The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine

First published on Facebook on April 5th, 2016

Richard Gough will turn 54 today. Although, born in Sweden and raised in South Africa, Gough was eligible for Scotland due to his father being Scottish. He would earn 61 caps, scoring 6 goals in total including those two vital ones against Cyprus in February 1989 that would see us through to Italia ’90 and of course his winning goal against England in the Rous Cup in 1985, which we posted an image of few days ago.
Richard gained his first cap as a Dundee United player, coming on 30th March, 1983 against Switzerland in a Euro qualifier. It probably went by unremarked upon at the time due to his fellow debutant Charlie Nicholas. Prior to the match Nicholas was getting all the hype and it seemed in the 76th minute that he announced himself on the World Stage with that truly remarkable goal but alas it was not to be for Charlie.
As for Richard he had slotted in at full back and retained that position for the next 14 games on the trot, scoring in his sixth game against Canada in the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton as Scotland won 3-0 in the second game of a 3 game Canadian tour.
Gough didn’t start in the first two qualifiers for Mexico ’86, home wins against Iceland and Spain but played in the defeats to away to Spain and at home to Wales. The Welsh defeat was followed two months later in May, 1985 by one of Gough’s highs in a Scotland jersey as he scored the only goal in 1985 Rous Cup game against England at Hampden.
This was followed a few days later with a win in Reykjavik with Jim Bett scoring the vital winner in the World Cup Qualifier against Iceland in the 86th minute.
This would leave Scotland only needing a draw against Wales in September to progress to the World Cup playoffs with Australia. As we all know; Scotland did gain that draw thanks to a Davie Cooper penalty but lost a great man in Jock Stein who passed away, that night too.
Scotland would win the first leg of the play-off without Gough, but he returned for the second leg in Melbourne to perform as part of the rear-guard that ensured the Aussies would not get a foothold on the tie with an early goal. The game ended nil nil.
Alex Ferguson had taken charge of the Scotland team before the World Cup and he flavoured his teams with a lot of Dundee United players and Gough would play in each of Scotland’s group games. The Scots lost to Denmark, then West Germany 1-0 and 2-1 respectively but failed to breach the Uruguay defence even after they had been reduced to ten men in the first minute and thus failed to continue in the competition.
After the World Cup and by the start of the qualifying campaign for the Euros in 1988, Gough had become a Tottenham Hotspur player, having won 26 caps during his time at Tannidice. This was a poor campaign for Scotland starting with a couple of goalless draws at home to Bulgaria and away to the Republic of Ireland followed by a defeat at home to the Irish. Gough would only play in the first few games and in May ’88 would once again play in the Rous Cup as a Rangers player. Although, the Scots would defeat Colombia at Hampden they were narrowly defeated by England at Wembley.
February 1989 would see Scotland win 3-2 in Limassol, Cyprus with Gough providing the second goal and the third in the 96th minute to rescue all three points for Scotland in what would ultimately prove to be the vital qualifying points difference between France and Scotland for second place in the group and qualification for Italia ’90.
Gough would play in only one game of Italia ’90 and for only 45 minutes of the opening defeat to Costa Rica, a recurring foot injury would mean he would head home for treatment at Ibrox shortly after the conclusion of that game.
Richard wouldn’t return to the Scotland line-up until February ’91 and was given the Captaincy for a friendly game against the USSR at Ibrox with fellow Ranger Oleg Kuznetsov scoring the only goal in the 88th minute. Gough would seem to be the stand in captain for a while but by the time of the Euro Finals of ’92 he would captain the side throughout the tournament. The Scots would lose to 1-0 to the Netherlands and then 2-0 to Germany before recording a fine 3-0 win against C.I.S., which was the nomenclature that the remaining States of the USSR went by at that time.
The campaign for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. would prove to be an individual and collective failure for Gough and the Scotland team. During a 3-1 defeat to Switzerland in Berne in September, ’92, Richard was sent off for handling the ball. Andy Roxburgh would excuse Gough for this; saying the ball hit a sprinkler and bounced up and he instinctively stopped it with his hand. It might excuse a goalkeeper not so much a defender, methinks.
Worse was to follow and a heavy defeat to Portugal in Lisbon would prove to be Richard’s last game for Scotland. He would go on to play for Rangers for quite a few years to come but criticism of the Scotland management style of first Roxburgh and then Craig Brown would see him left out in the cold. After leaving Ibrox, he would play for a number of clubs including stints in the U.S.
Happy Birthday Richard and all the best.

