ENGLAND vs SCOTLAND: 150 YEARS
Tonight's game celebrates the one hundredth and fiftieth anniversary of the oldest game in international football. Back in the day, the England-Scotland game was one of the few matches shown live on television. Like the FA Cup Final, it was an occasion for any football fan to be savoured.
An Alan Gilzean header settled the first game I remember between the two in 1964. I listened to the game on the radio. Different times!! The fixture was spiced up even further when the Scots went to world champion England in 1967 and came away with a 3-2 victory. In the sixties and seventies, the sides traded results. The game was especially massive for Scotland. The matches in London at Wembley felt like home games for Scotland as the Tartan Army took over the stadium. Many times, a Scotland win was countered by a comprehensive thrashing at the hands of the "auld enemy'. It was just the way it was back then.
Twenty years after Gilzean, I was in America and listened to the Beeb as another header, this time by Richard Gough, won the game for Scotland. However, the game was winding down as a necessity as crowd control became more of a problem, not just in this fixture but across the board. Scotland's Wembley win in 1977 is remembered more for the crowd invasion when the fans brought down the goals and tore up the pitch than the actual game. The international was no longer an annual rivalry as we entered the nineties, and the Premier League era was on the horizon.
Games over the last thirty years have been in UEFA competitions. Gary MacAllister's penalty miss, followed by Gazza's goal in 2006, is the most memorable moment of the period. The last game between the two was in the Euros two years ago. England were on their way to the final while it was a wretched tournament for Scotland. Despite this, the old "Braveheart" spirit reared its head, and the teams drew 0-0. The coming game is interesting in prospect, with most of the narrative around the respective managers.
I feel sorry for Gareth Southgate. I'm not a fan of his, but his record is undeniably good. Gareth's problem revolves around the fact that England has probably the most outstanding amount of attacking talent ever at the disposal of an England manager. England's games are over-analyzed (is it like this in every country?). It doesn't help Southgate's cause. It was a pretty tepid England display in last week's 1-1 draw with Ukraine.
Interestingly, Scotland has nowhere near the talent they had when I was growing up. Southgate has suggested he will not select players playing at Championship level. Scotland has several Championship players on their squad. Scotland's leading clubs, Rangers and Celtic, have few Scottish players. The EPL has a sprinkling of Scottish players, with most being role players. These are the main supply lines of players for Scottish manager Steve Clarke.
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Some top Scots have recently been relegated to the periphery of their club teams. Mikel Arteta doesn't appear to want Kieran Tierney, who is out on loan. Amazing in my eyes, he's an excellent left-back! Similarly, Scott McTominay at United. What an underrated player. He will be in opposition to Declan Rice tonight, a player who is highly touted. The two are similar in my eyes, and McTominay is more of a goal threat. Newcastle's Harvey Barnes sums up the contrast between selection options for the two. Barnes is a fine winger but has little chance of playing for England again, so he's considering changing his allegiance as he is eligible to represent Scotland.
Talent-wise, comparing the teams on paper is not close. Great credit then to Steve Clarke, who has gradually built a Scotland team that has evolved into one that can compete and even more. Ask Spain! The Spanish fell 2-0 to Scotland in the Euro qualifiers. Clarke doesn't have a talent pool to win the Euros, but he has taken a team that had lost its way and turned things around. If I'm going to forecast the game this evening, on paper, it has to be England. However, Scotland plays as a team, and it should be highly competitive with players in the middle of the park like McGinn, Gilmour, MacGregor and McTominay. 1-1 draw!
I have to refer to Liverpool's connection to Scottish footballers. Liverpool's first competitive match in 1892 against Rotherham Town featured an XI entirely of Scottish players. Growing up in the sixties, Liverpool's manager was the formidable Scot, Bill Shankly. The spine of Shankly's first great team was Tommy Lawrence, Ron Yeats, Willie Stevenson and Ian St John. Scots, one and all. Later, the seventies into the eighties were even better, with Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness, Steve Nicol and Kenny Dalglish being the core of a dominant Liverpool side. The current Scotland captain is another Liverpool player, Andy Robertson, and there's another one on the way in Ben Doak. Liverpool needs its Scottish connection to be successful! RIP Billy Liddell!!
Finally, a BBC link to the legendary Scotland team of 1928. The so-called "Wembley Wizards". Well before my time, believe it or not. It reminds me of reading "Charles Buchan's Football Monthly" and pouring over stories of football legends and myths from times gone by. Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Dixie Dean and Billy Liddell on Merseyside, internationally the "Magical Magyars" and a Brazilian teenager who won the World Cup. Pele was still playing but was already a legend to rank with all the greats.
Hoping for an enjoyable game tonight.