We're Awe Doomed - Doomed Ah Tell Ye!

WHERE do we go from Here? Probably not to France next summer. That's my take on last night's loss to the Germans.

 

This was one game which Gordon Strachan had almost certainly written-off. I certainly felt the best we could hope for was a draw, except, the Germans didn't have the bad night at the office which we needed them to have, for this to happen. But, we are still not out of things, given how the remaining matches fall.

 

Mind you, having a long memory, I remember how, the main reason we failed to make the World Cup Finals in 1966, wasn't that injuries forced us to field Ron Yeats at centre forward in the final game in Naples. No, it was because, from 1-o up, with five minutes to play, we managed to lose to Poland, at Hampden, in the ante-penultimate match of that campaign.

 

It was two points for a win back then. We took all four from our games with Finland, two of the four against Italy, but, only one out of four against the Poles. That's the principal reason why, I am not counting my chickens for our meeting with them next month.

 

Of course, we are already banking the three points we will win against Gibraltar in Faro in our final qualifier. OK, the Gibraltarians are by far the weakest internaitonal side in Europe, but, this is Scotland we are discussing.

 

In a final, chips-are-down, must-win situation, my admittedly jaundiced view of Scotland's prospects isn't so-much "Murphy's Law" - If it can go wrong, it will; it is more "O'Reilly's Corollary" to Murphy's Law - That Murphy always was an optimist.

 

Even then, IF we scrape into the play-offs, this being Scotland, I expect us to draw one of the big boys, who has had a horrendous qualifying campaign - the Dutch, I understand might fit the bill here. They suddenly find their form, we get thrashed and can take our normal position come the finals - noses pressed longingly to the outside of the windows.

 

IF we don't qualify, it will mark a sea-change in the Tartan Army's relationship with Wee Gordon Strachan. At the moment the ginger one remains a TA icon. We like him, we appreciate what a good player he was with Scotland, he came in at a difficult time, he liftd our spirits, but - remember, 24 nations in the finals represents roughly 45% of the countries in membership of UEFA.

 

If Scotland cannot be in the top 45% of international countries, then we have failed. We are clearly not as good as we think we are. We have failed to match our own expectations. At the start of the new season, we were ranked 30th in Europe, nowhere near good enough for own sense of where we should be, but, if we do fail to qualify - that ranking will be a reality check.

 

Mind you, there have been a few reality checks over the years, but, reality never seems to intrude on Hampden's corridors of power.

 

I make the following forecast now, on Tuesday, 8 Septembr, 2015:

 

We may still qualify automatically, but this is now unlikely

Our best hope of qualifying is via the play-offs

If we get there, we will most-likely meet a "better" team, who will beat us

If we do qualify, we will, again, be "home before the post cards"

Qualification alone will be seen as vindicating the status quo in Scotland

Nothing will change - and we will continue  to struggle and under-perform

 

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL REQUIRES ROOT AND BRANCH REFORM - FROM THE PREMIERSHIP RIGHT DOWN TO SCHOOLS AND YOUTH FOOTBALL. UNTIL THE WILL IS THERE FOR A TRULY WIDE-RANGING AND COMPREHENSIVE REFORM OF OUR STRUCTURES AND ATTITUDE - SCOTLAND WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE A GLORIOUS FOOTBALL PAST AND A TERRIBLE FUTURE.  

Rooney - He's Over-Rated

IN CASE you didn't notice, Wayne Rooney yesterday equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's England goal-scoring record, when his penalty against San Marino, his 49th for his country, brought him level with his Manchester United predecessor.

 

Well done oor Wayne, except, with a strike rate of 0.46 goals per game, Rooney, in truth, doesn't even touch the magical 0.5 gpg mark, the bottom line for a genuine international-class striker.

 

He actually is now dead level with Sir Bobby, and as everyone knows the younger Charlton brother was more a midfielder who weighed-in with a few goals, rather than an out and out striker.

 

In fact, if you want to check-out the list of genuine world-class English international strikers, ie, guys who hit the net regularly over a lengthy career, rather than being hot for a season or so, Rooney doesn't make it.

