Don’t Come Home Too Soon

Scotland stand on the cusp of qualification for a major international tournament for the first time since 1998. Scottish football writer Ross Kilvington asks why it has been so long, and how the loss of a footballing identity developed in the 1970s and ‘80s has contributed to recent failure.

November 2020

The above quote summarises the Scottish national football team and its supporters down to a tee, especially over the last twenty years. As our absence from major competitions continues well into its twenty-second year, we must ask: why has it been so long?

Have squads in the past simply not been up to the required standard to represent the nation at an international tournament? Or what about the notion that the management has been weak, from Berti Vogts to George Burley to Craig Levein – hardly a star-studded line-up of managerial pedigree suited to spark the national interest and recreate the days of old. For me, the simplest answer is that Scotland has lost its identity, from a footballing perspective at least. Long gone is the golden era of the 1970s and ‘80s, when the team regularly qualified for a seat at football’s top table, and often performed above and beyond the expectations of the Tartan Army following them all over the world.

Scotland’s footballing identity has been significant from the very beginning, ever since the very first international match took place between Scotland and England in Glasgow in 1872. The two nations had been adversaries for centuries, and as codified sport emerged as a relatively peaceful medium for people to engage in such rivalries, Scottish identity was (and still is) defined by striving to defeat the English at football, rugby and in whatever other sport they were pitted against each other. Raymond Boyle in his article “What football means to Scotland” states that, “at the national level, the Scottish international football team has at times been one of the few collective expressions of a Scottish national identity.” Over the years, this statement has rung true. Our footballing identity goes hand in hand with our national identity: workmanlike and often unspectacular, we specialise in heroic failure and tend to rise to occasion when it matters least. And as football grew in popularity, it also became a form of escapism for many of the working class.

Scotland performed admirably at the 1974 World Cup, with an opening victory against Zaire (in which a lack of goals would ultimately prove to be our undoing) followed by draws against holders Brazil and Yugoslavia. Despite narrowly missing out on the next stage on goal difference, significant progress had been made. Scotland were no longer seen as an embarrassment on the world stage, in comparison to our dismal performances in 1954 and 1958. It was around this time that we fully developed our footballing identity. Arguably the two most prominent footballing styles in the history of the international game were developed in the 1970s and 80s: the effortless samba style of the Brazilians and the ingenious use of space and tactical fluidity of Dutch Total Football. Scotland’s identity was somewhat less attractive than this; our national psyche which came into public view was one of resilience and steely grit. Although many teams we came up against during this period in the ‘70s and ‘80s were more naturally talented than ours, no one could fault our enthusiasm and plucky ability to bounce back from various setbacks.

Footballing identities are formed in several ways, although mainly by a coach or manager with a set concept of how to play the game. Take Rinus Michels at AFC Ajax, who changed the landscape of Dutch football by implementing Total Football, or the development of catenaccio in Italy by Nereo Rocco and Helenio Herrera. The key difference between these identities and Scotland’s, however, has long been ability of the players to carry out the roles effectively – every member of the Netherlands team of the ‘70s had the tactical nous to play in every different position, hence why it worked to great effect. Scottish players during this era had a more hard-working, strong-minded attitude that set them apart from their counterparts of today’s often fragile generation. How was this character formed and what has changed over the last forty years? Why has our footballing identity changed from being viewed as a team that is extremely tough to beat, and which bounced back more often than not, even when seemingly down and out? There are a few different factors to consider.

From the mid-1960s up until the ban for English teams in European competition following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, the English First Division was awash with Scottish footballers. In some cases, they were the leaders of some of the most important teams of the era. Leeds United had the famous “Scottish mafia”, which included talents such as Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Gordon McQueen, among many more. These players were battlers, and Bremner especially would be willing to run through a brick wall for the team to achieve success. These characteristics translated into the national side during the start of the ‘70s, a decade in which our key footballing ideology of being hard to break down and even tougher to beat was forged.

