The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

First posted on Facebook on September 2nd, 2016

I’m not really one for programme collecting but occasionally I will plump for one at a cheap price if it intrigues me enough. The thing about Under-23’s ones are the players that make it and those that don’t and of course this one has a few of both.
If you look at the names on the back, you can see Alan Rough, Willie Miller with his best bud Alan Hansen too but you can also see players like Chic McClelland of Aberdeen, Willie McVie of Motherwell (one of the over-age players) and Gordon Smith of Kilmarnock or perhaps St. Johnstone as there was two with the same name in the pool. Of the Welsh side, there’s only a few names that stand out for me; Brian Flynn, Joey Jones and Mickey Thomas are among them.
The programme notes inside were obviously written by a not too well-informed person as there are one or two glaring mistakes but then again they didn’t have the internet to check their facts out on.
In the Introducing Scotland section Alan Hansen is said to have gained two full caps by this time, a whole three years before his first cap. It was his brother John that had won the caps mentioned. Rab Prentice of Hearts becomes Rabbie Prentice (poetry in motion no doubt), David Narey is listed as Don Narey and finally Des Bremner has become a David and not a Desmond.
As to the game Scotland would line-up as follows; Rough (Partick Thistle), John Brownlie (Hibs), Chic McClelland and Willie Miller (both Aberdeen), Willie McVie (Motherwell), Tommy Craig (Newcastle), Derek Johnstone (Rangers), Des Bremner (Hibs), Willie Pettigrew (Motherwell), Joe Craig (Partick Thistle) and Rab Prentice (Hearts). The subs used were Jim Stewart of Kilmarnock, Alan Hansen of Thistle and Gordon Smith of Kilmarnock.
Both Thistle and Kilmarnock were 1st Division teams at the time and both would be promoted, with Thistle as Champions. Incidentally this was not the first time that Miller and Hansen would play together. They did so the year before in a 2-1 friendly win over Sweden Under-23’s in Gothenburg, which would not be the last time Miller won a game 2-1 in that city.
One thing they did get right in the programme notes is when it says about Willie Pettigrew, “Scotland have the reassuring news that the leading goalscorer north of the border is currently amongst the goals”. And so it proved as Willie hit a double and with a goal from Tommy Craig Scotland won 3-2. Craig apparently missed with a woeful penalty which Pettigrew netted the rebound from.
Mike Smith, the Welsh manager said this about the Scots; “Our boys battled throughout . . . but what impressed me most was Scotland’s attitude. They played one-touch to our two and their passing was marvellous in the conditions.” Not often you hear that about a Scotland team.
Rough, Pettigrew, Tommy Craig and Des Bremner would all make their full International debuts a couple of months later v Switzerland at Hampden. For Craig and Bremner it would be their only caps. Pettigrew would score in the first couple of minutes to give Scotland the victory.
The programme has just been added to our ‘Other Programme’ section on the website.
https://scotlandepistles.com/match-programmes-other/

