Post by HAMISH on Jun 16, 2007 20:53:55 GMT
’78 How a nation lost the World Cup. Graham McColl
Shopping for Fitba books at Christmas this book seemed too good to miss. A festive dram and a chance to relive the heady days of ’77 & ’78 when the last King of Scotland promised us the world and we ended up with another humiliation. Hey, you young ones thought 1 point in France ’98 was a bit off, how about returning as with a plucky 3rd place in the group, 3 points and the best goal of the tournament.
To set the scene. Scotland had come home from the ’74 World Cup with the original glorious failure copyrighted by Willie Ormond on the nations behalf.
Undefeated and the best squad of players to represent us in any finals, bar none. Willie, a great picker of teams had the best ever captain in Billy Bremner and did us proud.
We did not qualify for the Euro finals in ’76 courtesy of a missed header by Gordon Mcqueen at home to Spain and a missed penalty. Surely not!
Enter Bonnie Prince Ally. The qualifiers were completed with a demolition of the current European champions, Czechoslovakia and a glorious night to remember at Anfield.
Now this is where the author Graham has to explain to us all. Where did it all go wrong?
Ally cast a whole nation a spell and we were all caught. Believers? Count me in.
The lethal cocktail. Rampant nationalism. Hey its oor oil. A press that allowed and encouraged Ally to spout his nonsense and when it all turned sour claimed that they knew it would all end in failure. Aye right! To cap it all we had good players.
The book reveals the failure of the SFA to organise the trip properly. The hotel 3 times the size of Dunblane Hydro is compared unfavourably with Fawlty Towers. Shambles. Hey, my take on it is that Westa would do a better job.
Laughable training facilities and a squad divided, lacking in respect for Ally and divided over cash. Miserable King Kenny gets a mention, Masson and Macari are given a roasting. Alan Rough reckons some players would play for nothing and others wanted a cut.
We were thrashed by the current South American Champions Peru, a team deemed unworthy of a wee spying trip. A bunch of has beens? Have you seen the footage?
Westa Guys and Gals, this is not pretty reading. A drugs scandal? Why not? Willie Johnston is sent home for taking a wee pep pill, quite common in England and probably taken by others that fatefull day. Bud was not due to be called for testing but was and is convinced to this day that the Argentinean authorities were out to get him as public enemy no 1 and identified by the military Junta as the greatest threat to their winning the cup.
A defeat followed by a draw with Iran, a pish poor 1 – 1 draw at that.
The English press scented blood and oor ain lot followed suit. The book details the devastation caused to the squad by the stories, some must be true but most unbeleivable.
Foreign journalists mistake Scottish fans for players and worldwide headlines tell of drunken debauchery. Jings if only it were true. The players wives phoned with newspaper stories of wild parties, womanising and whisky galore. The Mexican team visit the hotel and practice with the Scots. They then get beat 6- 0 and the manager blames this on the whisky and parties the Scots held! No kidding!
Ally wilted under the strain and entered a shell with the squad resurrecting itself just for the sake of it. We beat Holland with a great display. Souness, our best midfielder was belatedly picked and we nearly made it.
Was it worth it? You bet your bottom dollar it was. From the victory over England in 1976 and for the next two years we had fun. Hampden was amazing, Scotland was alive with the sound of optimism, and we really thought we were good. We were good. If only Ally had picked Souness.
If only, if only, if only ……………..if only we weren’t Scottish.
Read this book and weep!
Shopping for Fitba books at Christmas this book seemed too good to miss. A festive dram and a chance to relive the heady days of ’77 & ’78 when the last King of Scotland promised us the world and we ended up with another humiliation. Hey, you young ones thought 1 point in France ’98 was a bit off, how about returning as with a plucky 3rd place in the group, 3 points and the best goal of the tournament.
To set the scene. Scotland had come home from the ’74 World Cup with the original glorious failure copyrighted by Willie Ormond on the nations behalf.
Undefeated and the best squad of players to represent us in any finals, bar none. Willie, a great picker of teams had the best ever captain in Billy Bremner and did us proud.
We did not qualify for the Euro finals in ’76 courtesy of a missed header by Gordon Mcqueen at home to Spain and a missed penalty. Surely not!
Enter Bonnie Prince Ally. The qualifiers were completed with a demolition of the current European champions, Czechoslovakia and a glorious night to remember at Anfield.
Now this is where the author Graham has to explain to us all. Where did it all go wrong?
Ally cast a whole nation a spell and we were all caught. Believers? Count me in.
The lethal cocktail. Rampant nationalism. Hey its oor oil. A press that allowed and encouraged Ally to spout his nonsense and when it all turned sour claimed that they knew it would all end in failure. Aye right! To cap it all we had good players.
The book reveals the failure of the SFA to organise the trip properly. The hotel 3 times the size of Dunblane Hydro is compared unfavourably with Fawlty Towers. Shambles. Hey, my take on it is that Westa would do a better job.
Laughable training facilities and a squad divided, lacking in respect for Ally and divided over cash. Miserable King Kenny gets a mention, Masson and Macari are given a roasting. Alan Rough reckons some players would play for nothing and others wanted a cut.
We were thrashed by the current South American Champions Peru, a team deemed unworthy of a wee spying trip. A bunch of has beens? Have you seen the footage?
Westa Guys and Gals, this is not pretty reading. A drugs scandal? Why not? Willie Johnston is sent home for taking a wee pep pill, quite common in England and probably taken by others that fatefull day. Bud was not due to be called for testing but was and is convinced to this day that the Argentinean authorities were out to get him as public enemy no 1 and identified by the military Junta as the greatest threat to their winning the cup.
A defeat followed by a draw with Iran, a pish poor 1 – 1 draw at that.
The English press scented blood and oor ain lot followed suit. The book details the devastation caused to the squad by the stories, some must be true but most unbeleivable.
Foreign journalists mistake Scottish fans for players and worldwide headlines tell of drunken debauchery. Jings if only it were true. The players wives phoned with newspaper stories of wild parties, womanising and whisky galore. The Mexican team visit the hotel and practice with the Scots. They then get beat 6- 0 and the manager blames this on the whisky and parties the Scots held! No kidding!
Ally wilted under the strain and entered a shell with the squad resurrecting itself just for the sake of it. We beat Holland with a great display. Souness, our best midfielder was belatedly picked and we nearly made it.
Was it worth it? You bet your bottom dollar it was. From the victory over England in 1976 and for the next two years we had fun. Hampden was amazing, Scotland was alive with the sound of optimism, and we really thought we were good. We were good. If only Ally had picked Souness.
If only, if only, if only ……………..if only we weren’t Scottish.
Read this book and weep!