Westa Newsletter August 2003
Real Madrid fans in Scotland have been thrown into a quandary as the most famous team in the world sign an England captain. The press coverage has been amazing and I was taken aback by the comparison made in ‘El Pais’ to that of Princess Diane. A typical piece of lazy journalism as I had always thought of Lady Di as a hard tackling no nonsense midfield player. Similarities do exist perhaps in hair styles and of course in their choice of partners but I also predict that Spanish defences will struggle with the no nonsense approach of his playing partner Posh Bloke. Diane’s career flourished briefly after her Bosman transfer from the Windsors but was thrown into terminal decline when she moved to France.
Germany Memories
What a pleasure to witness the rebirth of the Hampden Roar and such a noise with so many lassies and bairns present. Shame on the mighty German players for being feart! That was not the first time we faced them as a major power. 1956 saw us defeat the world champions in their own midden 3 – 1.
Bertie Vogts himself was a midfield Der Terrier in the 1968 1 each draw. Bobby Murdoch scored a screamer to equalise in the last minute. Another home draw in 1973 when a late German equaliser robbed us of victory plus the usual missed penalty courtesy of Billy Bremner.
More
recently we managed to beat the Euro Champions in Bremen courtesy of a Don
Hutchinson peach. The floodlights failed at half time and our section filled
up firstly with the Bremen Pipe Band and then hundreds of locals all joining
in with the singing. Most amazing of all was that our team was packed with
Dons players both past and previous, plus the assistant coach was Alex Miller!
Aberdeen’s next home game was full of German talent scouts and strangely
enough they made not 1 signing!
My particular memory of that trip by minibus was Wee John from Perth as driver
taking only 2 cassettes for the whole trip. The Corries Live and Scotland
World Cup Songs!
Book Review
Scotland went 25 years without registering a home victory against England following the Second World War and the 1956 last minute equaliser by Johnny Haynes robbed us of a memorable victory.
If facts such as these are of any interest then Richard Keir’s Scotland ‘ The Complete International Football Record will provide hours of needless entertainment.
Impress your friends at half time recounting the 1931 3 –2 victory against the Swiss in Geneva courtesy of an 89th minute winner by Dandy Don Andrew Love.
Trace
your own first cap including crowd, teams scorers and referee.
1958 friendly away to Poland. Easy: a 2 – 1 victory with both goals
from Celt Bobby Collins, a man even smaller than Sean Maloney!
Scotland’s 1st foreign game was amazingly in Bergen, 7 – 3 victory followed by a week later with a 1 each draw in German Berlin.
You get the point and can now guess why people avoid me in pubs and my pals mysteriously lose me on the way to games!
This book is a must for serious historians of the National game and is available from the Museum Shop at Hampden. And for those that are interested, and still awake, the end of the famine occurred in ’62 and if you want to know the scorers then buy the book.
Eastern Feelings
What
better way to return from a glorious quite good world cup than a good home
victory. 1974s 3 - 0 victory heralded a few tussles against East Germany before
reunification 16 years later and ending with a humble home defeat in 1990
pre Italy friendly.
The 1983 Euro Qualifier in Halle saw a titanic struggle between the nations
to decide who would prop up the league. Me and the Faither drove to the game
in a Rover and stopped briefly in Jena for the under 21 game played in 2 feet
of snow. In sub sub zero temperatures the next night the locals gasped in
amazement at the sight of 1 lad wearing only a Scotland top, short sleeved.
We of course lost.
Save the Whale
There
is a saying in Toftir footballing circles ‘There’s no such thing
in world football as an easy game.’ The authorities have recently attempted
to change this following Scotland’s continued attempts to gift them
points. Our record against such minnows is of course not startling and even
second goal at Pittodrie ’98 was wholly due to the arrival of a second
ball in the penalty area courtesy of a visiting fan! Our joy after the recent
German ‘best draw ever ’ was tempered by the thought of facing
the Faroe Islanders in the next game! Nervous? Me? You bet!
Hall of Fame
There exists a Hall of Fame for players of 50 caps or more but we can all recall our own heroes of past eras. Men who have worn the dark blue with pride, the pink strip with a wee bit of embarrassment, but still shone like a beacon.
A man robbed of caps due to the War and a fierce patriot was Bill Shankly. Awarded only 5 caps whilst playing for Preston North End the Ayshireman played in the largest ever attendance at a European game, we lost.
Born into a mining family in Glenbuck he of course went onto a legendary career as a manager starting with Carlisle United. It is said that he announced the teams on the tannoy pre match giving a guide to the form of the players and toured the city with a megaphone urging people to support the team.
Whilst managing Preston he instigated practice matches Scotland against England insisting on Scotland the Brave blasting on the PA as he led his blue shirted team from the Tunnel, chest bursting with pride. He can be forgiven, just, for giving Keegan his big chance once inviting a journalist to take a guided walk around his new giant of a centre half! Scotsman Ron Yeats. The village has now disappeared but an impressive marble plaque sits courtesy of Liverpool fans testimony to a footballing giant.
Strips
At first glance the new Diadora kit looks a good one and appreciably better than the pinstripe Fila version. There are many strips available now courtesy of Toffs and some now available from Burtons. My favourite is the ’62 V neck and I noticed recently a similar ’58 top with the bigger badge.
It goes without saying that no Scotland strip in itself can be deemed a lucky one as even the ’62 strip was also worn in the ’61 Wembley debacle.
The
white change one from ’90 was particularly unlucky reference Costa Rica!
The hooped shorts of ’86 were a wow on the beach but just made the Uruguayans
kick us even harder. I hear Danny really suited them!
The pink strip from the 80’s was a version of the Roseberry kit from
ages ago and quite fetching may I say.
Jim Baxters ’67 strip looked great on the svelt athletes that defeated
the World Champions but the cloth is stretched to the limit with the standard
TA paunch.
Do you all remember the shaming the Croats gave us gents when they made a guest appearance in the horse 2 years ago. Off with the tops and they were all wearing 6 packs. The gallant lads from WESTA were all carrying 15 years of Tennents lager around their waists when they reciprocated. And at the Norway friendly the crowd shots were all taken from the side of the TA section and revealed silhouetted 550 beer bellies!
WESTA Player of the Year
Nominations are requested from the members as to the player which has least shamed the famous yellow and red strip of WESTA.
I have a citation choosing Dario Walker following hot on his classy goal against Bertie Vogts in the recent charity international. So good a player and a devastating striker not to mention a dab hand at the drumming. A vote has flooded in from Maggie in Prestwick.
Manager Glen is keeping his nomination close to his chest and as long as he does not hang it on the shaky nail that is holding his jacket up then he will be announce the victor in November’s Player of the Year Awards Dinner.
Drink in the Stadium
I am of the opinion that the TA needs a good 90 minutes break from the drink.
But a recent medical study has revealed that some goalies at Scotland games
have been diagnosed as suffering from so called passive drinking! The exhaling
beery breath from thousands of Scots fans has been solely responsible for
some of our away goals it seems! Just how did you think we have such a good
away record?
Dortmund’s Westphalen’s Stadion steep terracing is ideal to test this theory to the full. Deep breaths are allowed when Oliver Kahn is at our end also Lambert should choose to have big Rab well away from us in the first half as the effect should have diminished by the second period as should Germany’s chance of a win. This maybe suggests that I am clutching at straws.
Norway Feedback
Apparently beer is expensive but the lads managed. Our esteemed Tam Coyle has reached and passed the grand old age of 40. The flag was seen on TV. We did not lose.
Mission accomplished
Hamish