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook, September 1st, 2016

Continuing our series of Scottish players making their debuts, this time it’s Aberdeen legend Willie Miller. Willie would make his debut on June 1st 1975 in the Romanian city of Bucharest. Scotland were a bit bruised and battered by the time they reached Bucharest. They had started badly in the European Qualifiers losing to Spain at home in November, 1974 and by the end of May things had gotten worse as they had been crushed 5-1 at Wembley by the Auld Enemy.
A week later and a game that they must win awaited them in Romania. Dropped from the previous game were to be Stewart Kennedy (surprise, surprise), Ted MacDougall who had been replaced by Lou Macari during that game was fully replaced by Lou for this one and perhaps surprisingly Alfie Conn was replaced by Willie Miller of Aberdeen playing in a more midfield role.
Also making his debut that day was Jim Brown of Sheffield United in goals. Scotland would draw 1-1 in the dry, heat of Bucharest with temperatures in the 80’s. Although they would go 1-0 down midway through the first half, Gordon McQueen would rescue a point in the 92nd minute with a volleyed goal from inside the area. However, although Scotland could still qualify mathematically realistically they were out of the tournament.
According to Jim Blair of the Glasgow Evening Times “Miller impressed by his cool play and ability to read situations”. Ian Archer of the Glasgow Herald stated that Miller “looked assured”.
So with a good debut in hand you would think Miller was on the cusp of an International career. Not so, Willie would not play again for another three years almost. I can’t think of any other player that we would define as a legend having to wait so long for his second cap; World Wars accepted.
It would be Ally MacLeod that would cap him in February, 1978 in a friendly against Bulgaria at Hampden. Under Ally MacLeod Scotland only won two games in 1978 and this was to be one of them, despite the loss of an early goal; with Ian Wallace scoring his only Scotland goal and a Archie Gemmill penalty that would see Scotland scrape a 2-1 win.
Once more, time on the sidelines awaited Willie and Jock Stein gave him his third cap finally in November 1979, unfortunately for Willie it was against Belgium in Brussels. Scotland lost 2-0 and although he wasn’t picked to play in the next few games, in May 1980 Willie did something for Scotland he would never do again. Willie scored a goal! Cap number four came against Wales at Hampden in the Home Internationals and Willie scored the only goal of the game. Jock would play Willie in the next seven games and his place in the team was secured.
Willie would play at the World Cups in Spain and Mexico but injury in the final qualifying game for the 1990 World Cup would effectively end his Scotland career. Willie gained 65 caps in total.
It’s not too surprising that he played with Aberdeen Central Defence partner Alex McLeish 44 times in the dark blue of Scotland and also with Jim Leighton 39 times. Following on from that he played 33 times with Richard Gough, Graeme Souness 30 times and also with Roy Aitken and Gordon Strachan 29 times as well. 39 games were played under Jock Stein. (Thanks to the Fitbastats website for these figures).
Willie was also voted as one of Scotland Greatest Team in 2010 and you won’t get much argument from me on that one.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook on August 31st 2016

In the long list of Scottish goalies, next to Frank Haffey he will go down as the worst due to one bad day at the office in 1975.
Stewart played five times for Scotland and was unbeaten in his first four games.
His first came cap in April 1975 in Gothenberg, Sweden as Scotland drew 1-1 in a friendly. Also, being capped for the first time that night were fellow Ranger Colin Jackson, Norwich City’s Ted MacDougall who would score Scotland’s goal and making his only appearance as a sub was Billy Hughes of Sunderland. Another friendly followed as Scotland beat Portugal 1-0 at Hampden in mid-May. The games came thick and fast as within a ten day spell Scotland also played Wales down at Ninian Park where they drew 2-2 and then beat Northern Ireland 3-0 at Hampden and finally then came Wembley.
Two goals down in seven minutes with Kennedy not looking too clever either of them, mind you neither did his defence. If you look at the video of it, Scotland had their chances and were perhaps unlucky but then again we did have Kennedy in goal. Goal three, he maybe should have gotten, four takes a deflection but still and then goal five he makes a save but after a rebound England score. Truth be told though, if you are ever brave enough to watch it again, England’s fifth goal has two players clearly offside and should have been disallowed. Anyhoo, even though he was dumpling that day I still wish Stewart all the best. Happy 67th Birthday Stewart.

First posted on Facebook on August 31st, 2016

Derek Whyte will be 48 on August 31st. Derek had a fairly unique Scotland career. He gained 12 caps in total, all in a twelve year period between 1987 and 1999; he made the squads for both the Euros of 1992 and ’96 and also 1998 without making an appearance at either Finals.

Derek was first capped as a Celtic player in October 1987 coming on as a sub for Maurice Malpas in the second half as Scotland managed to beat our Belgian hoodoo with two goals from Ally McCoist and Paul McStay. (Perhaps when we play Belgium again we should arrange for Hamish Husband to be on holiday for that one too.) Also making his debut that night was Gary Gillespie of Liverpool whilst Stevie Clarke of Chelsea and Ian Wilson of Everton were also in the line-up.
Derek’s next game was away against Luxembourg in December of that year in the last of our Euro qualifiers, as a makeshift right back. Derek could be happy that Scotland kept a clean sheet. Not so much, that Luxembourg did too.
Fast forward two years and Derek was on Rous Cup duty coming on as a sub for Gillespie as Scotland beat Chile 2-0 at Hampden with goals from Alan McInally and Murdo Macleod. Jump another three years for Derek’s next appearance; again as a sub for Dave McPherson v USA in Denver as the Scots won one nil with Pat Nevin scoring the only goal. As stated Derek made the cut for the Euro Finals that year despite not featuring in any more of the warm-up games.
World Cup Qualifiers in October and November ’92 saw Derek, then a Middlesbrough player play the full ninety minutes against Portugal and then Italy with both games being played at Ibrox. Again Derek could be happy with clean sheets in both, unfortunately so could the Portuguese and Italian defences.
A pattern begins to emerge as Derek waits almost another three years and a Kirin Cup appearance against Japan in Hiroshima in May 1995. Derek came on as a sub late in the game for Colin Calderwood as we Scotland drew nil nil.
Derek started the following Kirin Cup game against Ecuador as the Scots won 2-1 with goals from John Robertson and Stevie Crawford. Cap number eight and this is the first time Derek has played in a team that conceded a goal, which came from a penalty.
Derek finally taste defeat in a Scotland shirt as the Scots go down 2-1 to the US in another Euro warm up. Incidentally, why have we gone to the US to warm up for a tournament in the Europe for two finals in a row? Gordon Durie scored Scotland’s goal that day.