 

England's top post WWII striker, in terms of goals per game, was actually Tommy Lawton, a man whose top-line career was ruined by that second global conflict. Lawton scored 22 goals in 23 internationals, giving him 0.96 gpg, more than twice as prolific a rate than Rooney's. Second in the list is 'The Lion of Vienna', Bolton icon Nat Lofthouse, who scored 30 goals in 33 internationals - 0.91 gpg.

 

Then comes Jimmy Greaves - 44 goals in 57 internationals - 0.77 gpg, followed by Gary Lineker,48 goals in 80 internationals - 0.6 gpg.

 

Of course, none of these true legends played in "The Greatest League in the World", as the tame English media now terms the over-hyped, over-priced and over-inflated FA Premiership.

 

Scotland's top two post-war goal-scorers, Lawrie Reilly and Denis Law don't quite match the statistics of England's top four. Reilly's 22 goals in 38 internationals equates to 0.58 gpg, while Law's 30 goals in 55 games shows he scored at a rate of 0.55 gpg. Still better than the "world-class" English strikers of the Premiership years - Michael Owen, Rooney and Alan Shearer.

 

Given that England has usually been a better team than Scotland, attacking more and creating more chances, Law and Reilly are right up there and definitely above the 0.5 gpg threshold which separates the great from the merely good.

 

Of course, if you want to see a truly prolific British international goal-scorer, you need look no further than Wembley Wizard Hughie Gallacher, whose 24 goals in 20 internationals comes out at an unbelievable these days 1.2 gpg.

 

Never mind, we cannot have the FA Premiership and its few "English Stars" undersold, can we?

 

 

 

ON A weekend when, for no good or apparent reason, there were no Premiership games on in Scotland, you might have expected the MSM to have lowered their sights a wee bit and maybe covered some of the lesser leagues a wee bit better.

 

Naturally, those members of the Lap Top Loyal, not on Scotland duty, filed their prasie of the RTA, perhaps waxing a bit more lyrical, but, for instance, there is precious little recorded about the second preliminary round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

 

This is a wee bit disappointing, particularly as the mighty Talbot got their campaign off to a winning start by beating Hermes 4-0 in Aberdeen. Tucker Sloan's boys are unlikely to win the big Scottish this season, but, with the right draws, they could go far, and, having got their Troon reverse out of their system, I would, were I a betting man, fancy a wee wager that the Junior Cup will be back at Beechwood come next June.

 

 

 

GOOD to see our Under-21 team winning in Nornireland at the weekend, by the way. 

 

 

WAD but some pooer the giftie gie us - tae see oorsels as ithers see us.

SOME of these days, the words of the Bard will be ingested by the numbskulls who inhabit the upper corridors at Hampden. Just because, back in the early 1870s, Queen's Park came up with the passing game, the other Scottish teams adopted this form of "cheating", as the English claimed - Scotland went on to rule the world, before exporting their idea - doesn't mean we are still relevant in world football.

 

Indeed, after last night's latest "Disaster for Scotland" in far-off Tbilisi, the chances are, we will not even be relevant in British Isles football. Imagine, and given last night's results even Ra Peepul have sufficient imagination to foresee this: it might happen that, when France 2016 kicks-off, with the European Championship up for grabs, England, Northern Ireland and Wales could all be there, with we Scots in our usual position, outside looking in.

 

It might be even worse. The Republic of Ireland just might pip us for third place. Being by birth and upbringing a typically dour Scot, the wind permanently in my face, I cannot see us, after last night, finishing first or second in our group, so, we might as well start now, to contemplate our route to France being via the play-offs. Given this, the odds against us reaching France just got higher.

 

I do not blame Gordon Strachan for last night's defeat. Gordon can only pee with what he is given, and the real baddies in the decline, fall and continued struggle of Scottish international football - the SFA coonsillors, not forgetting the other club officials who put them there will, once again, as has been the case since we first ventured outside the UK in 1929, will get off Scot-free and be allowed to continue to smother and ruin the national game.

 

That our players lack the technical ability of the average continental player has long been obvious. Have our coaches done much about this? No, because they do not get the support from the money men at their clubs to put in what Bobby Robson dubbed: "time on the grass" to sort-out the players' inadequacies.

