Beating England Is Still Special for Scotland Fans, but Horizons Have Shifted

Pity poor Scotland. Every time they aspire to make progress in a European competition, they get drawn in an unfeasibly difficult group. It’s like being Manchester City, but without the money.

True, the system is designed to ensure that countries are rewarded for past achievement when it comes to the qualification process. But the Scots must wonder what their big brothers from south of the border have done to earn a group in which one admittedly impressive away win—in Switzerland—seems to do the trick.

All of England’s other tasks on the road to France would appear to be well within the capabilities of Scotland in their current form under manager Gordon Strachan. The day after Strachan’s men beat Ireland at Parkhead with a goal that would not have been out of place at Camp Nou, Roy Hodgson’s lot were able to serve up a turgid 45 minutes and give away an own goal yet still overcome Slovenia at Wembley.

While you’d almost bet your life on England crossing the Channel for the finals the summer after next, Scotland must still contend with not only the Irish in Dublin, but world champions Germany and a wonderfully renascent Poland.

It may be that the best they can hope for—even now that UEFA have made qualifying easier—is third place and a play-off.

The dream lives, though, and the renewal of hostilities with England in a so-called friendly on the ground where Celtic achieved their famous victory over Barcelona two years ago will find the Scots in good heart, ready to enjoy a traditional occasion whose capacity to hurt them has long since diminished.

It was once an annual affair and an excuse for footballing Scots to abandon a sense of proportion and imagine that beating England might convey a rare chance to feel superior to the senior member of the United Kingdom.

Football, after all, seemed symbolic of the smaller nation’s ability to punch above its weight.

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Those who knew their history could reflect that, while the English claimed to have invented the game, it was the Scots who invented the worthwhile bits: notably the passing style whose line, even now, could be traced through the Austrian Wunderteam of the 1930s, to the Hungarians of the 1950s, to—if you really stretch a point—the tiki-taka of Barcelona in the early 21st century.

Not only that, the early Scots proved themselves in terms of effectiveness, too. When they first met England in 1872, the outcome was a scoreless draw, but—once the series had gotten under way—the Scots soon established an advantage in terms of overall matches won, which lasted almost until the annual rivalry contest was abandoned in 1989.

So, by and large, there had been as much pleasure as pain for the Scots. But how the beatings could hurt.

Having grown up a Scotland supporter myself, I still wince at the memory of a 9-3 defeat at Wembley in 1961. That score was inflicted by one of the most potent England attacks ever, as it included Bobby Charlton, Johnny Haynes and Jimmy Greaves.

Then there was the 1973 self-inflicted disaster, suffered when the Scottish FA invited England to Hampden Park to celebrate their centenary—and the visitors won 5-0.

In between, of course, there had been the unforgettable 3-2 triumph over Alf Ramsey’s world champions at Wembley in 1967, when the likes of Denis Law and Jim Baxter concentrated on taunting an England squad weakened by the injury that left Jack Charlton painfully limping—substitution had yet to be introduced—rather than try to build a comfortable lead.

So it’s an understatement to say there is always an edge to England-Scotland conflicts—at least from the Scottish point of view. And no one who attended the first leg of the Euro 2000 play-off at Hampden could be unaware of its continuation, for the screeching that drowned out the national anthem beforehand was almost as memorable as the two goals from Paul Scholes that immediately put England in charge.

The atmosphere was different, however, when Scotland went out honourably after retaliating through Don Hutchinson at Wembley and even threatening to put England out with a late push in which David Weir had a header parried by David Seaman.

The Scots fans enjoyed themselves. Failure did not ruin their night. And they were hardly disconsolate when England twice fought back from adversity to win a friendly 3-2 last year.

Horizons are wider now—albeit more distant. A match against England is no longer what it was in my youth. It made or broke the season then. Now, it’s more likely to be just a special night and, if Strachan’s men win at Parkhead, they’ll be taking heart for the rest of the qualifying series.

Patrick Barclay is an award-winning football journalist and best-selling author, whose portfolio includes biographies on Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson and Herbert Chapman.