As
many fans look forward to this long awaited clash between England and
Scotland at Wembley on Wednesday, I will
just have to content myself with a seat in front of the TV and
hopefully enjoy another Scotland win just as I did back in 1985 when I
managed to get to my one and only clash between these two old rivals.
I
remember growing up watching many of these matches on TV when I was
growing up and just how big a deal that
playing for Scotland was, especially against England but now it doesn't
seem that way at all but maybe that will change come Wednesday !
So
many things have changed over the years in football, the Champions
League being one of them and I get the feeling that matches in this
competition and all the riches that go with it, actually mean more to
folk than going to watch the national side, no matter how good or bad
they are.
As
a schoolboy, I used to go and watch Scotland with my best mate Jeff and
the rest of the boys, Greg, Dave, Andy, Maff, John, Jamie and Danny and
we loved standing on those Hampden terraces cheering our country on.
If
I am being honest, we all used to dream of pulling on the dark Blue as
we watched these guys play many countries in all the years we watched
Scotland during the eighties and this was perhaps my favourite era
watching Scotland as we were watching guys that played for many of our
club
sides with a few who played down south too.
From
an early age I was interested in football on both sides of the border
as well as watching my country, so when you go and experience watching
Scotland beating the likes of Spain at Hampden and various other
countries it gives you a wee sense of pride in watching your country do
well against some of the so called bigger nations.
Watching
these games actually at Hampden was great but the one match we all
wanted to see more than any other was a match against England.
I
had never been lucky enough to actually get to one until the 25th May
1985 when England came to Hampden and sadly enough this was the one and
only time still to date that I have saw both countries play each other.
I
was never one of those guys who hated the English, it was rivalry for
90 minutes and that was it, I had English friends and I also admired
some of the players who they had in their side, guys like Peter Shilton ,
Viv Anderson and Trevor Francis who had won European Cups with
Nottingham Forest, Manchester United's captain marvel Bryan Robson, the
mid-field talents of Glenn Hoddle and Ray Wilkins who would all play
against the Scots at Hampden, this was an exciting time for me to be
going to watch these guys live but the Scots had a talented bunch of
players too.
The
fantastic Jim Leighton and Willie Miller from Aberdeen, the talented
Dundee United full backs Maurice Malpas and Richard Gough, Roy "The
Bear" Aitken from Celtic and any midfield who had Jim Bett and Graeme
Souness in it would be difficult to break down along with the talented
wing wizard and now Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, added to that the
hard working David Speedie and goal scorer supreme Stevie Archibald, I
knew that on their day Scotland could be a match for anybody.
To say we were excited and perhaps nervous about
this clash, would be an understatement !
There
had been a lot of reports leading up to this game that there may be
trouble in the city centre and surrounding areas, as some England
casuals made their way to Scotland for the game.
During the eighties the casuals were a part and parcel of going to
watch football, not the nice part I may add !
These
rumours were true and several thousand of them made their way to
Hampden....only to be escorted out and sent homewards to think again.
I would never say that the Tartan Army are angels, all clubs and all countries have an element of fans that
they can do without but it was only a minority of fans that tried to ruin what was a great occasion at Hampden that day.
The
game was a very tight encounter, we watched it from the enclosure under
the Main Stand and we had a great view of the match and the England
substitutes warming up...but I cannot repeat what Dave shouted to Kerry
Dixon that day, at least the big man took it and just turned to smile at
us all !
But
Kerry and his team- mates would not be smiling for long as the goal
which won the match would come from a man in a dark Blue jersey !
A
fantastic cross from Jim Bett found the head of Richard Gough and his
header beat Peter Shilton in the England goal to give Scotland a 1-0 win
and the Rous Cup and send most of the 66,489 crowd inside Hampden home
happy.
So
my first and only Scotland v England match was a 1-0 win for the Scots,
lets hope for the same result on Wednesday and no trouble, leave the
goal-posts alone!
The
two men in charge of their countries on that day were Jock Stein and
Bobby Robson, sadly both have passed away but both remain as legends of
the game at both club and international level , their memories will live
on forever.