 

The concept of 10,000 hours being required to properly master and hone talent is well known.  In Scotland, we are yonks away from achieving this.

 

Allow me to explain. Most kids start playing at Under-8. Let us assume we have a kid with the natural talent and ability, plus the desire to make it as a footballer, who has joined a reasonably good Boys Club team.

 

Up to Under-12, he is probably playing seven-a-side, short-sided games, he trains with the club twice a week, for 90 minutes a session. This means, by the time he is through Under-12 fotball and about to step-up to 11-a-side games, he has had 675 hours to hone his natural talent.

 

He is then spotted by his local club and gets into their youth coaching system. Between Under-12 and the decision, taken when he leaves school at 16, that he has a chance of making it as a footballer, he will train more, perhaps logging an additional 1900 hours (three 90-minute sessions, 45 weeks per year), meaning, our new apprentice footballer has 2575 hours under his belt - he is a quarter of the way to the 10,000 hours target.

 

But, as a footballer, he probably does two hours per day, four days per week, so assuming he makes it all the way through to Under-21 level, he has accumulated a further 1800 hours of practice - he is still less than half-way to the 10,000 hours target.

 

Compare this with the regime Andy Murray was thrown into as a 14-year-old, when he left Scotland for Spain, to live, train and learn in a 24/7 tennis environment. No wonder Andy is now Number Two or Three in the World and the Scottish international football team is Number 31.

 

Right, I accept in this instance, I am comparing an apple with a bunch of turnips, but, Friday night in Tbilisi was yet another example of the fact - Scottish football is broken, but, there is no apparent desire to fix it.

 

We have guys playing international football who, I am sure, would not get a game with any other country. For the first 100-years of the English Football League, if they had picked a composite team of the season it would have been awash with Scots, in fact, in most seasons there would have been a majority of Scots in the chosen XI. Today, there is not a single Scot in the FA Premiership who could get onto the bench even.

 

Up here, the situation is even worse. WGS selected only two home-based SCots in his team in Tbilisi, the Celtic duo of Charlie Mulgrew and Scott Brown. Now, with the best will in the world, Mulgrew is not even one of the two best central defenders in the Scottish Premiership, while national skipper Brown really needs to be given a long rest.

 

I cannot think of a Scotland captain having less impact on a game since Jim Leighton, given the captaincy on his 50th cap, was more or less a spectator against a shot-shy Chile back in 1989.

 

We are possibly (being unusually optimistic) two to five games away from our first major tournament since 1998 - WGS still does not have a settled central defensive pairing. Russell Martin and Grant Hanley looked, 18-months ago, as if they might fit the bill. WGS has split-up the pair as starters.

 

We have in Alan Hutton, a right-back who cannot get into his club's first team, but, is now within touching distance of joining the exclusive 50-caps-plus club and entry into the SFA's Hall of Fame. He has done this, not because he is a special talent, but because - there is nobody else.

 

He is not the only one to get into the national side due to lack of alternatives. The only position in which we have any strength-in-depth is goalkeeper, and, to be frank, neither David Marshall, Craig Gordon or Allan McGregor would get into an all-time Scotland XI.

 

We are in a mess. We will be unlikely qualifiers for France 2016, and, if, by some miracle we do qualify - we will be there to make-up the numbers.

 

We are in a mess and, I for one am sick of this.      

Congratulations To A Very Special Player

I SHALL post regarding Scotland's Euro qualifier in Tblisi later, meanwhile, I would like to pay tribute to a very special former Scotland player, on what is for him, a very special day.

 

"The Firhill Flyer", Partick Thistle right winger of the 1940s and 1950s, Johnny MacKenzie, celebrates his 90th birthday today. Congratulations Sir.

 

Johnny is the second-oldest living Scotland internationalist, only former Rangers goalkeeper and national team manager Bobby Brown, is older. MacKenzie, however, has a special claim to fame.

 

Of the 1100-plus players who have represented Scotland in full internationals, only MacKenzie, or John-Archie as he is known to his fellow Gaels on Tiree, where he has lived in retirement, is a native Gaelic speaker.

