Scotland in the 70s

Ronnie McDevitt

Description

The 1970s saw a change in the fortunes of the Scottish national side. After a gap of 16 years World Cup qualification was achieved for the finals in West Germany in 1974. Credited as the only undefeated side at the tournament, the sobering trip to Argentina four years later prompted more realistic future expectations. In a decade in which the SFA celebrated its centenary, the scandal of the Copenhagen Five and a breakdown in relations between the press and players were significant events - while, on the park, players of the calibre of Dalglish, Hartford, Jordan, Souness and McQueen replaced the old guard. Scotland in the 70s looks beyond the decade's 89 matches, examining the role of the managers - Brown, Docherty, Ormond, MacLeod, Stein - and the circumstances surrounding the many memorable games. Extensive newspaper and video archive research is complemented by the memories of star contributors including Bobby Brown, Archie MacPherson, Asa Hartford, Eddie Gray, Willie Morgan, Willie Johnston, Lou Macari, Bobby Clark, Jimmy Bone and John Blackley.

Sujets

• Escocia
• Scotland

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 11 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785315114
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Ronnie McDevitt, 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-439-1 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-511-4
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Contents
Author s Introduction
Acknowledgements
1 1970
2 1971
3 1972
4 1973
5 1974
6 1975
7 1976
8 1977
9 1978
10 1979
Postscript: Lucky Man
Appendix
Recommended Bibliography
FOR BRIAN McKECHNIE
A true Scotland fan from the 1970s onwards and an all-round decent bloke who sadly passed away just as this book was nearing completion
Author s Introduction
Whilst researching Scotland in the Sixties I had an inkling I would like to do a follow-up on the 1970s, a decade I was more familiar with.
It is fair to say that the only two World Cups discussed at any great length in Scotland are those in the 1970s and for differing reasons.
I was 13 at the time of the 1974 World Cup and was one of the few boys in my class who had a dislike of football. That changed when it became impossible to ignore Scotland s participation in West Germany. Curious, I watched my first ever football match, the opening game between Yugoslavia and Brazil on television. I may even have fallen asleep during the goalless draw but it didn t put me off watching Scotland vs Zaire the following evening. I was entertained enough to go out of my way to watch the Brazil game who, I was informed, were apparently better than the Africans.
By the time of the Yugoslavia match I was hooked and recall the disappointment watching with my father that Saturday afternoon. He was less enthralled than Arthur Montford who spoke of Brave brave Scotland at Joe Jordan s late equaliser. Dad s response was one of Too bloody late! , words which have come back to me many times since when watching Scotland.
Scotland s 1974 squad has been referred to as a Golden Generation. A few months later a missed penalty kick in the opening European Championship qualifier denied Willie Ormond s side the opportunity to progress and do well in that tournament.
Aged 17 it was awful not being able to go to the 1978 World Cup and I collected all the newspaper accounts of the fans alongside the match reports for my Argentina scrapbook.
I envied the supporters who travelled overland and lived out my dream. In later years many of them became personal friends although I never felt their equal regardless of how many Scotland games I attended. How I must have bored them with my constant questions about 78.
One whom I had never met but knew of was Robbie Sterry and I was delighted to track him down to Canada whilst researching the book. I knew his tale would be good but had no idea just how enthralling his trip to South America and back would be and his is a story which deserves to be in print. The thought of two Scotland fans clinging to a freight train crossing the Alps, in conditions so cold their hands were stuck to the rungs of a ladder, after watching Scotland draw with Iran is astonishing.
It is also fair to say that the supporters who went on organised trips to Argentina gave up an awful lot to finance the trip. As Robbie Jenkins says, So many sacrificed so much.
I have experienced great hospitality in a number of locations watching Scotland overseas but have no doubt that the warmth extended by the people of Cordoba to Ally s Army surpassed any of these and I hope this is reflected in the text. William McIlvanney recorded of the fans in Cordoba, They are left with a deep affection for the spontaneous generosity and kindness of the Argentine people and a sense that nevertheless they have been cheated of their true purpose in coming here.
What went wrong in Argentina? is a question still posed 40 years after the event partly because there is no easy answer, there were so many events which turned out badly. Youngers fans may be baffled at how those of my age look back on that period nostalgically. The most obvious explanation for me is that the good times arguably outweighed the bad.
