Scottish Football E-Book

Henry McLeish

• Herausgeber: Luath Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 346

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Did I only dream about Archie Gemmill scoring one of the greatest goals ever in beating Holland 3-2 in the 1978 World Cup? Did Jim Baxter really play 'keepie uppie' and torment the life out of the weary World Cup winners England in 1967? Were Celtic really the first British team to win the European Cup? Have we obsessives become untethered from reality? Are we hanging on to a world real or imaginary, where football dominated our lives to such an extent that it 'was more than a game', indeed 'more important than life itself'? Has my natural childhood football environment and each of its overlapping parts – cultural, religious, identity, class, political, intellectual, psychological, sociological, philosophical and, sadly, tribal – created the conditions for distorted and highly selective lapses of memory and reality? I don't think so. In this personal and thought-provoking book, former footballer and First Minister Henry McLeish examines his own and his country's dysfunctional relationship with football. Read this book and rethink your own relationship with the beautiful game in the country that took it to the world.

Leseprobe

HENRY McLEISH, the former First Minister of Scotland, has a lifetime association with football and remains a passionate advocate for the beautiful game. Born in Methil, his early life was a total obsession with football to the exclusion of everything else including school work. After progressing through school football he left school for the first time and joined Leeds United as a schoolboy professional under Don Revie. After returning from Leeds, failing to settle down, he returned to school and joined East Fife and played for nearly six years. A frequent commentator on the game, Henry McLeish was absolutely delighted and privileged to be asked by the SFA in 2009, to undertake a major review of Scottish football, covering the development of Scotland’s young talent and the future of the SFA. Now Chair of the Elite Football Academy in Fife and a director of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, he is helping to implement one of the main recommendations in his 2010 report.

First Published 2018

ISBN: 978-1-912147-59-5

The author’s right to be identified as author of this book under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been asserted.

The paper used in this book is recyclable. It is made from low chlorine pulps produced in a low energy, low emission manner from renewable forests.

Printed and bound by Bell & Bain Ltd., Glasgow

Typeset in 11 point Sabon by Lapiz

© Henry McLeish 2018

This book is dedicated to:

My grandfather, Henry Cunningham Baird: a thoughtful, Christian man, socialist, mineworker and football player with East Fife in the years before the start of wwi: my inspiration and also my source of football DNA.

The best football fans in the world who share my dream of a great footballing country being able to once again achieve success on the international stage.

Scotland’s elite young footballers, a priceless asset in a world that increasingly demands the highest level of skill and commitment.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE Parliament, Pulpit, Politics, Pride And The Queen

CHAPTER TWO Football: An Aspiration Gap

CHAPTER THREE Deep Roots in Rich Soil

CHAPTER FOUR Anatomy of the Game

CHAPTER FIVE On the International Stage, Falling off a Cliff

CHAPTER SIX The Golden Age

CHAPTER SEVEN A Game in Decline: How did we get here?

CHAPTER EIGHT What Happened to the Review of 2010?

CHAPTER NINE The Identity Crisis and What To Do About It

CHAPTER TEN What Next and How to Fix it

Chronology

Bibliography and References

Acknowledgements

I’D LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE my thoughtful friends and supportive family who have encouraged, listened and helped me with the ideas and themes in the book. A special word of thanks goes to Tom Brown, former political editor of the Daily Record for his ongoing advice and encouragement over many years of reflecting on Scottish life.

Introduction

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL IS CONTINUOUSLY under the microscope in what can appear to be an endless and relentless cycle of declining expectations, underachievement and underperformance on the field. Especially at international level, and where the game is challenged by history, institutional inertia and permanently insecure about its future. The game is fragmented and lacks direction and purpose. There seems to be no big ambition, no sense of sustained anger or urgency about the fact that a once spectacularly successful footballing nation, needn’t be in this precarious and uninspiring place. A lack of brutal honesty at the heart of the game is preventing us from doing anything about it. This book rejects this dismal scenario that Scotland is destined to remain a second-rate footballing nation where the upper levels of European club competitions and the final stages of World Cups and European Championships are always beyond our reach. Instead, it argues that we should write a new and optimistic chapter in the remarkable history of our game.

