Never Mind the Tartan Army E-Book

David W Potter

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 66

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Here is the ultimate quiz book on Scotland's national team. Informative and fun, this is the perfect companion for those long car journeys to Inverness or Aberdeen, or for nights down the local. An ideal gift for Tartan fans of all ages, here's the chance to test fellow supporters on World Cups, famous games against England, favourite managers and cult heroes, including R.S. McColl, Jimmy Quinn, Jimmy McGrory and Kenny Dalglish. Cryptic to convivial, get your Tartan thinking caps on – it's quiz time!

Leseprobe

To all those who have followed Scotland for as long as I have … and suffered just as much.

Contents

Title

Dedication

Introduction

Round 1 England

Round 2 World Cup 1954

Round 3 Kenny Dalglish

Round 4 The Nineteenth Century

Round 5 Celtic Players

Round 6 World Cup 1958

Round 7 Ireland

Round 8 Hampden

Round 9 North of the Tay

Round 10 World Cup 1974

Round 11 Wales

Round 12 1900–1914

Round 13 Denis Law

Round 14 World Cup 1978

Round 15 Picture Round

Round 16 Edinburgh Players

Round 17 1919–1939

Round 18 World Cup 1982

Round 19 Wembley

Round 20 1946–1980

Round 21 World Cup 1986

Round 22 Rangers Players

Round 23 Managers

Round 24 World Cup 1990

Round 25 1981–2000

Round 26 European Championships

Round 27 The Twenty-First Century

Round 28 Anglo-Scots

Round 29 World Cup 1998

Round 30 Records

Round 31 Newcastle United

Round 32 Jock Stein

Round 33 Gordon Strachan

The Answers

About the Author

Copyright

Introduction

You really have no choice about it. If you are Scottish, you really have to support the national team! There are those who feign indifference and even hostility to the performances of the Scotland national side, but their pretence is usually rumbled when they spend half an hour telling you WHY they no longer support the team. The laddies ‘doth protest too much’, one feels.

It must be owned that recent performances, certainly in the twenty-first century, have not been great. It is ironic that this has happened at a time when life in Scotland in other respects has been buoyant and vibrant, yet in our most popular sport, repeated disappointments to teams like Moldova and Macedonia have been the order of the day. In the meanwhile, sports like cycling and tennis show that there is no reason at all why Scotland cannot be the best in the world.

It was not always like this. Nor does it have to be like this in the future. This book, apart from being fun, is an attempt to remind people of the great days in the past. Not that they were always great days. We had our disasters (repeated ones) at Wembley, the hideous business in Argentina and the 0–7 defeat to Uruguay in 1954, which was your writer’s introduction to both Scotland’s incompetence and television at the same time. He has been deeply scarred as a result.

But there were also the great days. The 1920s and 1930s saw Scotland more than hold their own against England, and further back, England were repeatedly put to the sword (in the figurative sense of course!) in the 1880s. Great players abounded in Scotland in the years before and after the Great War, and it remains the writer’s contention that the World Cup in 1966 could have been won by Scotland instead of England, if only a dire combination of incompetence, underperformance and complacency had not conspired to prevent our qualification.

Players and games from all ages are featured in the nearly 400 questions. Some questions are obvious, others are the province of the footballing geeks, of whom there are an alarming number on occasion. The hope is, however, that interest can be stimulated in Scotland’s past, and that enthusiasm can be transferred into the present and even into the future, so that our children and grandchildren do not have to suffer the torments that have swamped us for several decades.

In the meantime, enjoy this quiz book. The answers are given (although on a different page), so that those who wish to cheat may do so! But that is only kidding yourself. Come to think of it though, self-delusion has been a fairly visible facet of Scotland’s national character through the ages, as far as football is concerned anyway. Enjoy the book!

David Potter

Kirkcaldy, 2015

England

Scotland is fortunate in that our ‘auld enemy’ is not really an enemy at all. Other nations throughout the world are amazed at the amount of rhetoric and claptrap that Scotsmen and Englishmen can hurl at each other, in politics as well as football, without anyone getting shot! Admittedly, there have been a few ‘nanas’ on either side who used to indulge in the sport called football hooliganism, but all that proves is that the educational system on both sides of the border has a bit to go yet. There remains, in fact, a great deal of mutual respect for both nations, who together have won wars and built empires. Nevertheless, we do want to beat them!

1 The first five Scotland v. England internationals in England were played in 1873, 1875, 1877, 1879 and 1881 on a ground that is now famous for cricket. Which English county cricket club plays there now?

2 Why were games between Scotland and England played in England for three successive years from 1901 to 1903?

3 Until James McGrory in the 1930s, which Englishman held the world record for goal scoring?

4 Which famous Evertonian scored the 2 goals which beat Scotland 2–1 at Hampden in April 1927?

5 Which English goalkeeper had the same name (with a spelling variation) as a Scottish football team?

6 Which Englishman (who in later years lived in Edinburgh and supported Hearts) scored a late equaliser for England against Scotland at Hampden in 1956?

7 In Scotland’s 3–9 defeat at Wembley in 1961, which Englishman scored a hat-trick?

8 When Scotland famously defeated England at Wembley in 1967, what was England’s only change from their World Cup team of the previous year?

9 When Scotland beat England 2–0 at Hampden in 1974, which Englishman had the misfortune to score an own goal?

10 Which Englishman scored for England against Scotland at Wembley in April 1986, and then played a major part in Scottish domestic football for the rest of his footballing life?

11 Which Rangers player scored for England against Scotland at Wembley in 1996?

12 Who was the Scotsman who became assistant manager of England in 1996?

World Cup 1954

This was Scotland’s first venture in the World Cup. They, like the rest of the British nations, had scorned the three World Cups before the Second World War (a shame, because Scotland might well have won it!), then unaccountably said that they would only go to the 1950 World Cup in Brazil if they were British champions. They came second in the Home International Championship, and that was the position they reached in 1954 as well, but this time accepted the invitation. Even then it was a half-hearted, amateurish business with players having to train in public parks wearing their own kit, and for the games themselves Scotland’s jerseys were the thick ones that did such a fine job in December but were less suitable for Central Europe in June! One of the players recalls hearing the advice coming from the touchline which was, ‘Come on Scotland! Get stuck in!’ But it was at least a beginning, and for many people, including this 5 year old, their first acquaintance with television and a country called Uruguay.

1 In the run-up for this tournament, Scotland played one nation home and away in May 1954. Who was this?

2 Scotland played another game during the run-up in the stadium of the most recent Olympic Games. Where was this?

3 Why were no Rangers players in the squad?

4 How many men were in the Scotland squad to travel to Switzerland?

5 The first game was a respectable 0–1 defeat. Against whom?

6 In which city was this game played?

7 In Scotland’s section there were four teams, but they only played two games. Who was the team that Scotland did NOT play?

8 Who was Scotland’s team manager who announced before Scotland’s game with Uruguay that he was resigning?

9 In these circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Scotland were on the wrong end of a heavy defeat. What was the score?