The Euros ’96, another tournament, another squad and again no game time.Cap ten and Derek played against Latvia in a World Cup qualifier in October ’96. Again another clean sheet but fortunately goals from John Collins and Darren Jackson saw Scotland win.

Derek returns to the Scotland team almost eighteen months later in April ’98 as an Aberdeen player with an appearance in a friendly against Finland in front of a sparse crowd of 14,315 at Tynecastle. The game ended up one each with Darren Jackson scoring Scotland’s goal.
World Cup 1998, another tournament, another squad and again no game time.Derek’s final Scotland game was as one of six subs in the shock 1-0 win against Germany when Don Hutchison supplied the goal in April 1999 in Bremen.
So Happy Birthday to the unique Derek Whyte not only for all those Finals squads but one defeat in twelve and nine clean sheets for a defender must be quite pleasing too.

First posted on Facebook on August 30th, 2016

Bobby will be 73 on August 30th. Like many of his contemporaries whether Lisbon Lions or not, Bobby deserved more caps but the competition for places was so fierce at the time and with generally no subs for most of the sixties, opportunities were not as readily available.
In total, Bobby played ten times for Scotland only suffering one defeat and playing a major part in the triumphant defeat of England at Wembley in 1967.
His first cap came in a Home International game against Northern Ireland at Hampden in November 1966. This game doubled up as a qualifier towards the 1968 Euros. Bobby started alongside club mates; Tommy Gemmell, John Clark, Bobby Murdoch, Joe McBride and Stevie Chalmers. Rangers trio John Greig, Ronnie McKinnon, Willie Henderson and goalkeeper Bobby Ferguson of Killie along with lone Anglo Billy Bremner made up the rest of the side. Scotland won 2-1 with the two Bobby’s, Murdoch and Lennox scoring the goals.
Bobby’s next game was the 3-2 win at Wembley in 1967. Bobby would score the second Scotland goal with Denis Law and Jim McCalliog supplying the other two. 53,497 turned up at Hampden a month later to watch Scotland play the USSR in a friendly, which was the only time Bobby suffered defeat in a Scotland shirt. A delightful own goal lob from Tommy Gemmell gave USSR the lead which was followed by goal from Medved late in the first half to complete a 2-0 defeat. Gemmell’s goal seems to have grown in stature over the years but as the video shows; it was not the rocket shot from 40 yards that has oft been described.
Bobby missed the 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in October 1967 at Windsor Park, where George Best ripped us apart and ultimately saw us fail to reach the Euros. Bobby played in the game against Wales a month later that Scotland won 3-2 with an Alan Gilzean double and a Ronnie McKinnon goal giving us the victory. The final game of that seasons’ Home Internationals came against England in February 1968, with Scotland needing a win to progress through to the Euros last eight; alas it was not to be with a one all draw being played out with John Hughes supplying the Scotland goal and England going through. Cap number six and goal number three came in a one nil win against Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen.Bobby’s next three games were at the start of our World Cup Qualifiers for Mexico ’70. The campaign got off to a good start with a 2-1 win v Austria at Hampden in November with Denis Law and Billy Bremner supplying the goals. Bobby came on as a late sub for Chelsea’s Charlie Cooke in the 5-0 win against Cyprus a month later. All the goals had come in the first half with doubles from Alan Gilzean and Colin Stein and a solitary Bobby Murdoch goal.
Next up, was in front of a crowd of 95,951 at Hampden against West Germany with Vogts, Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller all playing. Muller had given the Germans the lead in 39 minutes but once again Bobby Murdoch was to provide the goal to equalise in the 88th minute. Murdoch only played 12 games for Scotland but managed to score six goals, which is the type of record any Scotland forward would be proud of.
Bobby’s Scotland career petered out with only one more appearance as a sub in a nil nil draw with Wales in April 1970.So Happy Birthday Bobby and all the best. Thanks for the memories and in particular Wembley ’67.

