaren, Billy McKinlay and Eoin Jess were not].

PROG95PROG95R

August 1995  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 1  Greece o.

[No gifts, just a splendid goal from Ally McCoist helps us on our way to ultimately appearing at the finals of Euro 96].

AAAAAfswed1996

November 1996  World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 1  Sweden 0

[A goal from John McGinlay of Bolton Wanderers plus goalkeeping heroics by Jim Leighton -winning his 75th cap – ensure Scotland get the vital points somewhat against the run of play].

PROG97bPROG97br

September 1997  World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 4 Belarus 1.

[At Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland edge closer to appearing at the 1998 World Cup Finals in France].

AAAAAfaroe1998

October 1998   Euro Qualifier   Scotland 2  Faroe Islands 1

[Scotland led 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Craig Burley and Billy Dodds. The visitors netted a penalty four minutes from the end and so cue ‘squeaky-bum time’].

1999CZ1999CZR

March 1999  Euro Qualifier  Scotland 1  Czech Republic 2.

[Gary McAllister’s 57th and final game for his country. After being barracked by sections of the crowd, Gary announced his retirement from international football. The Czechs would win the group whilst Scotland would head for the play-offs].

AAAAAeng99

November 1999  Euro Qualifiers Play-off 1st Leg – Scotland 0  England 2.

[Two first-half goals from Paul Scholes does the damage. Almost inevitably Scotland win the 2nd leg at Wembley 1-0 to add yet another example to our list of ‘glorious failures’].

PROG00PROG00r

March 2000  Friendly match   Scotland 0  France 2.

[Reigning World Champions France – Deschamps, Desailly, Djorkaeff, Dugarry et al- are the visitors at the official inauguration of the ‘new’ Hampden Park. Paul Telfer and Steven Pressley debut for Scotland].

PROG01PROG01r

September 2001  World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 0  Croatia 0.

[Home draws against Belgium and Croatia proved costly to Scotland’s World Cup hopes as the sun begins to set on Craig Brown’s term as Manager].

AAAAAnige2002

April 2002   Friendly match   Scotland 1 Nigeria 2

[The first home match in charge for the new Scotland Manager Berti ‘Der Terrier’ Vogts, the man who guided Germany to their Euro 96 triumph. During his short term in charge Berti would give debut caps to no less than 40 players].

PROG03PROG03r

June 2003   Euro Qualifier   Scotland 1  Germany 1.

[Berti Vogts v Rudi Voller, Rab Douglas v Oliver Kahn and so on. Fredic Bobic gave Germany the lead in 23 minutes however Kenny Miller got a deserved equaliser in 69 minutes. Germany would top the qualifying group whilst Scotland would head for the play-offs].

AANET03

November 2003  Euro Championships Play-off, first leg.  Scotland 1 Netherlands 0.

[The draw for the play-offs could have been kinder to Scotland or if the issue had been restricted to one leg [at Hampden] when James McFadden did the business then everything would have been Hunky-Dory. In the frighteningly real world however, Scotland travelled to Amsterdam for the 2nd leg and duly lost o-6. As Tommy Docherty once famously said -”We were lucky to get Nil!”

AASLOV04

September 2004   World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 0  Slovenia 0

[Berti Vogts’ Scotland get off to a poor start on the Road to Germany 2006 in our first ever meeting with the north-western part of the former Yugoslavia. Guess what, things get worse].

PROG05PROG05r

September 2005  World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 1  Italy 1.

[It’s now Walter Smith v Marcello Lippi in the battle of the managers. On the field Kenny Miller gives Scotland a first half lead but Fabio Grosso pegs us back in the second 45. Scotland would stay at home and watch the 2006 World Cup finals on tv. Italy would travel to Germany and win the trophy].

AAFRA06

October 2006  Euro Qualifier    Scotland 1 France 0

[”Raymond Domenech, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, David Trezeguet, Inspector Clouseau and Rene from ‘Allo Allo’ – We gave your boys one hell of a beating!”  Actually, if truth be told we mugged the team that just three months earlier had lost out on penalties to Italy in the World Cup Final].

PROG07PROG07r

October 2007   Euro Qualifier   Scotland 3  Ukraine 1.

[An impressive Scotland victory thanks to goals from Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch and James McFadden. Andriy Shevchenko scored for Ukraine on their first visit to Scotland. An exciting, hope-raising campaign – it all went horribly wrong away to Georgia just four days after the Ukraine match].