For that to happen we must ask and answer searching questions about the mind-set of the game and look at structures, institutions, ethos and governance, culture and vision. Of significance and immediacy are the current levels of ambition for the Scotland team, as well as the question of purpose football serves in the modern era. This is about the anatomy of the game, what we can learn and how this can help shape the future. If Scotland is to build and maintain a competitive edge in club and international football, create a modern spectator sport, contribute to community and society and be part of the government’s plans for a healthy and fit nation, lessons must be learned. Special, sectional, vested or narrow constituency interests must be confronted in order to build a broader and more sustainable model of what is in the best long-term interests of Scottish football.

The key to this is sustainable resources, attitude, building capacity to deal with change and for our institutions to have a much more open and transparent approach to new ideas and innovation: the game must reach out and embrace a wider Scotland. This is difficult. Our institutions are amongst the oldest in the world. The burden or legacy of history influences what we do, and how we think and act. For far too long there has been a reluctance to embrace modernity and make the game fit for purpose in the 21st century. My reviews of the game, commissioned by the SFA in 2010, were part of this process. There have been significant improvements since the reports were published but much more could, and should, have been done. Despite changes to structures and youth development, there has been little progress made in tackling institutional inertia, cultural constraints, an inward and insular attitude, deep-seated antagonisms and the unequal distribution of power and finance. These issues lie at the heart of the game’s current decline.

The game remains fragmented and lacks coherence. There seems to be no bigger purpose than the day-to-day struggles – important though they may be – and no sense of a collegiate or collective endeavour. This could produce outcomes that would be more than the mere sum of the different parts of the SFA and SPFL. The fragile condition of the game is in constant need of fire-fighting and one that is out of step with the ideas and aspirations of a modern Scotland. This strikes at the heart of what change should mean. There is a great deal happening on a practical level involving skilled and committed professionals, and an extraordinary input of energy, emotion, and dedication from a vast army of fans, supporters, and other enthusiasts. But this is not seen as part of any big ambition or vision for the game, or a focus for the wider Scotland to rally around. What happens on the pitch, on the terraces and in the boardroom are vital parts of this long established game, but for the game to survive, be successful and be sustainable, a radical transformation is required in attitude and outlook. The game must reach out. This closed shop mentality deprives the game of ideas, inspiration and much needed allies. Football has to find its place in Scottish society and reconnect with mainstream thinking about where the nation is going. Too big to fail is one opinion, but too important to be left to its own devices is another.

There are big questions that need answered, but one thing is abundantly clear; football is too important to be left to the game alone! The game is reclusive and mistrusting. The game sees every critical friend as a critical enemy. There is a bewildering and corrosive atmosphere of cynicism, pessimism, and negativity surrounding it. This, of course, helps shape the defensive attitude of the game to the outside world. There is no greater sense of a better and bigger collective future than a game which could overcome the stifling sense of struggle and survival that many clubs experience day in, day out. Fans, the life blood of the game, feel their spending each match day is welcomed, but like voters between elections, they are not seen by the game as a valuable resource who could have much more to contribute. The game lacks strong and modern links with the world outside football. No game is an island. The valuable contribution football can make to a modern Scotland is currently limited by the attitude of the game and its unique and precious sense of its own importance which, in the eyes of the game, cannot be meddled with.

This book will:

  1. Reflect on my own football journey, especially the early years in the game and the lessons learned. And, how the issues of identity, community, mining, religion, and class helped to shape my enduring interests, feelings, and passion for the game; helping to explain how an ‘obsessive’ is created: and seeing my world through a football!

  2. Discuss the importance of football to Scotland and the indelible mark it has made on the national psyche – soul, mind and spirit – of the nation.

  3. Examine the remarkable, even spectacular, history of the game in Scotland since 1873, the achievements at club level and the record breaking attendances which should be viewed today as an inspiring reminder of how, and why, we became a football loving nation; less about sentiment, nostalgia and, dare I say, delusion and more about DNA.

  4. Spell out the role of football in the sporting life of the nation and how the game is such a fundamental part of the health, sport, fitness, and confidence building agenda that Scotland so desperately needs. This will touch on the relationship with government and with wider Scotland.

  5. Review the issues and influences that have shaped the game over the last 30 years and identify when, why, and how football started to change, and to assess the consequences.

  6. Consider the two major reviews of Scottish football undertaken in 2010 and reflect on the impact this has had on the game, the achievements since then and what the shortcomings have been.

  7. Take an in-depth look at the governance of Scottish football, including the culture, the institutions, the mind-set, relationships, and the overall anatomy of the game today.