Since the Scotland v Denmark friendly at Hampden last Tuesday there’s been a bit of debate about the state of our game, the size of the crowd, the (lack of) atmosphere, the state of the national stadium, should we move to a rugby ground, should we build a new stadium in Central Scotland, should we even have a national stadium at all or should we move to club grounds around the country. Then there’s the usual should WGS have been kept on, should he pick/play this player or that player or a different formation – it goes on and on.
Now regarding the national stadium, I like goin to Hampden; it holds a lot of great memories for me, and some terrible ones. I might be a wee bit selfish though because I live in Glasgow so naturally it’s easy for me to get there. Admittedly it could be a better shape and we could be doin with getting rid of the runnin track but I would much rather that we spent money developin young talent than developin another stadium, whether that is Hampden or a totally new one.
Like I say, Hampden holds some great memories of fantastic games where the place is absolutely rockin and the atmosphere is electric, unfortunately Tuesday night was not one of them. Five minutes into the second half I was wishin I was the type of supporter that left games early, but I didn’t, I stayed to the end of that borin drudge fest. The best thing about the match was the banter from the fans around me in the west stand, and the best move of the match was more prophylactic than professional. Yes that’s correct, half way through the second half the tedium was relieved when somebody blew up a condom, and you know just how borin the game is when the focus of a large section of the ‘crowd’ is on how long we can keep a Johnny bag floatin in the air (ten minutes by the way).
There was all that “Wwwwwwwwooooooooooooooh” as it gently floated down toward our heads and then a joyful “ Yaaaaaayyyyyyy” as someone batted it back up. The Denmark players on the park, if they could hear us, which they probably could due to the lack of other chantin or singin, must have been thinkin to themselves, “what are they getting so excited about, it’s only another throw in/free kick in the middle of the park.” While the Scots were thinkin, “Och no another f<@‪#‎in‬ Johnny.” Ten solid minutes of puerile entertainment. So for that reason my man of the match award for the Scotland v Denmark friendly goes to Mr Jonathan Bag.

Alan Nelson

Allan Crozier on Facebook added

When the opposition is world class or it is a major game you can’t knock Hampden I will always remember the France and Holland 1-0 wins for electric atmosphere but the SFA failed last week massively as someone who travels from down South for Scotland games anyway I don’t mind where the games are what I did mind last week was a poor atmosphere and thousands of empty seats by moving the game to Edinburgh to either Tynecastle or Easter Road you get a full house and reward for the travelling fans from Edinburgh

Hamish Husband added this too.

The history of the stadium is rather unfortunate, the withdrawal of the money by mrs T in 1980 was criminal. Backed by Rangers as they were in the process of building a new Ibrox. The south stand should have been extended round the ground. It is not even a running track! It is our national stadium, full stop

First posted on Facebook 3rd April, 2016

Happy Birthday John ‘Yogi’ Hughes (the original) who will be 73 today. John was part of the Celtic squad that won the European Cup in 1967; although John himself did not play in that game he had been an integral part of qualifying for the Final.
John was capped 8 times by Scotland winning his first cap under Ian McColl in 1965 in a friendly against Spain in May, which ended in a nil nil draw. He would play in 3 qualifiers for the 1966 World Cup including the famous 1-0 win at Hampden over Italy in November, 1965 in which John Greig scored with a couple of minutes to go.
John would score his only goal against England at Hampden in 1968 in a game that doubled as a Home International and Euro Qualifier; although Scotland would draw one each with the Auld Enemy, it was not enough to see us through.
His last cap came under Bobby Brown in 1969 in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland, which resulted in one each draw with Colin Stein netting
Happy Birthday John and all the best

S.E.B.T.’s very own Alan Nelson also posted about his first Scotland game.

