WE'RE
SCOTLAND – we don't really do sporting reality and that's a fact.
In the wake of our elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the
group stage and the subsequent resignation of Stevie Clarke, I've
been crunching the numbers over our history in the competition. My
conclusion, we've been kidding ourselves on for the past 76 years.
In
this post, which comes into the Long Read category,
I looked at our record in each of the tournaments since our
first entry, in 1950 and I fear, the fuck-up the Scottish Football
Association's High Heid Yins perpetrated back then has been the
template for every subsequent tournament.
For
the benefit of those too-young to remember Thomlinson T-balls and
Manfield Hotspur football boots, having totally ignored FIFA
and its World Cup when the competition was held in 1930, 1934 and
1938, the four British Associations kissed and made up with
FIFA in 1947, even arranging a now legendary game at Hampden and
agreeing to enter the World Cup, to be held in Brazil in 1950.
An Own Goal
The
1949-50 British International Championships would double-up
as a World Cup qualifying competition with the top two nations
travelling to Brazil in the summer of 1950. All reasonable enough,
but, in a display of petulant arrogance which still defies
explanation, the SFA Blazers decided,
they would only go to Brazil as British Champions, before a 0-1 loss
to England
gave the men in white the title and meant Scotland has to be content
with a short end-of-season European Tour, which brought a 2-2 draw
with Portugal in
Lisbon and
a 1-0 win over France in
Paris.
Still
better than the fate that befell the English, who did go to Brazil,
but managed to lose 0-1 to the USA
and were home before
their postcards.
For
the 1954 tournament,
in Switzerland, the
Home Internationals again doubled-up as a qualifying group, Scotland
again finished second behind England, but, this time, they did
travel.
Mind
you, the SFA still managed to mess-up big time.
The
qualifying group results were: a 3-1
win over Northern
Ireland in Belfast,
before a 3-3
Hampden draw with Wales
and a 2-4
loss to England at
Hampden. In the Belfast win, East
Fife's Charlie Fleming marked
his solitary cap with two goals, not quite the same as club-mate
Henry Morris, who,
in his only Scotland appearance, against the Irish back in 1949 (in
our first World Cup qualifier) scored a hat-trick.
In
the Welsh game at Hampden, Willie
Telfer, first called into
the national squad back in 1949,
finally got on the park
for his only cap. He was never picked again after refusing to pull
down the great John
Charles as the Welsh star
ran through to score a late equaliser for the visitors.
But,
that wasn't the last piece of selection madness in 1954. Rangers
had arranged a North
American Tour for the end of the season, which meant Scotland
regulars, Captain George
Young, stand-in Captain Sammy Cox, centre-half Willie Woodburn and
regular outside right
Willie Waddell would be
in North America rather than Switzerland.
Then,
to add further embarrassment, the SFA ordered heavy winter-weight
woolen shirts, for a tournament played in a high summer heatwave.
The
SFA had to register 22 players with FIFA, but, they only took 13 of
them to Switzerland, that group included only one goalkeeper –
Aberdeen's Fred Martin.
Back-up 'keeper Jock
Anderson of Leicester
City was back home in
Barrhead for
the duration of the tournament.
After
the loss to England, the SFA Selectors, who picked the team, adopted
their default position and dumped most of the team. Of the 20 players
who had featured in the three qualifying games, only five: Bobby
Evans, Doug Cowie, John-Archie Mackenzie, Allan Brown and
Willie Ormond were
on the flight to Switzerland and Evans, the most-capped player in the
squad, wasn't used in either of the two games in the Alps.
The
media hadn't come up with the Group of Death notion
back then, but Scotland were paired with Austria,
then one of the top
nations in Europe and defending Champions Uruguay.
A
0-1 loss to the Austrians was not a bad result, but the subsequent
0-7 mauling at the hands of the South Americans was an unmitigated
disaster. It didn't help that Andy
Beattie, Scotland's first
National Team Manager, who
didn't get to pick the side, had had enough of the SFA Selectors'
interference and resigned mid-tournament – it should have been red
faces all round, except, the SFA High Heid Yins don't do
embarrassment. Austria
and Uruguay, who eliminated England,
went on to finish third and fourth respectively.
Aye,
in a foretaste of things to come – Scotland had got The
Group of Death.
The
Selectors again took charge, but, after Scotland saw off Spain
and Switzerland
to qualify for the 1958
tournament in Sweden,
the SFA persuaded
Manchester United Manager
Matt Busby to manage the
team at the tournament. Unfortunately, he was still recovering from
the serious injuries he sustained in the Munich
Air Crash in February,
1958, and team
preparation had to be left to trainer Dawson
Walker of Clyde.
After
only taking 13 players to Switzerland, the SFA decided to take all 22
registered players to Sweden. They had been criticised for not taking
enough players four years previously, this time, the press criticised
them for taking too-many players. Still, a 1-1
draw with Yugoslavia
was a promising opening.
