Oh, I remember the 26th of September 1961 very well
So the play-off was decided for Brussels
Who travelled in those days?
It was kind of eetsy peetsy
Controversial equaliser
I never thought it was over the line
but people would say I'd say that anyway
I've never even seen the clip
I don't even recall reading about this
but I can categorically tell you
it was not over the line
We didn't really fancy Australia
I mean...
who can play football down under?
I look at the Australia team
I was like, two of these guys are from Forfar
Like, what?
The right back, it said unattached
And you're like...
You're playing in a World Cup play-off
Aw this game was huge
It was a huge build up at the time
Every single person was talking about it
I remember my son saying to me
Mum, do you think we'll ever, ever beat England?
Ever?
That was Craig's mantra
straight after the first defeat
He says, we get the first goal at Wembley
they can crumble
The fans'll turn on them
They'll... Craig's word
They might bottle it
The entire line of Scots in the press box just all went...
I always go back to
we beat the English one nil at Wembley
I kinda forget unusually about the first two nil game
I don't mention that too much
But my last game at Wembley was memorable
When you get Holland you're like
right, okay, it's gonnae be a
a big, big ask for us to get through it
I don't think we coulda got a tougher draw
You're maybe hoping about getting a nil nil
maybe get a draw and just keep the tie alive
But no, to go there wae a one nil win
was an incredible result, it really was
I think we thought we were gonnae go and...
go and win it
I just remember that day at school
I couldn't even eat my lunch
I was so sick wae nerves
You know, the fans always arrived early
You know they got the early flights
they got their drinks and got into the ground early
so they were in jubilant form
And yeah, unfortunately kick-off came
It's like prodding the lion through the cage
Aye, grim's one word for it
There's other words that I could use
Yeah, disappointment, complete disappointment
but as always, when you get to the end of it
that's it, there's nothing you can do about it
You reflect and you move on, you know
and you look forward to the next campaign
Unfortunately, we missed out on a major tournament
But when you're at that age, you think
it's alright, we'll get the next one
We'll get the next one, em...
and history tells you that we didnae get the next one
or the next one, or the next one
or the next one
I was having to do updates every sort of
you know, fifteen, twenty minutes
I'm going off my head here, I'm taking it too far
Knew this was gonna happen
Then the nerves just kick in
and I think that transferred
on to the performance
Every time Serbia went forward
you're like this, you're like no, no, no
I couldnae handle the penalties
At first, I was just having palpitations
I was sitting at home watching it myself
biting my nails
I was probably more nervous than they were
I watch penalties like this
I remember saying to my wife
this is not gonnae happen for us
I'm so... I'm almost inured
to a defeatist attitude about it
Aw, I'm shouting at the telly
and the dogs are shouting at me
the dogs are barking
and it's just, aw, it's an awful experience
sitting in the house by yourself watching penalties
They made me hit my living room roof
when every one of them hit the back of the net
Tears
You can even see me the noo
talking about it, welling up
It was brilliant
It was actually his big toe that did it
Right, well let's get a place in this museum
for David Marshall's big toe
So I ran to my wife and I hugged her
lifted her up...
put her down again
and I heard this voice in my ear saying
can we not have penalty shoot-outs every week?
All the years ae glorious failure
and here we just had glory
The whole nation has gotten behind
the Scotland men's and women's teams
for their achievements
It's now cool to cut about in a Scotland top
The great thing about the Scotland team
is that it doesn't really matter
whether you support Celtic or Rangers
or Morton or Partick Thistle
when Scotland are playing
we all get on the same page
Only for ninety minutes!
My fingers and toes are crossed for them
I've been there before
and I hope they get a better result than I got
I think we'll do it
The Qatartan Army will be there in 2022
I went tae every game from 81
right up tae 88, 89
Even went tae East Germany
you know on a train fae Larbert
But probably the biggest one I did go to
was Australia
I booked it through the Scotland travel club
I've still got my ticket yet
I was kind of beat
so my mum and dad said well you've done that well
trying tae save up... I think I saved up a pound
No I'm only kidding and em...
they forked out the rest of the money for me
and I still appreciate it yet, what they done
It was one of the best trips I've ever had
Guys that you hadnae heard of then
Guys that you havenae heard of since
We kept saying every week on the radio
that you could get guys walking through the studio
bollock naked while we were daein our show
and they're in the Scotland squad
but we'd have been none the wiser
You know what I mean? You just didnae know these guys
So I decided
just to basically make somebody up, right
And I said so, mystery guest
what about this guy Neil MacDonald?
Pundit being a pundit
they just went into pundit mode
Yes, yes, I've watched him a few times
And I'm sitting... I'm sookin on lemons and aw that
tryin no tae laugh
Yes, I've watched him a few times
I think he can add something
tae that team, you know
and Berti's got an eye for a player
so let's give the lad a chance...
I completely made him up
Now there's no too many wins on there I have to say
especially because I started during the Berti Vogts era
So I have a match ticket book
where I keep copies of the match tickets
and write down what the score was
and who the scorer was
Belgium?
Brilliant atmosphere... humped
You know Macedonia 1-0
That was a pretty horrendous one
You go tae Japan and yeah, okay
common theme, you got beat again
That's the Slovakia 3-0 one
I didn't like that one at all
We'd literally spent like
all the savings you had at the time
going to the opposite side of the world...
You know, shots on target
zero
Oh we're on top of a bar, the classy girls that we are
I've got my Scotland strip on
and the song back then was not
Yes Sir, We Can Boogie
it was we're shite and we know we are
We went to Sweden there and got thumped
And England 3-0
We seem... 3-0 seems to be quite a common score
Peru and Mexico, brilliant trip...
no so much on the field
Scotland 2 Malta 0
That was a good one
I have to say, I mean even 2-0 against Malta
is actually not that great
but we'll take it when we get it
Yes!
Yaaaaas!
Ya beauty!
Yes!
Yaaaaas!
Ya beauty!
Yes!
Yaaaaas!
Ya beauty!
Yes!
Yaaaaas!
Ya beauty!
A bottle ae Barr's Irn Bru on legs
But I've got a photo of me and Wayne Rooney, right
I didnae mean this at the time
My fingers are like this during the photograph
and I'm like I'm giein Wayne Rooney the V here