First posted on Facebook August 29th, 2016

Stevie will turn 53 today and his tally of six caps is perhaps a poor return for such a talented right back but unlike Alan Hutton he had some real competition for his position in Richard Gough, Stevie Nicol amd Stewart McKimmie.
Stevie won 8 under-21 caps as a St. Mirren player but would gain his six full ones during his eleven year spell at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea.
His first cap came in September 1987 in a friendly against Hungary at Hampden. Richard Gough would move to pair with Willie Miller in central defence leaving Clarke to fill Gough’s usual place at full back. Scotland won 2-0, thanks to a double from Ally McCoist.
This was followed by two victories in the 1988 Euro Qualifiers; the first a rarity, a win against Belgium. McCoist supplied the first goal and Paul McStay the second as Scotland won 2-0. This was followed by the famous victory in Bulgaria where Gary Mackay of Hearts scored to hand the Republic of Ireland their first trip to the Finals of a major tournament.
Scotland had played poorly at the start of the Qaulifiers, where two draws and two defeats in their opening games saw them play catch up throughout the rest of the games. A final embarrassing blank draw away to Luxembourg was to follow but Stevie never took part in that game with Derek Whyte filling in.
This was followed by two friendlies in early 1988 as first Scotland drew 2-2 with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh with Mo Johnston and John Collins scoring for Scotland. Scotland then went on to play Malta at the Ta’Qali stadium, Valetta, where Graeme Sharp scoring his only goal for Scotland (let’s leave it at that) gave the Scots the lead but Malta would equalise early in the second half for the game to finish 1-1.
Stevie would then be left on the sidelines over the next few years as Andy Roxburgh first went with Stevie Nicol and then Stewart McKimmie as first choice right back. In fact it would be six years later, that he would gain his sixth and final cap. Injury to Tom Boyd saw McKimmie switch to left back and Clarke recalled to play right back. Scotland lost this friendly 3-1 against Netherlands in May, 1994. This was the match that Duncan Shearer scored his first goal and was mentioned in his birthday piece yesterday.
Following this match Stevie would return to the International wilderness but he would play on with Chelsea for a few more years before moving into coaching and management. Stevie is currently assistant boss to his old Chelsea teammate Roberto Di Matteo at Aston Villa.
Happy Birthday Stevie and all the best.

First posted on Facebook on August 28th, 2016

Duncan Shearer will turn 54 today. Duncan played seven times for Scotland in 1994 and 1995. Like John McGinlay and Darren Jackson, both of whom also played around that time, he was not the most gifted of strikers for Scotland but like McGinlay and Jackson he stuck to his task and he helped us get to the 1996 Euro finals in England.
Duncan had played most of his football in England and begun to make a name for himself at Huddersfield, then Swindon and was transferred to Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn Rovers. This move did not pan out and Aberdeen paid £500,000 for his services in 1992. Duncan would have some great years at Aberdeen scoring 53 times in 157 League Games.
It was during this period that Craig Brown brought Duncan into the Scotland team. Duncan would make his first appearance in April, 1994 coming on as a late sub for the aforementioned John McGinlay for the last fifteen minutes against Austria in a friendly in Vienna. Scotland won 2-1 thanks to goals from McGinlay and Billy McKinlay.
A month later and Scotland were well beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands in Utrecht in another friendly. Once more, Duncan would replace McGinlay late in the game but he would score in the 81st minute with a nice dinked header after good work from Aberdeen teammate Eoin Jess (I will post this video later so please look out for it).
Scotland started their qualifying for Euro ’96 in Helsinki, Finland in September, 1994 and Duncan was given a starting place alongside Andy Walker of Celtic. A good passing move early on in the game saw Tom Boyd fire a cross over which Duncan headed into goal to give Scotland the lead. John Collins would double the score in the second half to give Scotland a comfortable win and a great start to their qualifying campaign. (I will post this one also)
It would be March 1995 before Duncan played for Scotland again. He had missed the 5-1 win over the Faroes at Hampden, 1-1 draw also at home to Russia and the 1-0 defeat to Greece in Athens. He returned as a late sub to Darren Jackson in the Luzhniki Stadion, Moscow. Scotland earned 0-0 draw to keep their Euro hopes alive.
Duncan started alongside McGinlay for the game away to the Faroes in Toftir. Billy McKinlay and John McGinlay would score midway through the first half to give Scotland the win. Shearer was replaced by John Robertson with only a few minutes remaining.
His final Scotland game was in the vital home game against Greece; a Scotland win would see them through as runners up. Shearer had started the game but this was not to be his night but would belong to one Alistair Murdoch McCoist. McCoist came on for his first Scotland game in over two years following his leg break in Portugal, 1993 and within a minute scored the goal that would spark wild celebrations and ultimately see Scotland reach the Euros in 1996.
Duncan would play in two ‘B’ Internationals in the next few months as Scotland prepared for the England ’96, scoring in a 2-1 win against Sweden in Stockholm but would not be selected for the Finals squad. In 1997 Duncan would move on to Inverness Caley Thistle where he would finish his playing career before moving into coaching.
Happy Birthday Deadly Dunc and all the best.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook, August 27th, 2016