 

Born in Glasgow, to a Skyeman father and a mother from Tiree, young John Archie was raised on Tiree, that island paradise beloved of surers, speaking Gaelic on a daily basis.

 

He later returned to Glasgow to complete his schooling and to start work as an engineering apprentice. He played for Petershill at a time when the Peasies were THE junior team in Scotland. Rangers wanted him, but, after being instructed by Bill Struth to do nothing until he heard from Rangers, he became tired of waiting and joined Thistle.

 

These were halcyon days at Firhill, and MacKenzie was soon ensconced in the number 7 shirt. He went on the Scotland Tour of North America in 1949, playing in the notorious game when Scotland lost to Belfast Celtic, but, he had to wait until season 1953-54 for his first Scotland cap. This was, after all, the time of the Waddell v Gordon Smith debate for the number 7 shirt with Scotland.

 

He played in the ill-fated 1954 World Cup Finals campaign, before, after a stand-out performance for Scotland in the game against the Hungarians, then the outstanding international team in the world, no less a judge than Ferenc Puskas hailed MacKenzie as the best winger he had seen. In spite of this reference, MacKenzie won only eight caps - still a Thistle record until surpassed by Alan Rough.

 

Throughout his career he was a part-timer, working in the engineering works from Monday to Friday, before lighting-up Firhill on a Saturday.

 

He hung up his boots after a final splash in Ireland with Derry City, went back to the workbench and worked until retirement, when he returned to Tiree, to a small cottage overlooking the harbour, where, cared-for by his daughter since his wife's death, he lives to this day.

 

Robert Reid (Mr Partick Thistle) and the other Firhill old-timers who saw him play are few in number now, but, they still insist he was the club's greatest talent.

 

Have a very happy birthday John Archie - and many more to boot. 

Put The Fans First - Not In Scotland Pal

AS someone with a healthy interest in the long history of Scottish football, both domestically and at international level, I ken well how things used to be. This, however, does not mean I am one of those who shake their heads and mutter: "Naw, naw laddie, it's aye been done this wey".

 

 Some of the old ways were clearly wrong, but, some of the more-modern ideas are not exactly, I would suggest, in the best interests of Scottish football.

 

Take this weekend, for instance. In far-off Tbilisi, on Friday night, Scotland will take-on Georgia in our latest Euro'2016 qualifier, before flying home to prepare to face Germany on Monday night.

 

 This international double-header means, the entire SPFL Premiership programme for Saturday, 5 September, has been wiped-out. WHY?

 

Only five SPFL Premiership players are included in WGS's Scotland squad - the Celtic quintet of Craig Gordon, Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths. OK, there may be players from other Premiership sides involved with other nations, but, the SPFL's sole concern should be domestic Scottish football - the SFA has, under its articles of association, a duty to care for, support and encourage Scottish football. I don't think scrapping an entire tranche of fixtures, because the national team has a game on Friday night and another on Monday night, meets this criteria.

 

It wasn't always this. Doing some research on the Wembley Wizards, a year or two back, I was reading contemporary reports of this iconic match. "Waverley", then the Daily Record's Football Correspondent - the Keith Jackson of the 1920s, except, Waverley knew his football - wasn't even sent to London, he was at Ibrox, reporting in Monday's paper: "There was a great roar went round Ibrox when the score from Wembley was broadcast over the tannoy". Would this happen today?

 

More recently, a long-standing rugby friend once told me, on his way bac to Kilmarnock from witnessing that magical game in which Willie Waddell's men beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle, in a "winner takes all" final day clash to decide which of the clubs would win the 1965 Scottish League Championship, he met some Celtic supporters, coming away from Hampden, having seen Celtic beat Dunfermline to lift the first of the many trophies Jock Stein woud win as Celtic boss.

 

There would surely not be a virtual Championship decider played on the same day as the Scottish Cup Final today. But, why not?

 

Scottish football is tribal. Do we really need to clear the decks for a national game - particularly an away fixture, not even a Saturday one>

 

Then there is the example of Scotland's most-successful male sports team of last season, Glasgow Warriors. Warriors kick-off the defence of their Guinness Pro12 title on Saturday night, at Scotstoun, against Welsh side Scarlets.