  8. Work out why the game has become so disconnected from the world outside and how the game has become so defensive and dismissive of society playing its part in securing a better future and indeed shunning the very idea of the game being exposed to outside influence and criticism.

  9. Learn lessons from Europe and the us about how modern football and sport is organised and governed. What does success look like and how do we create the conditions in Scotland for more innovation, more enterprise and ultimately more success?

10. Provide a blueprint for the transformation of Scottish football: how can we achieve a greater scrutiny, oversight, and regulation within the game through a shake-up of governance? To what extent should government get involved, as has been threatened by the Westminster Government in relation to the English FA? Is a single body required to run Scottish football in order to provide focus, parity of esteem between club and country and a more effective face to the outside world? Does the current league setup make sense, or is the lack of finance and the fear of change the only reasons for inaction? And, using a quote from another giant of the game, Jock Stein, ‘Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing, sometimes we are inclined to forget that.’ Is it not time for the fans to be represented at every level of the game and become a vital part of the modernisation of football?

This new book challenges and seeks solutions by looking into what can best be described as the anatomy, philosophy, politics and psychology of Scottish football. We need to understand the soul and spirit of this incredible sport, which has left such an indelible mark on our country for nearly 150 years. Through my own early experiences of football and, over a much longer period, my agonizing over the decline of the game, I am reminded of Bill Shankly’s comment, ‘of a game more important than life or death.’

Bedrock Principles for Common Sense Outcomes

We want to see a competitive, healthy and successful game which: attracts the widest possible levels of interest; seeks success at every level; acknowledges the importance of the game to every community in Scotland; is aware of the significant contribution football makes to the improvement of health, wellbeing and fitness of our nation; aspires to be a key part of a revolution in Scottish sport; understands the importance of the game for national pride and the Scotland brand; delivers financial success and sustainability; values the role the game plays in building character, respect, responsibility and confidence across all age groups, different social and economic needs and for both sexes; routinely participates in and qualifies for the final stages of European and World Cup tournaments at all levels and for both sexes; continues to seek success for the club game in Europe; respects and values the enormous contribution being made by fans, supporters and communities throughout Scotland; accepts that no game is an island unto itself and reaches out in a more inclusive and transparent manner to the wider Scotland; takes more responsibility for what happens within the game; recognises, in difficult financial times, that the game should not be dependent to the extent it is, on betting and gambling sponsorship, especially after society and then football have rejected the idea that cigarettes and alcohol should have a role in sport; spells out clearly its abhorrence of bigotry, sectarianism and racism in all its forms and in all locations.

Scottish football can be relevant, realistic, radical and rewarding, but to accomplish this we have to put in place an attitude of mind that lifts heads and seeks new horizons. The game needs to escape from its self-imposed retreat into fortress Hampden, increasingly isolated from critical thinking and an increasingly vocal Scotland wide fan base. The game seems curiously disconnected from the outside world. The club game will continue to tick over. For a supposedly football mad country this surely falls short of what we have experienced in the past or what we can hope for in the future. Let us stop selling ourselves short. Football can add value to country, club, and community, as part of a bigger ambition.

The following chapters, infused and enthused by my own football journey, attempt to explain how this can be done.

Let’s be inspired and take note from the ambition of two of Scotland’s greatest legends;

‘We had a virus that infected everyone at United. It was called winning.’

- Sir Alex Ferguson

‘At Manchester United, we strive for perfection. If we fail, we might just have to settle for excellence.’

- Sir Matt Busby

CHAPTER ONE

Parliament, Pulpit, Politics, Pride And The Queen

MUCH OF MY LIFE has been wrapped up in the game… an entire world in a football. If football means anything, it is about being rich in sentiment, nostalgia and brimming full of memories. At every turn in football these thoughts have been there, sometimes in a small way, sometimes looming large. But there is no doubt in my mind that the game cannot live off memories alone. So before making the case for a renaissance of the game, let’s indulge ourselves a bit.

The Best Football Match in the World

The Real Madrid vs. Eintracht Frankfurt game, when Real won 7–3, has been recognised as the greatest game the world has ever seen. I was there in the crowd but my father, for some inexplicable reason, was sitting in the stand. There were 129,000 people there and what made the game so remarkable was that Eintracht had beaten Rangers 12–4, on aggregate, in the semi-final! Rangers at that time were also a great side. I can still name the Real team. It was like watching the Harlem Globe Trotters – there was nothing they couldn’t do with a ball. Puskas and Di Stefano were scoring all the Real goals. The crowd was initially behind the German team but, by the end of the game, Real enjoyed one of most amazing receptions I have ever seen, so much so, they paraded the European Cup around the stadium to a tumultuous Hampden roar. Not one person left the game at the end of the match. Scotland and Hampden Park was a very special place for this kind of thing to happen.

