Memories of 1985
The last time Scotland played Spain in a competitive match was in February 1985 in the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville. Reading the team now it looks like an all time superstar XI. It was Leighton, Gough, Albiston, Souness, McLeish, Miller, Archibald, McStay, Johnston, Bett and Cooper. The two playing subs were Strachan and Nicholas. Subs!! So a quick recce shows the starting XI plus a sub contain seven members of the Scotland Hall of Fame. Not bad to start with plus a rather attacking side as well I would have thought with a 4-4-2 formation looking to get the ball forward quickly to utilise Cooper on the wing and turn it into a 4-3-3.
Having gone back to my scrapbooks, yes, very sad I know, I can find no cuttings relating to the game nor my ticket. Given the strength of the team one can only presume there were no injury problems though Albsiton’s selection does look a bit dodgy as he was hardly a defensive mainstay. Seville held mixed memories for Scotland fans as it was only three years earlier we had been given a good seeing to by the best Brazilian team never to win a world cup. Dave Narey’s infamous “toe poke” clearly getting their dander up by his outrageous cheek in giving Scotland the lead. But then of course we had been sambaing in the streets with the lovely Brazilian burds fae Ipanema, blah, blah, blah.
So would we be flamencoing in the street with sexy Spanish senoritas? Well I was travelling with a Scottish member of the British Communist party, yes, it was that long ago, who wouldn’t have known a good time if it had hit him in the face. We flew to Madrid where he’d previously taught English as a foreign language and trained it to Seville. Memories are a bit hazy at this point as we spent most of the time in the buffet drinking rioja and mulling over the fate of the proletariat, as you do.
I honestly cannot remember getting off the train and to the hotel but I do remember Seville as a very impressive place. Subsequent visits have only confirmed those impressions. Memories of the game itself have been eroded by time but a couple of moments do stand out. One was meeting an ex Motherwell player called Bobby Watson who was a Baptist preacher in his spare time. He always stood out in the 70s as he had a short back and sides haircut with a parting that looked like it had been administered by one of those large chopping knives you see in Chinese restaurants. Given the outrageous facial hairstyles of Alfie Conn, etc, the clean cut looks of the Rev Watson gave him a unique profile. I met him in a bar before the game where he was showing a bit of drinking, never mind religious, fervour, with a few large dark rum and cokes. Another memory was meeting then Celtic manager Davie Hay without minders or any airs and graces in the queue for the drink kiosk at half time
I think the Spanish goal was scored by Emilio Butragueno (?) who had managed to plant the ball in the back of the net with a header just as Willie Miller was trying to get off the ground. A photo in a Spanish paper the next day caught the moment perfectly. A paper I sadly did not buy to put in the scrapbook.
Post match Seville appeared bereft of Scotland fans as my mate and I discussed the imminent fall of capitalism and what would happen come the glorious day. Wolfie Smith eat your heart out. The night ended in the wee small hours with us wandering, for no apparent reason, at will through the Alfonso XIII hotel, the best hotel in Seville, and the one where the squad had stayed. We went into ballrooms, reception rooms and all over. I awoke with a large pang of regret the next day, wishing I had stolen a canteen of cutlery as a souvenir.
We met current West Ham assistant manager, Stevie Clarke, outside the hotel on the day of the game and his style of dress made you think he was off to a nightclub in Paisley. He had a on a multi coloured diamond patterned v neck sweater, speckled disco trousers, white socks and loafers. Hey, this is the mid 80s we are talking here. After pointing out the imminent demise of the capitalist system, my mate showed him a report of the previous day’s U21 game in a Spanish paper. Clarke had got what appeared to be two Ace of Spades in their bizarre player marking system, the maximum for some reason was three, a score higher than any other player. He seemed suitably unimpressed with both the imminent fall of capitalism and the marking and proceeded to go back into the hotel.
So a crowd of 70000 had witnessed a very strong Scotland team go in 0-0 at half time but eventually fall to a 1-0 defeat. The rest of the qualification matches would be overshadowed by the death of Jock Stein in Cardiff later on that year but Scotland would eventually qualify for Mexico by defeating Australia in the play offs.
At the time of the game in Seville, the membership of the British Communist party far exceeded that of the STC. Nowadays the reverse is true and one wonders what that says about the world we live in. Power to the people!
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