Tommy
Docherty and
Archie Robertson
hadn't
played in that game, instead they were sent to spy on next opponents
– Paraguay. The
Doc, who would go on to have a spell as Scotland boss, always
insisted, the SFA Selectors totally ignored the report he and
Robertson submitted – Scotland lost 2-3 to the South Americans and
now had to beat France,
who
had been the most-impressive of the nine European nations to qualify
for Sweden, to remain alive. It was a task too far for the Scots, who
again failed to get out of the group.
As
you can see, a pattern is emerging; when it comes to the World Cup,
if it can go wrong for Scotland, it will. Here, leaving aside the own
goal of 1950, is a breakdown of our World Cup record:
1954
– Qualified 11 of 11 European nations – finished 15 of 16
finalists
1958
– Qualified 8 of 9 European nations – finished 14 of 16
finalists
1962
– Did not qualify – finished 12 of 28 European entrants
1966
– Did not qualify – finished 14 of 29 European entrants
1970
– Did not qualify – finished 12 of 29 European entrants
1974
– Qualified 6 of 8 European nations – finished 9 of 16 finalists
1978
– Qualified 6 of 9 European nations – finished 11 of 16
finalists
1982
– Qualified 5 of 13 European nations – finished 15 of 24
finalists
1986
– Qualified 13 of 13 European nations – finished 20 of 24
finalists
1990
– Qualified 12 of 13 European nations – finished 18 of 24
finalists
1994
– Did not qualify – finished 22 of 36 European entrants
1998
– Qualified 10 of 14 European nations – finished 27 of 32
finalists
2002
– Did not qualify – finished 26 of 50 European entrants
2006
– Did not qualify – finished 24 of 52 European entrants
2010
– Did not qualify – finished 27 of 53 European entrants
2014
– Did not qualify – finished 34 of 53 European entrants
2018
– Did not qualify – finished 20 of 54 European entrants
2022
– Did not qualify – finished 16 of 55 European entrants
2026
– Qualified 12 of 18 European nations – finished 35 of 48
finalists
Over
these 76 years and 20 World Cups, we have only once, in 1982,
qualified as one of the top European qualifiers. In the other
nine successful qualifying campaigns (including 1950), we have either
got in as a second-placed nation, or as one of the least-impressive
group winners.
OK,
today the Tartan Army styles itself as the game's ultimate
party animals, Scotland games are party central, but, up until
reality set in over the first quarter of the 21st century,
we definitely had delusions of adequacy, a failing still to an extent
evident in our support – including our Fans with lap tops.
Our
perennial weakness as a footballing nation is our inability to score
goals. Might this be a mental thing? As evidence of this, I submit
the legendary story of the 1967 Wembley Wizards' pre-game
planning. The Scottish squad, to a man, did not rate the English
World Champions they would be facing; legend has it, pre-game
planning focused on how they would approach the game.
Problems Finding The Net
Denis
Law, scarred by the memory of
losing 3-9 in 1961 wanted Scotland to put as many goals as possible
on the Saxons, but, he was over-ruled by a combination of Jim
Baxter and Billy
Bremner, who allegedly wanted
to: “humiliate them 1-0.”
The
reality was, Scotland's win was 3-2 going on 6-2, but, if you look
today at the BBC highlights edit, you might think Scotland were
fortunate to win. But, that's our way – win with a bit of swagger.
Never mind piling on the goals.
A
look at our goals for and against for our 20 World Cup qualifying
campaigns demonstrates where our inability to put the ball in the net
has handicapped us:
The
1950 average is somewhat skewed by that big 8-2 win in Belfast, while
the 1970 figure is also skewed by the 13 times we scored in two goal
feasts against Cyprus. However, until the 2026 campaign, we
hadn't averaged better than just over a goal a game in almost 50
years of qualifying campaigns.
In
attempting to qualify for World Cup Finals, we have played 142
games, over which we average 1.633 goals per game scored – 1.077
gpg conceded.
Our
record in the Big Show, on the nine occasions we turned-up is as
follows:
1954
– 0 goals scored – 8 conceded: average 0-4
1958
– 3 goals scored – 6 conceded: average 1 – 2
1974
– 3 goals scored – 1 goal conceded: average 1 – 0.33
1978
– 5 goals scored – 6 goals conceded: average 1.66 – 2
1982
– 8 goals scored – 8 goals conceded: average 2.66 – 2.66
1986
– 1 goal scored – 3 goals conceded: average 0.33 – 1
1990
– 2 goals scored – 3 goals conceded: average 0.66 – 1
1998
– 2 goals scored – 6 goals conceded: average 0.66 – 2
2026
– 1 goal scored – 4 goals conceded: average 0.33 – 1.33
Overall
our record in finals tournament is:
Frustratingly,
we haven't scored a goal per game in each of our last four tilts at
the final tournaments, it's now 44 years since we bettered that
benchmark, and the 1982 figures have undoubtedly been helped by
sticking 5 goals on New Zealand in our opening game.