 

Yet they will be without 20 of their players - all of whom are on World Cup duty. There are 16 Warriors in the 31-strong Scotland squad, who will be in Paris on Saturday night - while another four Warriors are in camp with other World Cup nations, and another, new boy Tequele Naiyaravora is with an extended Australian squad, although he is not in their World Cup 31.

 

Warriors are therefore, 21 players down, plus one or two more carrying injuries, but, are still playing league games. Celtic are five men down, so need not play, while the other 11 Premiership clubs, without a Scotland squad member between them, are also idle.

 

When you consider, Charlie Mulgrew was the only one of Cleti c's Scotland quintet who was in the team which hammered Dundee United 3-1, at Tannadice recently, calling-off games on spurious reasons such as the Georgia game is, I think, daft.

 

We are always hearing complaints about games being switched away from Saturday afternoons. This Saturday, the weather will be no worse than cool and maybe wet, but certainly a lot better than it will be some Saturdays in deep mid-winter. There is no genuine reason why we should not have a full programme of Premiership games. After all, there are full fixture cards in the Championship, Division One and Division Two.

 

No Premiership games - it's a nonsense.  

Let's Give The Girls More Than Their Bras For Support

Scotland will finalise preparations for the upcoming UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 qualifiers by hosting Norway at Firhill Stadium, home of Partick Thistle, on Thursday 17th September.
Anna Signeul’s squad will take on Norway, who reached the last 16 of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, five days before their opening qualifier in Slovenia.

Anna Siequel has just announced her squad to play both Norway and Slovenia.

That squad is:
Gemma Fay  (Celtic FC), Shannon Lynn  (Vittsjo GIK); Lizzie Arnot  (Hibernian LFC), Jennifer Beattie  (Manchester City WFC), Frankie Brown  (Bristol Academy), Lana Clelland  (UPC Tavagnacco Femminile), Rachel Corsie  (Seattle Reign FC), Leanne Crichton  (Notts County FC), Ifeoma Dieke  (Vittsjo GIK), Lisa Evans  (FC Bayern Munich), Hayley Lauder  (Glasgow City FC), Kim Little  (Seattle Reign FC), Joanne Love  (Glasgow City FC), Eilish McSorley  (Mallbackens IF), Emma Mitchell  (Arsenal LFC), Christie Murray  (Bristol Academy), Jane Ross  (Vittsjo GIK), Leanne Ross  (Glasgow City FC), Kirsty Smith  (Hibernian LFC), Caroline Weir  (Bristol Academy).

The qualifying group games are:

UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 Qualifiers - 2015:
Tuesday 22 September – Slovenia v Scotland, Nogometni Stadion, Ajdovscina, Slovenia. 4:00pm ko.
Friday 23 October – Scotland v Belarus.
Tuesday 27 October – Macedonia v Scotland.
Sunday 29 November – Scotland v Macedonia.
2016:
Friday 8 April – Scotland v Slovenia
Friday 3 June – Scotland v Iceland
Tuesday 7 June – Belarus v Scotland
Tuesday 20 September – Iceland v Scotland.

I thought I would run this piece, because, quite frankly, with the honourable exception of Alan Campbell in the Herald, the Scottish MSM pays, at best, lip service to Women's Football. Indeed, at least one Scottish newspaper, which really should know better, seems to take perverse delight in NOT covering the women's game.

Yet, from the clubs listed after the individual player's name, it is clear that our women footballers are seen as better-equipped to play in European club football than our men are. We have girls playing all over the continent - why Lisa Evans plays for Bayern Munich, a club none of our male players is considered good enough to play for. We have Rachel Corsie and Olympian Kim Little playing in Seattle, in the high-profile American women's league.

Our other 2012 Olympian, Ifeoma Dieke plays in Sweden, while Jenny Beattie, sister of rugby internationalist Johnnie, daughter of broadcaster and former British Lions and Scotland rugby star John Beattie and neice of former Lions' skipper Fin Calder and his twin brother and fellow Scotland cap Jim Calder, plays for Manchester City. We don't hve any male Scotland caps at the City of Manchester Stadium.