As the decade progressed, Liverpool FC edged their way to the top of the English hierarchy with a team that had a strong Scottish influence. Initially it was Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish who became stand-out performers before the likes of Alan Hansen and Steve Nicol made their marks on the side. Although all these talented players won everything with Liverpool, they also shared the same core characteristic of resilience. Compare this to today’s generation of players: while there are a few Scots playing in the English Premier League, only Liverpool’s left-back Andrew Robertson has achieved success at the highest level. The lack of influence Scottish players have at the biggest teams south of the border is worrying from a national team perspective. We need our players to be playing at the highest possible level if we are to experience competing at major tournaments like the fabled generation of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Another key factor to consider is how the political landscape has changed through the years. The end of the 1970s saw the greatest political upheaval in Scotland since the Second World War. When the Conservative government was voted in and the Thatcherite regime caused destruction to the working class, Scotland was the country that suffered most. With many industries decimated and the miners’ strikes affecting millions, football became symbolically more important than ever. Our footballing identity in this period arguably became as strong as it has ever been, while continued qualification for the World Cup from 1978 through to 1986 saw us mixing it with the very best.

The strength of our footballing identity perhaps hit its apex during a World Cup qualifier against Wales in September 1985. Set against the backdrop of Heysel, and with Margaret Thatcher seemingly ready to crack down on football supporters causing trouble, tension was at its highest. Requiring only a draw to reach an intercontinental play-off against Australia for a place at the finals in Mexico, a dogged performance in Cardiff saw us snatch a 1-1 draw with a penalty from Davie Cooper with just nine minutes remaining. The end of the match was marked by tragedy, however, as Scotland manager Jock Stein collapsed on the touchline and later died in the treatment room of Ninian Park.

Our subsequent performances at both the 1986 and 1990 World Cups offered none of the romanticism or heroic failure that marked the campaigns of the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Early exits from these tournaments occurred without a hint of the fighting spirit that had stood us in good stead over the previous 20 years. No one knew it at the time, but as the ‘90s came into view in a changing football landscape in Europe, the identity of the Scottish national team was also transforming. No longer seen as a team full of battlers with an extremely disciplined ethos, Scotland still managed to qualify for three major tournaments in the ‘90s (below), when European football changed more rapidly than ever before. But Scottish football had to adapt to the loss of key qualities that had formerly made them a match for anyone on their day.

The true decline began when German World Cup winner Berti Vogts was appointed as national team coach in February 2002. As our first foreign coach, Vogts emphasized the need to assimilate our footballing identity to the German model of tactical efficiency and a robust, almost machine-like character. There was only one problem – the massive gulf in talent between Scotland’s talent pool and the players Vogts was used to having at his disposal as manager of Germany from 1990 to 1998. Many would argue that the national team has never recovered from the Berti Vogts era. Scotland lost all footballing identity during this period. It was often chaotic, with heavy defeats and disappointing results against teams such as the Faroe Islands and Moldova, minnows that are usually cannon fodder for nations like us. Something was lost during this generation of players – not a spark as such, but our usual underlying quality of fighting spirit disappeared in a puff of smoke. Without qualifying for major competitions, our FIFA ranking spiralled out of control to a low point of 88 in the world in March 2005.

Despite an initial upturn in results under Vogts’s successor Walter Smith and then Alex McLeish, Scotland have since failed to qualify for three more World Cups and three more European Championships, with some agonising near misses and desperately poor performances along the way. Not all is lost, however. Under Steve Clarke, who took the job in May 2019, we might just be regaining a little piece of our national footballing identity. At the time of writing, Scotland stand one match away from a first major tournament appearance in 22 years, and the team is on an eight-game unbeaten run, our best in 32 years. Clarke’s pragmatic style of play might be an eyesore, but this season it has worked wonders in grinding out some vital results that could go a long way to determining what future success we have with the current generation.

In an ideal world, the game would be played the way the Netherlands did at the 1974 World Cup, with poise, fluidity, and the sheer desire to play beautiful football. Unfortunately, not all teams are as gifted as the Dutch of that era and are therefore forced to play within their limits. Scotland over the years have utilised their footballing identity to achieve the best possible results. A golden generation certainly helped us during the ‘70s and ‘80s and, truth be told, it is one that we have struggled to replicate since. Yet for a new group of Scotland supporters and members of the Tartan Army all over the world, a new golden generation may not be the answer. Maybe all it will take for us to qualify for our first major tournament in 22 years is to dig deep, believe we can defeat any team that stands in front of us, and reclaim our footballing identity after years in the wilderness.

If we qualify for the delayed Euro 2020 tournament to be held next year, no one will care about poor performances or style of play. This could be the catalyst for a new era to take us to places we would not have dreamed about at our lowest point fifteen years ago.

Words: Ross Kilvington | Imagery: Offside