AAARG08

November 2008  Friendly match   Scotland 0  Argentina 1

[This was Diego Maradona’s first game in charge of his National side but somehow he managed to outsmart his opposite number, George Burley. To be fair, being able to call on players such as Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez no doubt helped the visitors’ new Manager].

PROG09PROG09r

September 2009   World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 0 Netherlands 1.

[Another qualification campaign that failed to really ignite – this team for George Burley’s Scotland. Norway somehow beat us to the play-off spot whilst the Netherlands won the group and went all the way to the World Cup final itself where they lost to Spain in Johannesburg].

PROG10bPROG10br

October 2010  Euro Qualifier  Scotland 2  Spain 3.

[Up against the World Champions Scotland made a game of it and perhaps merited a draw after we levelled it from being two-nil down however a goal from Fernando Llorente put paid to that idea. Spain would go on to retain their Euro title – their third successive ‘major’].

AACZECH11

September 2011  Euro Qualifier   Scotland 2  Czech Republic 2.

[It would be easy to complain about the Czechs’ dodgy last minute penalty which gave the visitors a draw and all but ended our hopes of qualifying….so I will. Jan Rezek appeared to dive to win the penalty whilst at the other end Christophe Berra should have got a penalty not a booking. Watch it on Youtube and judge for yourself].

AASERB12

September 2012  World Cup Qualifier   Scotland 0  Serbia 0.

[Craig Levein’s Scotland get off to a false-start on the Road to Rio and we never recover].

PROG13PROG13r

September 2013   World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 0  Belgium 2.

[Gordon Strachan is now in charge as our old friends Belgium brush us aside with goals from Steven Defour and Kevin Mirallas].

AAAAeng14

November 2014   Friendly match    Scotland 1  England 3

[Shockerooney! – the £5.00 Scotland programme had arrived. Actually it arrived the month previous v. Georgia. Anyway, Hull City defender Andrew Robertson scored an exquisite goal for Scotland, but unfortunately Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Wayne Rooney [twice] scored three painful goals].

PROG15PROG15r

September 2015   Euro Qualifier   Scotland 2  Germany 3.

[Twice in the first half we were sloppy and let the reigning World Champions go in front and twice we pegged them back. In the second half Ilkay Gundogan got a third goal for Germany and this time there was no way back – ya big Bastian Schweinsteiger you!]

AAAApol15

October 2015   Euro Qualifier     Scotland 2  Poland 2

[The night a dream died – again. The draw coupled with Ireland’s win over Germany the same evening meant we were OOT! Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth….]

russia-2018-lituania-home-front

October 2016  World Cup Qualifier    Scotland 1  Lithuania 1

[Almost a disaster for Scotland – yes another one – but a last minute equaliser from James McArthur spares some of our blushes. There was no full house for our opening home match on the Road to Russia campaign – there were 35,966 paying customers at Hampden Park. Perhaps the tickets were overpriced or perhaps Scotland are not an attractive football team to watch. I think it’s the ticket prices….].

GT&S A TO Z PROGRAMMES 2017 SCOTLAND V CANADA

March 2017  Friendly match  Scotland 1  Canada 1

[This was the sixth occasion in which Scotland had played Canada and the first time that we’ve failed to win. It could have been worse however as Steven Naismith’s goal was but an equaliser coming twenty minutes after Falkirk’s Fraser Aird had given the Canucks an early lead. There were only 9158 paying customers at Easter Road Stadium -Scotland’s third-lowest post-war home attendance. And then there is the abstract art of the programme cover – a Romulan salute? Paper, scissors, stone? or something a little bit crude?]

GT&S TOURNAMENTS 2018 4

March 2017  World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 1  Slovenia 0

[A last minute goal from substitute Chris Martin -whose arrival on the pitch was greeted by some boo-ing – was enough to give Scotland three thoroughly deserved points. Leigh Griffiths hit the woodwork twice whilst his Celtic clubmate, and debutant, Stuart Armstrong was man of the match. Only 20,435 were at Hampden to see it.]

 

ENGLAND 2017

June 2017  World Cup Qualifier  Scotland 2 England 2

[I’m sorry but I’m still too raw to write anything level-headed about this mad, mental match that we should have won. I’ll tidy this up once I’ve seen my therapist but in the meantime the summary review consists of – Pain, Joy, Ecstasy then unbearable pain/bewilderment].