Like John Grigor, my biggest regret is not making it to the 1978 World Cup and Robbie Jenkins, the only supporter I know who has watched Scotland play in eight tournaments, still considers 1978 to be his favourite. I have always intended to visit Cordoba and a trip there is on my bucket list for the near future.
Based solely on World Cup results Ally MacLeod s record is no worse than subsequent Scotland managers but his reign in charge still provokes debate and disagreement with the jury still split. One consistent theme was that everyone I spoke to liked Ally regardless of their views on his abilities.
Scotland have fared no better in any tournament since Argentina and I have always been of the opinion that losing to Costa Rica in 1990 was worse than the defeat to Peru but that never seems to get mentioned.
The 1970s was a period when there was so much talent around that no one could take their place in the Scotland side for granted. Joe Jordan is on record as saying he played every international as though it was his last.
Retrospectively, the importance that the Scottish public attached to the result of the annual Scotland v England match does seem ridiculous and this started to change as the 1970s gave way to the 80s with regular World Cup participation.
As with my previous publication, I have included the League Internationals and Under-23/21 matches which were seen as a stepping stone to the full side. Certainly the players I spoke with remember them and I wanted to be consistent with the 1960s volume. One glance at the Appendix will see that the line-ups for those fixtures against the Football League or England s Under-23 side invariably included members of England s World Cup-winning team, an indication of how important they were.
Although I attended most Scotland internationals from the middle of 1977 I have not included my own experiences in the text. I felt it would have been rather self-indulgent to suddenly change to the first person so I continued to feature other fans reminiscences.
It really was quite fascinating to revisit the period and I hope you gain some of the enjoyment from reading the book that I did when working on it.
I have no plans for a third volume on the 1980s, but I guess you never say never.
Ronnie McDevitt November 2018
Acknowledgements
As with my look at the 1960s I was rather flattered by the calibre of people who chose to share their memories with me for this volume.
At the age of 95 Bobby Brown s recollections were as good as anyone s I interviewed and I always enjoy our conversations.
John Blackley and Lou Macari spoke passionately about just being part of the Scotland squad even if they did not make the starting XI. On both occasions it was me who ended the conversation, so generous were they with their time.
Bobby Clark has amazing recall of events and was most accommodating with my numerous queries. I don t think there was one of his internationals that he had no memory of.
Like Bobby, Asa Hartford was around the Scotland set-up for most of the decade and clearly enjoyed his days with the squad. Again Asa was very helpful in answering my many questions. I have always considered Asa something of an unsung hero who played in many big matches without perhaps gaining the recognition of some of his team-mates. An entry into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame is surely overdue.
I am also indebted to Asa s nephew and Scotland fan Chris Norton for arranging the contact.
It is always interesting chatting with Willie Johnston, who Jimmy Bone considers the most underrated player ever . Bud laughs quite a lot when looking back and again his memories are always detailed. Likewise, Willie Morgan was full of enthusiasm for the subject and to his credit was able to comment on Tommy Docherty s time at the SFA without influence from a later disagreement.
Eddie Gray was able to more than adequately fill in some of the blanks during the mid-70s whilst Jimmy Bone spoke with great enthusiasm of his time with the Doc in Brazil.
Jimmy Millar also deserves a mention for clearing the way for me to contact his namesake.
Gary Keown of the Scottish Daily Mail was, as always most helpful, as was Matthew Lindsay at the Herald . Gary s assistance in speaking with Archie Macpherson and Rodger Baillie was invaluable. These two gentlemen were very much there at the time and it is fascinating to converse with people who knew many of the big names like Stein and Bremner personally.
Rodger always ended my calls with anything else I can help with just call me . I thoroughly recommend Archie s recently published Adventures in the Golden Age for anyone with an interest in the Scotland side.
The supporters input is crucial to a book like this and I am indebted to Robbie Jenkins, Andy McArthur, John Grigor, Stuart Borrowman, Tommy Collin, David Stephen and Stevie Newlands for giving their time to discuss a period I think we all look back on fondly.
Robbie Sterry s travels to and from the 1978 World Cup could fill a book on their own. He was so detailed with his input it was difficult to leave much of it out and his contribution is probably my favourite part of the book. I was delighted to be able to meet up with Robbie on a rare return visit to Perth in Octob