Since you asked David, here is a photo from my first Scotland game. Us v the Auld Enemy at Hampden 1974, I was 14 years old and it was a great introduction to international football and the home championships as we won 2-0. I went with my older brother John and I remember getting to central station to get the train to Mount Florida and it was crammed with Scotland fans carrying the entire contents of Agnews (there’s always change at Agnews). We queued down Hope Street and up through the tunnel onto platform 12 (as it was then) for the football special to keep us away from the normal travellers. There was one guy next to us in the queue from London wearing a West Ham scarf. The banter toward him was good natured in a vicious and cruel kind of way but he just grinned all the way through with the type of fixed grin that says, “please don’t kill me “. He was with his pals who were Glaswegian so he was okay, although they were quite happy to join in the relentless onslaught. Anyway the game was brilliant and Joe Jordan’s opener was going wide before Pejic slid in and knocked it into the net for him, then Shilton stood by to let Dalglish score accidentally when all he was trying to do was cross it. Seriously though, there were two great teams on the park that day and I don’t think we will ever see the like again.

Alan Cross commented ”  My first Scotland game as a 9 year old. My dad took me on a bus from the St Mirren Supporters club. I sat on a crush bar right up the back of the Rangers end and almost fell off when the teams came out, had never heard a noise like it. “

Alec Horsburgh added ” It was only after this game that I really knew what Scotland v England meant..My first real memory of the game was 1973 and watching that Shilton save from Dalglish at Wembley…Live games on TV were an event back then and throughout the 70’s the Auld Enemy game was an appointment to view. My first live expereince of the match was Wembley 1979 and a 3-1 England win. I remember being on the Football Special heading out of Kings Cross and a London City Gent with pin striped suit, bowler and briefcase flicking the V’s at us as the train pulled out of the station…Never say they don’t like to beat us as much as we like to beat them !”

Hamish Husband said. “74 was my first victory against the Auld Enemy, 3 defeats & 2 draws. What an atmosphere. We were going to West Germany & they weren’t. Only 94,000 at the game. Jimmy was amazing, would love to see the whole game again.”

and finally Jim Gordon added “my first Scotland game also…..never forget wee Jinky two fingers to the press box……..magic!”

We had asked people to let us know their first Scotland game and Alan Fairley had said the Scotland v Cyprus game from 1969 which Scotland won 8-0 was his first game. He posted the programme cover as he couldn’t find any photos from the game. We managed to get a few eventually.

So, three friendly wins in a row, did it not make you want to dance in the streets of Mount Florida, Kings Park or even the aisles of Asda, Toryglen? Maybe not, but within hours I came across this in an old Shoot magazine from 11th September, 1976 with the title 3 Wins – One Draw in Scotland’s last four friendlies. It wasn’t just the title that struck me but the story behind the pictures is quite interesting too.

Picture 1 it says “Scotland 1, Switzerland 0, April 7th, 1976. Willie Pettigrew hits the winner.” Yes, Willie did hit the winner, two minutes into his Scotland debut and two minutes into the game. The Motherwell striker would only play five times for Scotland and scored two goals; the other coming in the next game as Scotland beat Wales 3-1 at Hampden in May.

The Swiss game was hit by a lot of cancellations and so Willie Ormond picked a team with 5 players starting their first Scotland games including Alan Rough and Frank Gray but making their one and only appearances were Tommy Craig of Newcastle, Alex MacDonald of Rangers as were both subs; Rangers Bobby McKean who replaced Pettigrew at half time and Des Bremner of Hibs.

Bremner would go on to win the English First Division with Aston Villa and indeed would be an ever present for the Villans that season, as would fellow Scot Ken McNaught but Des was never capped again. Mind you. McNaught was never capped at all although his father Willie McNaught as capped 5 times as a Raith Rovers player in the fifties. Both would win the European Cup the following season. Anyway I digress, so back to the matter at hand.

Picture 2 says “Scotland 1, Portugal 0 May 13th, 1975. Charlie Cooke goes close.” Charlie Cooke had made a bit of comeback down at Stamford Bridge after returning to Chelsea from Crystal Palace and had been recalled to the Scotland squad for a Euro Qualifier against Spain in February, 1975 but this photo is actually of Charlie’s last game for Scotland. The only goal of the game was scored by Portuguese defender Artur. In the background is Rangers player Derek Parlane. Derek played football in Hong Kong, Belgium and New Zealand – Any photos anyone?