In 2002, Real Madrid played in another European Cup final at Hampden Park and beat Bayern Leverkusena German side 2–1 in the final. Zinedine Zidane scored one of the greatest goals in world football and I was there to see it. After that, and reflecting on their great win in 1960, the Real team said, ‘Glasgow belonged to them’; a fitting tribute from one of the greatest football teams in the World, to one of the truly great football cities of the world.

The 1960 win was just remarkable football, fantastic ball skills and gripping entertainment. They were just human beings, but nevertheless so talented and gifted. Football is a very simple game, played with the feet but guided by the brain. It shouldn’t be so difficult to replicate!

Jock Stein

I met Jock Stein when I was playing with East Fife against Celtic reserves at Barrowfield in Glasgow in the mid-60s. This was a great honour. He was mingling with the young players as we had a pie and tea after the game. I’m sure he didn’t need to be there on a dreich winters night, but he was. As a young player, there was no greater thrill than meeting one of the giants of your game.

Scotland Abroad

My first and last visit to watch Scotland play in the opening game of the World Cup was in 1998 in Paris, and a date which is now known as our infamous exit from the final stages of international tournaments, as well as a constant reminder of the fact that for 20 years since, our national game has been in decline. Craig Brown had a great run as Scotland manager after succeeding Andy Roxburgh. Both of them contributed to a remarkable run of qualifying for the finals of the World Cup; six times between 1974 and 1998, and reaching the final rounds of the European Championships in 1996 and 1998. This was the high watermark of Scottish international football achievement, reflecting a very different game in Scotland and a level of ambition and self-belief that, over 20 years, has faded along with the remarkable national sentiment and support, which there once was for the national game. My only consolation prize in Paris, was to meet Sean Connery at the game and lament on our defeat at the hands of the mighty Brazil. It would have been a more miserable discussion if we had been able to see into the future and realise that this was the to be the last time in 20 years that we would reach the final stages of any international tournament; a ‘Scotland no more’ moment.

Looking back on Paris, the visit may have been more significant than I had ever envisaged. My first great memory was leaving the Eurostar at the Gare Du Nord station on the day of the game. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was as if I had arrived in Queen Street station, Glasgow and exited onto George Square. But this was Paris. ‘Here’s tae us whas like us’ was never truer. There were thousands of Scottish flags draped over everything and anything. I absorbed the scene with tears and immense pride. Scotland was here to do battle supported by the greatest football fans in the world and an incredible demonstration of national pride and patriotic fervour.

This was 1998 and ‘The Scotland Act’ was about to receive the Royal assent in autumn. I had been handling the passage of the Bill in the House of Commons. For the first time, in nearly 300 years, Scotland was one year away from having its own parliament in Edinburgh. It’s always easy to read too much into events, but was this part of a massive transfer of football patriotism into political nationalism?; expressing national pride and patriotism, no longer on the badge on a blue football strip and the hallowed Hampden turf, but in a much more expansive embrace of political ambition for national recognition and identity. This wasn’t the cause of our post–1998 decline, but since then, Scotland has changed. Our society is different and maybe interest, pride and sentiment in the game, has found other outlets.

I also think that our obsession with the importance of the international matches against England was ultimately a statement about the historic tensions and animosities between the two countries. It is worth remembering that these matches were played every year from 1872 until 1989. This was not healthy for Scotland. These games became more of an auld enemy distraction where victory over England became a short-term morale boost, and not the best way to measure our performance as a footballing nation. Rerunning the battle of Culloden didn’t have much appeal for me. Perhaps the expressed dislike of the English, sometimes fun and sometimes deadly serious, was swallowed up instead, as part of the nationalism and populism of the devolution years.

Faith and the Fans

My first visit to Hampden Park was in 1955 when I was seven years of age. It was with my grandfather to see Billy Graham, the famous American Evangelist. I have few recollections of the religiosity of the occasion but remember vividly, the awesome size of the stadium and the atmosphere of the crowd. In my early years, religion and football had many encounters and it was always strange to think that my grandfather and I shared the same club, and that I eventually played in the same position on the park, 57 years apart!