The girls are higher-ranked than our men. Our leading women's club in the Scottish League, Glasgow City, is higher-ranked than the male equivalent, Celtic - yet, this being the land of Aye Beenism - it's a case of: "Naw hen, fitba's no a gemme fur lassies".

Our girls are doing us proud, quietly, without fanfares and with a minimal media presence. Maybe it's time we got behind the girls better.



THE Summer Transfer Window has now slammed shut. I was interested in the final day deals, as the transfer window closed:

As the transfer window closed, 20 "International" deals (ones where players either left Scottish football, or arrived from other countries) were announced. Of these, 16 were loan deals - 4 permanent transfers.

There were 16 "Domestic" deals, (between Scottish clubs), of which 8 were loan deals, 3 "development loan" deals and 5 were permanent; these include Ryan Christie's permanent move from Inverness Caledonian Thistle to Celtic and his loan back to ICT.

This predominance of loan deals indicates just how perilous is the state of football finances in Scotland. There is simply very little money in the game up here. Honestly, something needs to be done, but, I am not alone I fear, in doubting if the men who run our game are capable of bringing about the changes we need.



SO, the Rangers Legal Bonanza moves on. Today's events in Glasgow Sheriff Court mean the cases against Charlie Green, Craig Whyte and "Duff and Duffer" are "live". This means we cannot comment on events, other than for me to repeat my oft-stated belief - the history of the Ibrox club since 2011 has indeed turned into a nice little earner for m'learned friends.



ONE of the long-serving regulars in the Palmerston press box telephoned me earlier this week, to tell me: "This new Rangers team played some brilliant passing football on Sunday".

I may refer to the Ibrox club these days as the Rangers Tribute Act, but, my old mate, who has been covering footbal since the days of the Famous Five, was impressed by what Mark Warburton is building there.



 

Another Of The Greats Has Gone

GRAHAM Leggat died at the weekend. I mentioned his death to one or two younger friends, who had never seen him play - it was a case of: "Graham Who"?

Then I spoke to one or two of my contemporaries, it was a case of: "Some player, aye". Leggat, unfortunately, was of the generation brought-up to actually attend football matches. My contemporaries, and our elder brothers didn't have 24-7, wall-to-wall football available across council telly, Sky, BT Sport, Virgin, umpteen radio stations, clubs' own tv services and You Tube. So special talents such as Leggat didn't get the same exposure as some of the over-rated "stars" of today.

If we couldn't get to a game, if we were lucky, we got half an hour of Peter Thompson or George Davidson on the BBC's Scottish Home Service. Of course, later-on, we got the blessed Arthur Montford and the sainted Bob Crampsey - then Archie McPherson arrived and it all went downhill to today's mess.

In the decade after the end of World War II, there were three great arguments in football - in England, you were either a Matthews man, or a Finney one; in Scotland you were a Waddell man, or a Smith man, while there was a lesser argument about Lawrie Reilly and Willie Bauld, although, Reilly pretty quickly shut that one up.

But, for ten years the Scotland number seven shirt seemed to be permanently argued over, between the Establishment's man - Rangers' Waddell and The People's Champion - Smith of the Famous Five. Aesthetically and in terms of sheer footballing ability, it was no-contest, it had to be Smith. But, time and again the Gay Gordon was not played as Waddell got the nod.

Yet, at the end of the day, Waddell finished with 17 Scotland caps and 4 goals, Smith, who had a longer Scotland career, 18 caps and 6 goals. Mind you, all 17 of Waddell's games were in the 7 shirt, Smith also played centre-forward and outside-left for Scotland.

But, they set the standard for right wing excellence and you might be forgiven for thinking that the Scotland 7 shirt was too-big for its wearers between Smith's final cap in 1957 and the arrival of the Willie Henderson/Jimmy Johnstone rivalry a decade or so later.

And, that's where Leggat fits in and is overlooked. He too won 18 caps for Scotland, all wearing the 7 shirt, scoring 18 goals. In fact, in his senior career he scored over 200 goals in 400 matches - a goal every second game, and that is accepted as the benchmark for a very good striker. Except, wingers of Leggat's era weren't expected to be goal scorers. Their primary job was to supply the ammunition for the men in the number 8, 9 and 10 shirts - any goal the number 7 or 11 scored was a bonus.