In
all, both qualifiers and final tournament games, we have played 168
World Cup games, in which we have scored 258 goals – an
average of 1.5 goals per game. We have conceded 198 goals
in these matches, an average of 1.18 gpg.
A
total of 166 players have scored for Scotland in World Cup
games, either qualifiers or final tournament matches; 51 of
these players have scored more than one World Cup goal and the top
ten (actually 11) Scottish World Cup goalscorers are;
Maurice
Johnston – 9 goals
Kevin
Gallacher – 9 goals
Kenny
Dalglish – 7 goals
Joe
Jordan – 7 goals
Jackie
Mudie – 6 goals
Denis
Law – 5 goals
Ally
McCoist – 5 goals
Robert
Snodgrass – 5 goals
John
McGinn – 5 goals
Che
Adams – 5 goals
Lynden
Dykes – 5 goals
Our
26 goals in Finals
tournaments have been shared amongst 20 players,
of whom 16 have
scored only one final tournament goal. The players who have scored
more than once for Scotland in the Big Show are:
Joe
Jordan – 4 goals
Kenny
Dalglish – 2 goals
Archie
Gemmill - 2 goals (in one game)
John
Wark – 2 goals (in one game)
Jimmy
Murray, Jackie Mudie, Bobby Collins, Sammy Baird (1958), Peter
Lorimer (1974), John Robertson, Stevie Archibald, David Narey,
Graeme Souness (1982), Gordon Strachan (1986), Stuart McCall,
Maurice Johnston (1990), John Collins, Craig Burley (1998) and John
McGinn (2026) are the single goal scorers.
When
it comes to consistently scoring – that goals per game ratio –
you obviously get regular outliers. For instance, his hat-trick in
his only international, that first-ever World Cup qualifier back in
1949, makes East Fife's Henry Morris, statistically our top marksman,
with a 3-00 goals per game average; just ahead of his club-mate,
Charlie Fleming, who bagged a brace in his only international in 1954
and there are anomalies too when we look at the scorers of our 25
goals in finals (I discount the own goal in the Iran game in 1978).
Here
the averages read, in descending order:
1.00
gpg - Sammy Baird (Rangers) – (1 game, 1 goal, 1958)
0.66
gpg - Archie Gemmill (Nottingham Forest) – (3 games, 2 goals 1978)
: John Wark (Ipswich Town) – (3 games, 2 goals 1982)
0.57
gpg - Joe Jordan (Leeds United, Manchester United, AC Milan) (7
games, 4 goals 1974, 1978, 1982)
0.5
gpg - Jimmy Murray (Heart of Midlothian) – (2 games, 1 goal, 1958)
: David Narey (Dundee United) – (2 games, 1 goal 1982)
0.33
gpg - Jackie Mudie (Blackpool) – (3 games, 1 goal 1958) : Bobby
Collins (Celtic) – (3 games, 1 goal 1958) : Peter Lorimer –
(Leeds United) - (3 games, 1 goal 1974) : Stuart McCall (Rangers) –
(3 games, 1 goal 1990) : Maurice Johnston (Rangers) – (3 games, 1
goal 1990) : Craig Burley (Celtic) – (3 games, 1 goal 1990) : John
McGinn (Aston Villa) – (3 games, 1 goal 2026)
0.25
gpg – Kenny Dalglish (Celtic, Liverpool) – (8 games, 2 goals
1974, 1978, 1982) : Steve Archibald (Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona) –
(1 goal, 4 games 1982, 1986) : John Collins (Hibernian, Monaco) –
(1 goal, 4 games 1990, 1998)
0.17
gpg Graeme Souness (Liverpool, Rangers) – (1 goal, 6 games 1978,
1982, 1986) : Gordon Strachan (Aberdeen, Manchester United) (1 goal,
6 games 1982, 1986)
For
the purposes of this piece, I have categorised Kenny Dalglish as a
midfielder rather than a striker, some might argue about this,
however. Any way, the five strikers in my list: Messrs Jordan, Mudie,
Lorimer, Johnston and Archibald scored goals at a median average of
0.4 goals per game – just below the 0.5 benchmark for a
top-class international striker.
The
12 midfielders on the list posted a median average of 0.35 goals
per game, which is around the expected average for an
international-class midfielder. All I can say about the one Scottish
goal scored by a defender in a World Cup finals game: David Narey's
“toe poke” against Brazil in 1982 is – great
strike as it was, as was noted at the time – it was a clear case of
poking a slumbering bear with a stick.
My
conclusions – well, given our midfielders score at almost the same
level as our strikers, perhaps, in a Scottish International context,
Craig Levein's 4-6-0 formation wasn't stupid.
