Inside Left.net

There are some things in this life that are set in stone:  Newton’s Third Law, death, taxes, the Old Firm winning the SPL every year, and so on. Likewise, every Scottish football fan knows that Scotland have never gotten beyond the first round of a World Cup. On three occasions, Scotland came very close to qualifying, but on all three occasions, goal difference would prove to be the cause for an early return home, and the shattering of an entire nations dreams.

There are some that say that the fortunes of a town – and even a country – is closely linked to the fortunes of it’s football team. This was never highlighted more effectively in 1978, when, on the back of a disappointing World Cup in Argentina, Scotland as a nation needed to regain a pride in its team, and hence the country, that many claim had been lost in eight short days in June of that year.

In the first of a three-part “If You Know Your History”, we look back at the years between the two World Cups in Argentina and Spain to see if Scotland was able to live up to the broken promises of ‘78 and make Scotland the greatest football team and help to restore some of that pride that had been lost. To tell that story however, we have to go back four years to a game that is still regarded as the best game of football Scotland has ever played.

It’s Sunday 11th June 1978. Scotland are playing what could be their final game in that years World Cup finals. Scotland had so far failed to win a game in the competition; an opening day loss to Peru and a draw against Iran saw them second bottom of the group, two points behind today’s opposition, Holland. Scotland needed to win, and not only that, needed to win by three clear goals in order to go through with group winners Peru on goal difference. The game had been tough. Holland, without Cruijff, had gone ahead on the half-hour mark from the penalty spot, before Dalglish equalized, and Gemmill put the Scots ahead, again from the penalty spot shortly afterward. In the stands, the Scots supporters in the Estadio San Martin stadium, on the march with Ally’s army where praying for a miracle, another goal to bring them closed to the next round and achieve something no Scotland team had ever done before.

The Scots pressed hard, but the Dutch defence held tight. On sixty-eight minutes, Robert Kennedy finds Kenny Dalglish on the edge of the Dutch area. Surrounded by future Celtic manager Wim Jansen and Jan Poortvliet, Dalglish stumbles and the move seemed to break down, but the ball somehow found it’s way to Archie Gemmill, lurking a few yards away. He took the ball, skipped past the challenge of Wim Jansen, then took it past a lunging Ruud Krol and suddenly the Nottingham Forest player found himself clear on goal. Gemmill set himself and cooly fired the ball over the on-rushing Jan Jongbloed as Rene van de Kerkhof arrived too late to stop the ball from going into the net.

The Tartan Army goes wild as the promise that manager Ally McLeod made before the team left for Argentina looked like it might still come true. One more goal lads, and Scotland would surely win the World Cup The game kicked off again with Scotland looking for the third goal that would put them through. The game still had another 20 minutes to play however, and the Dutch, losing World Cup finalists in the ‘74 knew the Scots would through everything at them. They had to make sure that Scotland didn’t get that third goal – one way was to defend, the other, the one they chose was to score themselves. In the seventieth minute, disaster struck as Johnny Rep thundered the ball past Alan Rough – a killer goal, and the Tartan Army knew that it was all over. No one, not even Ally McCleod, ever the optimist, could see Scotland getting two more goals in the time left. When the final whistle blew, Scotland where out, Holland went through. For the fourth time in their history, Scotland had fallen at the first hurdle. Surely it couldn’t happen again?

The expectation that Ally McLeod had set (the promise of returning with a medal and then defending their win) had been built up by the press to near hysterical levels, levels Gordon McQueen likened to Beatlemania. The discovery of North Sea oil in the late 60’s and the unfulfilled promise of the wealth it would bring to Scotland, lead to the rise of Scottish nationalism in the guise of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Their successful “It’s Scotland’s Oil’ in the early 70’s had seen the SNP return 11 candidates to parliament in 1974, starting a process that would force the Labour government to prepare for a referendum on devolution.

It was against this backdrop of a resurgent Scottish nationalism that the plane carrying the Scotland team back from Argentina touched down at Prestwick a few days after the defeat against Holland. Scotland had been let down by the performance of the national side but the upcoming European Championship, to be held in Italy in 1980, would provide the chance for the team to restore some of the pride lost.

Scotland had been drawn in a group with Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Norway. Austria where the only team in the group to also have played in Argentina ‘78. They’d done rather well, coping top of a group that contained Brazil and Spain. Belgium had not qualified for the World Cup ‘78 and, should they qualify for Italy ‘80, it would only be their second appearance in a European Championship. Managed by Guy Thys, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Eric Gerets, Jan Ceulemans and playmaker Enzo Scifo where the core of a strong team.

The European Qualification campaign started on the 25th October 1978 when Ally McLeod took his team to the Praterstadion in Vienna for the game against Austria. The team that night featured only two players who played their club football in Scotland. Alan Rough, of Partick Thistle and Aberdeen’s Robert Kennedy had played in the game against Holland. The rest of the team was comprised of players based in England. Joe Jordan, Martin Buchan and Gordon McQueen represented the red side of Manchester, while Billy Donachie and Asa Hartford played for the blue side. Archie Gemmill, made captain for the game, played for Nottingham Forest, Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness both played for Liverpool; Aston Villa striker Andy Gray and Leeds’ Arthur Graham completed the side.

The Austrians went into half-time with a single goal lead provided by Bruno Pezzey. The lead was extended just after the break by Schancer and the game seemed over in the 62nd minute when Kruez gave the Austrians a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead. Gordon McQueen and Andy Gray scored for Scotland, but Austria held on to the lead. The game proved to be the end for Ally McLeod; shortly after the game, McLeod was sacked. Jock Stein was asked to return to manage the national side, and took charge of his first game against Norway at Hampden on the 25th October, 1978.

Fate smiled on Scotland as they recorded their first victory since they beat Holland in June. Things got off to a bad start when Einar Aas scored past James Stewart within the first five minutes. Parity was restored when Kenny Dalglish scored on the half-hour mark but Norway again took the lead through Okland on sixty minutes. With eight minutes to go, Dalglish equalised and Gemmill added a third from the penalty spot. Norway where beaten 3-2.

The last European fixture of 1978 came in November. Scotland travelled to Lisbon for the third game in the the qualifiers against Portugal. An Alberto Fonseca goal on twenty-nine minutes proved to be the only goal of the game as Scotland slumped to a second defeat.

Jock Stein had again picked a side comprised mainly of players based in England; the core of the team was based around Manchester United (McQueen, Buchan, Jordan), Manchester City (Hartford, Donachie) and Nottingham Forest (Gemmill and Robertson). Back in Scotland, by the end of 1978, Dundee United lead the Scottish Premier League with Partick Thistle and Aberdeen in second and third place respectively. Perhaps this is why the only Scottish based players in the squad that faced Portugal – David Narey, Alan Rough and Stuart Kennedy – had come from these teams. So as 1978 came to a close, Scotland where in second place in the European Qualifiers with three points, just one behind Austria and two behind group leaders Portugal. Things where going well, but there was a long way to go yet.

In Part 2, we follow Scotland through 1979 and 1980 as they continue their European qualification campaign, take part in the Home International Championship, play Argentina and begin the road to España ‘82.

Related posts:

1. Scotland’s Road to Spain ‘82 (Part II)
2. Scotland the Brave
3. Scotland 0-1 The Netherlands
4. Norway v Scotland Preview (or: the art of self-destruction)
5. The end of the road for Livingston FC?

Tags: Scotland, World Cup

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 8:34 pm and is filed under If You Know Your History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.