Picture 3; “Scotland 3 East Germany 0, October 30th, 1974. Dixie Deans is outnumbered on this occasion.” Dixie Deans in a Scotland strip! Yep, Dixie played twice for Scotland and was first capped on this night. His second would come in a Euro Qualifier against Spain at home a month later. Which is one of those Coulda Woulda Shoulda nights for Scotland. Had Tommy Hutchison scored that penalty when we were 1-0 up against Spain, a place at the Euro Finals in ’76 could have been ours.

However, in one of life’s little ironies Tommy scored with a penalty to open the scoring against East Germany on that October night. How could he not have missed that one instead? The Two Kenny’s scored the other goals; that being Burns and Dalglish.

Finally picture 4 – “Scotland 1, West Germany 1, November 14th, 1973. Franz Beckenbauer can’t stop Jim Holton getting a header in at goal.” Not sure if it’s the goal, but Big Jim did score in the 7th minute to give Scotland the lead. Holton of course is a Scotland legend although it is strange to think of him that way when he only played 15 games, scoring two goals and only played one more game after the ’74 World Cup. Of course there is the song and also the fact his other goal was against Czechoslovakia in ’73 as we achieved a return to the World Cup after a 16 year absence.

Uli Hoeness would equalise in the 80th minute to give the Germans a draw.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures; it’s a pity it wasn’t in one of the glossy pages or even better brilliant colour. Please remember to click on our page and see what else we’ve been up to of late.

David Stuart

A second victory in five days and a second clean sheet. Well done Scotland. Well done Matt Ritchie for netting his third Scotland goal in eight caps and a big well done to Scott Brown on the achievement of winning his 50th Scotland cap.

Ok, so the win against Denmark wasn’t the most exciting match I’ve ever seen [although it was certainly one of the coldest/wettest Spring fixtures I’ve attended] but a win is a win and you only have to think back to the friendly matches during Berti Vogts term in office to remember what real pain is. Hopefully WGS got everything he wanted from the match – I got piles and another over-priced [£5.00] programme for my collection.

Thanks to everyone who bought the mag last night but we still need some more sales to break even, so please get yourselves over to ebay and buy it today. Or if you’re feeling really supportive buy the four issues for £10 postage free. I do realise not everyone has Paypal but you can pay by cheque and Postal Order or if you’re not on eBay; message us and we’ll tell you where to post your readies for a copy.
So here’s the team from last night and we’ll be adding that to the website Team Photos today. Still not overly keen on it and it looks a bit naff from further away too.
David

(First posted on Facebook March, 29th, 2016)

Happy Birthday to Eddie Colquhoun who will be 71 today. Eddie played nine times for Scotland at Centre Half and played over 400 games for Sheffield United where he won all his caps. Eddie is only one of four Blades’ players to be capped at Full International level for Scotland. Alex Forbes was capped 5 times in the forties before gaining more as an Arsenal player, goalie Jim Brown gained a solitary cap just after the ’74 World Cup and recently Gary Naysmith earned ten caps as Sheffield player.
Eddie gained eight of his nine caps under Tommy Docherty including the games in Brazil in 1972, however it was his ninth cap where the wheels fell aff the barra as Scotland lost 5-0 to England in Willie Ormond’s first game in charge and that was all she wrote for Eddie, however he would go on to play for Sheffield for several seasons before heading to sunnier climes and playing for Detroit Express and the Washington Diplomats in America.
One of the photos is from Eddie’s days in the NASL and the other is from a recent Sheffield United 125th anniversary night. Eddie is pictured with Scotland Coach Stuart McCall, on the far left is Alan Woodward and to the right the maverick that was Tony Currie. Eddie is being presented a special Scotland cap to recall his days as a Scotland player.

Apparently, Woodward, Currie an Eddie were once part of a famous United chant. “We ain’t got a barrel of money but we’ve got Woodward and Currie, and with Eddie Colquhoun, promotion is soon, United”
Happy Birthday Eddie and all the best.