THE FIRST Scotland international I can remember paying attention to was our 4-2 loss to England, at Hampden, on 3 April, 1954. This result cast something of a downer over our participation in the World Cup finals, in Switzerland, a couple of months later.
After being well-beaten by what was some way off being a first-choice England team, our selectors did what they had always done after a heavy loss to England; they panicked, discarded half a team and, with just three warm-up games between that match and their opener in Switzerland, tried to blood some newcomers.
In those three games – home and away against Norway and away to Finland, they gave first caps to nine players, to add to the two – Mike Haughney and Willie Ormond – who had been awarded first caps (in Haughney's case his only cap) against England.
Needless to say, we bombed in Switzerland. Losing 1-0 to Austria, who would go on to finish third, was, on reflection, a good result. The less said about our 7-0 loss to holders Uruguay, who would finish fourth, the better. That 7-0 loss, I remember watching on TV.
So, aged seven, just starting to take an interest in the affairs of the national side, I was immediately aware of the pain which would follow. Reflect on my record:
1954 – loss to England; loss 7-0 to Uruguay
1955 – Disaster at Wembley; lost 7-2
1956 – Heart break at Hampden when England score a last-minute equaliser to deny us our first home win over them for a decade.
1957 – After some good results, including beating reigning World Champions West Germany in Stuttgart, we lose 4-1 to Spain, in Madrid and qualification for the 1958 World Cup is on the line.
1958 – My first live Scotland v England game at Hampden; a 4-0 thrashing, to be followed by a disappointing World Cup and a loss to Paraguay.
1959 – Not a bad season, which finished on a downer, losing to Portugal who were then considered to be European minnows.
1960 – A poor ending to the season with losses to Austria and Turkey on a European Tour.
1961 – England 9 Scotland 3.
OK, in those formative years between my 7th and 14th birthdays, I had learned that following Scotland was a roller-coaster ride. This experience has since come in handy to the extent, I now know not to get carried away when following Scotland.
So, while naturally disappointed at Monday's result at Hampden, I am not going to get too upset. I have learned over the years, the highs:
– the three back-to-back wins over England in 1962, 1963 and 1964
Wembley 1967
West Germany 1974
Archie Gemmill's goal in 1978
Davie Narey's “toe poke”
James McFadden's goal in Paris
the Leigh Griffiths double against England
the Marshall penalty save
These are inevitably followed by the lows:
finding increasingly-bizarre ways to ruin a qualifying campaign
4-6-0
Copenhagen
Bazzagate
the glorious failure of Wembley 1999
being pumped by France, Netherlands and Wales
the Iran game
drawing 0-0 with Luxembourg
losing to Morocco
To cut to the chase – nobody has higher highs or lower lows than the Scots, when it comes to football.
My own feeling is we have been consistently let down by the guys running Scottish football. This is nothing knew, but, each time something new happens in football, we are slow to react.
For instance, going right back to the birth of organised football in the 1870s, we were the dominant nation. The Scottish way was the way to go. England began to go overseas before World War I, we didn't step outside the British Isles until 1929, and, like the other three British Isles nations, we completely ignored the three pre-World War II World Cup tournaments.
Then, when England appointed Walter Winterbottom as their first Team Manager, in 1946, we stuck with the selection committee. Indeed, it wasn't until 1967 and the appointment of Bobby Brown, that the Scotland manager was allowed to pick the team – that was 95 years into international football.
It has, in theory, become easier to qualify for the big finals in the last 40 years. Prior to 1982 only 16 teams could qualify for the World Cup Finals, and until 1996, only 8 teams could qualify for the European Championship finals. But, conversely, since more teams could qualify, Scotland's qualifying record has got worse.
Before 1986, we qualified for seven final tournaments, and did not qualify for eight, a qualifying percentage of 46.7%. Since 1986, we have qualified for five final tournaments and failed to qualify for twelve, a qualifying percentage of 29.4%.
I specifically chose 1986 as my dividing line. That's when Graeme Souness took over as Rangers manager, and immediately decided Scotland no longer produced good players. Ever since, home-grown talent has been disparaged in Scottish football, we no longer flood English clubs with our talent, and without players regularly featuring at the top of the English game, we have gone backwards internationally.
Also, self-interest among the clubs has seen a long and continuing line of troughers handed the ultimate status symbol in Scottish football, an SFA blazer. For these guys, it's not about improving the standing of our game, it is all about keeping your nose in the trough for as long as possible and looking after the interests of your own club.
After all, in your average season, provided the Old Firm get things 80% or above right, then they're going to lift the silverware and the best you can hopeful is either a runners-up spot, or, very rarely, an actual trophy, when the big two get things wrong. So, easier for self-esteem, to get a nice wee sinecure at Hampden.
It doesn't matter who we appoint as team manager, because the basic system is flawed, internationally, we are going nowhere.
I haven't high hopes of us starting to turn things round tonight at Wembley. I do think, we've started well; that poor showing against the Czech Republic may well have convinced several England players: “OK, we're only playing the Jocks tonight, that's a given win.” If we can make a positive start and score first, we might just be able to hang-on and win, since, in reality, this is not a great England team we are facing – and they may well give us an additional chance by picking Harry Maguire.
It has always been thus for trips to Wembley, but, it's not as if we have never won there. Earlier this year, we won at Twickenham, where we had not triumphed since 1983. Might this be the year when, for only the second time in our history, and the first time since 1938, that we win at Twickenham and Wembley in the same year? I'd like to think so.
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