My Old Club, Better Days

My old club has had a remarkable history. East Fife won the Scottish League Cup three times in four years during the late ‘40s, and was one of only two clubs from the second tier of Scottish football to win the Scottish Cup. Their remarkable Scottish cup run attracted an astonishing 400,000 fans. Using current home game attendances at Bayview each season, the club would need 45 years to attract a comparable figure. How times have changed. But this is what is inspiring about the game; club achievement, history, pride, identity, commitment, loyalty, passion and often an affection that trickles down the years. Six special train-loads of East Fife supporters were amongst the 97,710 fans at Hampden on the Wednesday night replay.

When I was a young player with East Fife, I had tea in Paisley with John Sneddon, who was the club captain when they lifted the trophy at Hampden. The meeting was arranged by East Fife’s manager, Jimmy Bonthrone. What a privilege it was to see and handle the medal that he had won and worn on that night when they arrived back with the cup to an ecstatic welcome in Methil. My grandparents were there, cheering and soaking up what must have been an incredible atmosphere. My legacy from that night was two very thin tumblers with the result and team name inscribed on them, which were passed down to me by grandparents.

Best Player Ever

Watching on television, 17-year-old Pele play for the first time was also a great inspiration. In the final of the World Cup in 1958, Brazil defeated home nation Sweden 5-2, and Pele scored twice. Once again, incredible skills were on display and I was just in awe of the intricacies of passing, spectacular individual ball skills and the speed and decisiveness of wave after wave of attacking football. This was a new era unfolding with Pele and the Brazilians continuing to dominate world football and the World Cup.

Her Majesty the Queen

Public service and politics have given me unparalleled opportunities to visit places and meet people, a lot of which I would not have been able to do in normal jobs. In this context, meeting Her Majesty the Queen was both a privilege and a remarkable experience. The queen is a fascinating person to meet; Head of State, monarch, diplomat and skilled politician, with wisdom that reflects her long period in office and experiences that are probably unique in world affairs. I have met her on a number of occasions, as a minister and as First Minister.

Prime Ministers and First Ministers are invited to Balmoral to spend a night and have dinner. For a working-class boy from Methil, this scenario was, to put it mildly, daunting and challenging. This sets the scene in 2001 when my wife and I were invited to visit. Leaving aside much of the evening’s activities, the dinner became focussed on football. I was sitting beside the Queen at dinner with Sophie Wessex on my other side. Not long into the dinner my pager – no sophisticated iPhones or other digital devices at that time – went off. I just ignored it so as not to cause embarrassment or inconvenience to Her Majesty, but it just kept buzzing and I kept ignoring it. Eventually her Majesty leaned over and said, ‘I think that is your pager’. I thanked her and kept ignoring it. Leaning over again she said, ‘I think you should answer and find out what it is’. So I came clean and said that Scotland were playing Belgium in a World Cup qualifier and my staff have been trying to get the scores. This having failed, she said, ‘Philip scores, please’. The prince then asks one of the butlers to get the scores. Some minutes later, he returned. He said, ‘Maam, there is good news and bad news, England won but Scotland lost.” Content, but sad that Scotland wouldn’t be going on to the finals, I resumed my meal. I hoped this was the end of the story, but the Queen had one final comment up her sleeve. After a few more minutes of eating, she leaned over again and said, ‘Well First Minister, that’s just the way it goes!’ Once again, the beautiful game had intervened but mercifully hadn’t caused too many royal waves. The queen was calm and gracious, and I was just pleased and relieved to have arrived at the point in the dinner where I could retire and sip a whisky with the Duke of Edinburgh. I did not dare ask the queen if she had any interest in football.

Pope John Paul II

Good cartoonists are worth their weight in gold. In 2000, I received an invitation to go to Rome with Secretary of State, John Reid and Cardinal Winning to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Scots College in Rome. We had an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. I am not a member of any faith or church but I do have enormous respect for such a remarkable church leader and world statesman.

Being in the Vatican, hearing him reply to young people representing the United Nations and speaking in 15 different languages was not just a privilege but also an extraordinary example of presence and towering humility. In his presence you sensed that this was one of the most significant figures of modern times and a great leader. It was invigorating and inspiring. Though I was not aware of it at the time, this was a small piece of history because it was the first time that the head of the Scottish Government had met the Pontiff since the reformation 500 years before.