So, the guy scored more goals than he perhaps should; impress me more. Well, he did score 13 hat-tricks in his career, 5 for Aberdeen, 8 for Fulham. One of his Fulham hat-tricks, against Ipswich Town in 1963, was the fastest ever scored in the top-flight in England, until beaten in last season's Stoke hammering of Liverpool in Steven Gerrard's farewell game.

Leggat went seamlessly from school, via Torry FP and Banks o' Dee to Aberdeen. He was in the first team as a teenager, while he was embarking on the course to become a PE teacher, at Jordanhill College and he played in a Dons' team which, scandalously over-looked today, was the first to take the League title to Pittodrie and was surely the equal of any team put out by Eddie Turnbull or Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Leggat, Yorston, Buckley, Wishart and Hather forward line was special - Leggat, Yorston and Buckley were full Scotland caps, Wishart won Scottish League and Under-23 "caps" and, had Jackie Hather been Scottish, rather than English, he would surely have been capped too.

They put six past an admittedly handicapped Rangers team in the 1954 Scottish Cup semi-final and won the League Cup in 1955.

Leggat played his full part in these successes, while only seeing his team mates on Saturdays, the rest of the week, he was on-campus at Jordanhill, doing his training.

He had a memorabe international debut, putting Scotland 1-0 up against England, at Hampden in 1956, with a terrific shot which dipped over the helpless Reg Matthews and under the bar. That goal looked like handing Scotland their first home win over the Auld Enemy in 19-years, but, two minutes from time, Johnny Haynes scored a controversial equaliser.

That was Leggat's first Scotland goal, his eighth and last was a similar dipping effort over the England 'keeper, in this case Ron Springett. This shot was something of a Leggat speciality - his winning goal in the 1955 League Cup final, over St Mirren 'keeper Lornie from 35-yards, was a similar effort.

The 1960 Hampden goal, as with his 1956 one gave Scotland a lead they couldn't defend and had Ian St John taken even one of the many chances Leggat provided for him that day, Scotland would have won rather than drawing 1-1.

Leggat came back from a broken leg to be in the Scotland squad in the 1958 World Cup finals, playing against Yugoslavia and Paraguay, and, after returning from Sweden, Aberdeen virtually gave him away to Fulham for £16,000 and he moved to Craven Cottage.

Fulham had a few stars at that time - principally the aforementioned Haynes. But, Leggat played in a formidable right wing triangle with Bobby Robson behind him at right-half and one Jimmy Hill inside him. Hill is on record as saying it was playing with Archie Macaulay at Brentford, then Leggat at Fulham which made him such a fan of Scottish players. The Fulham team also had a brilliant goalkeeper in Tony Macedo, who had succeeded Scottish international Ian Black, an England World Cup full-back in Jim Langley, and another one later in George Cohen, and an England centre-forward in Bedford Jezzard. But, they also had one or two duff defenders who could undo the good work of the good players.

He had eight years beside the River Thames, before short spells at Birmingham and Rotherham, a spell of being a Rank Xerox photo-copier salesman Monday to Friday and a Bromsgrove Rovers player on Saturdays, before, following an unrewarding spell as a coach at Aston Villa, be decided to head to Canada.

There, he found his niche, not as player-coach at Toronto Metros of the NASL, but, as the Voice of Canadian Soccer, firstly with CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but later, for many years, with The Sports Network. Like erstwhile team mate Hill he commentated, commented and anchored his own Saturday night soccer show. Anything Hill did in England, Leggat matched in the less-fertile fields of Canada.

He was inducted as a "builder" - he built-up knowledge of and appreciation of soccer in Canada, into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, in 2001 and in retirement, he continued to be an elder statesman of the game in that vast country.

Yet, back in Scotland, in the land of: "Him, a kent his faither", Graham Leggat is all but forgotten. This is wrong. Lesser players than he are in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, and, even more shockingly, in the Aberdeen one. He is in neither.

Let us hope, now that, aged 81, he has gone to the great pavilion in the sky, he can be properly remembered and appreciated.