Happy Birthday also to Stephen Wright who will turn 45 today. A lot was expected of full back Stephen during his days at Aberdeen where he gained 15 Under-21 caps and progressed to two full caps. His first coming in March, 1993 against Germany at Ibrox in 1993. It’s quite ironic that this match took place at Ibrox as this is one of the only games in the modern era where no Anglos were chosen to play and also no Rangers player either. Rangers were having their best season ever in the Champions League. This was the season they had already beaten Leeds and were unlucky not to progress through to the Final.
The game is remembered mostly for Duncan Ferguson spectacularly hitting the crossbar with an overhead kick which would be the actual peak of his Scotland career. Scotland lost one nil.
Stephen would play one more game for Scotland; a 3-0 win away to Estonia in Tallinn.
He would move to Rangers in 1995 for £1.5m and like more than a few players with good potential he failed to reach it at Ibrox where injury would blight his time and he would only make 7 appearnces in total in a three year spell.
After having played a 147 League games for Aberdeen, Stephen when he quit the game in 2002 would only play a total of 48 games in for Rangers, Wolves (on loan), Bradford, Dundee United and Scunthorpe.
The photo is of the programme for the Germany showing Stephen with Eoin Jess and Ally McCoist launching the new away kit.

First posted on Facebook, August 27th, 2016

Goalkeeper Eddie will turn 81 today. Eddie helped Dunfermline win the Scottish Cup for the very first time in May, 1961 in what was known at the time as “Connachan’s Cup Final”, such was the display he put on that day to deny Celtic. There can be very few Scottish goalkeepers ever that have been pitched in at the deep end as Eddie was for his first cap in November, 1961. Due to an injury to Spurs goalkeeper Bill Brown; Eddie was given the No.1 shirt for the vital World Cup Play-off against Czechoslovakia. The SFA did try and replace Connachan with the more experienced Lawrie Leslie of West Ham but having supplied FIFA with an original squad list naming Brown and Connachan, the Czechs would not allow this change to go ahead.
Scotland would lose four goals to two after extra time in Brussels but having read two contemporary reports of the game Connachan is not implicated in the loss of any goals. Both reports speak of the dirty tactics of the Czech players, the referee’s poor performance but mostly of the anonymous performances by Messrs. Law, Baxter and John White. Baxter is also blamed for the loss of one of the goals and apparently should have been sent off for a crunching tackle late in the game too.
As for Connachan, he would only play one more game for Scotland, as generally Brown was first choice around this time. He played in the ‘not so’ friendly against Uruguay in May 1962 but was only given the first half being replaced by Billy Ritchie of Rangers who would be winning his only Scotland cap that day. It is interesting to note that Luis Cubilla scored in the 45th minute and the 47th minute and so technically scored two goals in two minutes playing against two different goalkeepers. Uruguay won the game 3-2 despite a late rally by the Scots.
Having played 126 League games for Dunfermline, Eddie moved on to Middlesbrough in 1963 and would return to Scotland to play for Falkirk in 1966. He would finish his career playing football in South Africa, where I believe he still lives. Eddie was inducted into the Dunfermline Hall of Fame in March, 2007.
Happy Birthday Eddie and all the best.