Some years after this visit, I was in and about Hampden conducting my review of Scottish football for the SFA, when I noticed a cartoon on one of walls near the downstairs café. It was very funny and gave a commentary on my personal audience with the Pope. His holiness is in his splendid papal chair and I am bending with his hand clasped in mine. The caption shows the Pope saying to me, ‘Delighted to meet you First Minister, but I am a bit worried about the state of your old football team, East Fife’. Once again, when you’re associated with football, it goes everywhere with you. John Reid is, of course, a Celtic fan and past Chairman of the Club, so he had no such problems with Pope John Paul II: our press can be both creative and funny!

Politicians and Football

You can sometimes tell if a politician is interested in football from the way they read their newspapers; from back to front! This was certainly the case in the tea-room of the House of Commons where many MPs (mainly Scottish) would often combine eating an unhealthy, but noble, bacon roll with a perusal of the latest football news. Gordon Brown and the late Donald Dewar were students of the game and were back-to-front readers. They were very knowledgeable about the game, often surprisingly so.

Gordon Brown figures prominently in my recollections of football and politics. Before the World Cup in 1990, Scotland was involved in qualifying matches and as a group of Scottish MPs at Westminster, we were keen to watch the Scottish matches being televised. Much to our annoyance, one of our games was being televised in Scotland but not in London. It was disappointment all around until Gordon Brown pulled of a miracle. The live feed for the game was only going to Scotland direct from Europe, but with the help of his brothers in the media, he was able to get the broadcasting feed directed into the House of Commons. It therefore became the only place in the UK, outside of Scotland, where this game could be seen. All of the Scottish MPs, and even some English MPs, could watch the game in one of the committee rooms with wine, beer and sandwiches thrown in.

Politics, football and community have always been linked in all parts of Scotland. Not surprising then that in the years before devolution, our national game should still be an important part of our life at Westminster where passion, patriotism and pride in the game were as strong as in any part of Scotland.

This next sport and football story starts in Kirkcaldy. Early one Saturday morning I received a phone call from Gordon Brown. He asked if Caryn, my wife, and I would like to join him in Kirkcaldy and meet some American friends from Harvard University. We accepted and arrived at the Beveridge Hotel, Kirkcaldy, near to lunchtime. As soon as we arrived, Gordon suggested that he and I jump into his car, complete with security detachment, and drive to Cowdenbeath. The club had been promoted and there was to be a photo call as the new league flag was unfurled on the pitch. This was a whirlwind tour at break-neck speed including photos, fans, club directors and tea. This was a chance for Gordon to share in a great day for the fans in a former mining community, one which had seen better and more prosperous days but still had a great community spirit and sense of solidarity, of which football was a vital part. We headed back to Kirkcaldy but, little did I know, the day was only starting!

The former Prime Minister and Chancellor, after arriving back in Kirkcaldy, asked me if I had any ideas about where he could take his friends so they could see something of Fife. I was informed they were only here for a few hours so I came up with the idea that we pile into the two Range Rovers with security and escort, and head to St Andrews and the Old Course Hotel where, from the fourth floor Road Hole lounge, there are magnificent views of the Old Course, the home of golf and an iconic point of pilgrimage for all Americans. Sitting in the lounge at the Old Course, I thought mission accomplished but this wasn’t the end.

One of Gordon’s friends had a slowly unfolding but inspirational idea. She commented on the fact that the film, Chariots of Fire, had been filmed on the sands of St. Andrews and suggested a visit. We piled back into our transport and drove to the sands. At this point, my wife decided to stay with the security detail and so Gordon, his friends and myself braced ourselves for a walk along the sands. His friend’s wife then suggested we run, albeit at a slow pace, along part of the sands. This was challenging enough but then she insisted that I whistle the Chariots of Fire theme as we ran along the golden sands! Of course, I agreed and the scene was surreal. The four of us ran along the sands for a few hundred yards accompanied by my special rendering of the whistling version of ‘Chariots of Fire’, never performed anywhere in the free world and hopefully not being viewed, or listened to, by any human being on this stretch of beautiful Fife coastline. Our guests were delighted and Gordon was intrigued. I was musing about my first solo whistling record contract from this unique performance.

Now for the post-script. I was hoping against hope that no one had witnessed our adventure. It was a cold day and the beach appeared to be deserted with few signs of life behind the sand-dunes. The next day, a phone call from the Daily Record diminished my faith in human nature. The reporter curiously inquired as to whether the former Prime Minister and First Minister had taken leave of their senses, or had it just been a remarkable piece of publicity seeking. I assured him that neither was true. We laughed and I said it was just a spectacular and enjoyable piece of fun, and so it was. We had been spotted by a family from Lanarkshire who had understandably passed it on to the Record. Predictably, but in a sympathetic and funny depiction, the Record had a page three spread showing Dr Brown and I, dressed in Olympic athletics gear, burning the calories on the famous beach. The fact that so many people watched the film and remember the location it was filmed, is a great tribute to the real star, Eric Liddell, and to Scotland.

On a sadder note, Gordon Brown and I attended the funeral of one of Scotland’s famous footballing sons, Jim Baxter in Glasgow. Born in Hill of Beath, Fife, Jim played for Raith Rovers before joining Rangers, and died in 2001. The family had asked us to attend and I was privileged and honoured to pay my respects to one of Scotland’s greatest talents. Sitting in the Cathedral in Glasgow, it was easy to remember his finest hour against the ‘auld enemy’ at Wembley in 1967, when Scotland beat the world champions. Jim, with a breathtaking display of bravado and skill, tortured England, including Nobby Stiles (the hard man of all hard men) and gave a personal and brilliant interpretation of the beautiful game. A statue honouring Jim Baxter was unveiled in 2003, just a few yards from where he started to play. At the ceremony Gordon Brown described him as having played with, ‘authority, athleticism and majesty’. Nobody has said it better.

Glory in Dublin

Despite the warring factions in politics and our love of tribalism, our Holyrood Parliament has another side to it, an all-party football team. Enough cooperation existed to put together a team and a particularly memorable game for me was when we played the Dail Eireann, the Irish Parliament, in Dublin in 2002. This was an international match that ended in a draw and was conducted in a tough, but good-natured, Celtic way. I had always envisaged a bigger role for Scotland on the world stage, though I never envisaged the Scottish parliamentary football team as being one of my priorities to further that aim!

I was thrilled, in my mid-fifties, to receive the man of the match award: I was merely content to stand up after the last ball had been kicked. My teammates were indulging me in some sentiment and nostalgia, and for my past services to the beautiful game. I was grateful for their gesture but in truth, the man of the match should have been Tommy Sheridan. While totally at odds with his politics, I was impressed with his skills, energy, and strength in mid-field where we partnered up. The Holyrood team was also packed out with other world-class stars such as Dennis Canavan, Kenny MacAskill and now Presiding Officer, Ken Macintosh.

The Guinness Brewery in Dublin was the venue for our post-match reception, with no complaints from anyone. Ireland is a fascinating country with a great sense of history and now, modernity. There is also less materialism with a much more spiritual make-up, and as a nation, they have a much soul, which we can learn from. It is also worth reminding ourselves of their recent international football history, which has eclipsed Scotland’s lack of achievement. But again, their population is smaller than ours. These comparisons with other smaller countries speak volumes about our decline on the international stage. Accepting the fact that their league structure bears no comparison to ours, is it a benefit that they have no competing priorities to the tasks of finding young Irish talent and investing both spirit, and finance, into their international game?

The problems of Scottish football may manifest themselves on the pitch at Hampden and at 42 other club venues throughout Scotland, but they don’t start there. Instead, Scotland’s problems are concentrated in the institutions, the culture and out-dated mind-sets of a game that increasingly looks inward for solace and inspiration and, in doing so, is cutting itself off from the very people that can help breathe new life into it. It is about ambition. It is about our DNA. It is about self-belief. It is about wakening up to what small population countries – Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Iceland – with wider horizons are telling us, year after year after year.

Disaster at Wembley

Westminster also has a football team comprising members of the House of Commons and yes, the House of Lords. One of our first matches, in the late 1980s, was held at Crystal Palace’s ground at Selhurst Park, on one of the very early all-weather pitches. Tackling was a nightmare. It was like playing on a Brillo pad. So after a few tackles and chunks of skin lying around, I quickly realised that ducking physical contact and staying on my feet was the only way to survive. Thankfully our modern three and four G pitches are more player-friendly.

My greatest and most painful recollection was when we played at the home of English football, Wembley Stadium, against the press or lobby correspondents from the parliament. I always dreamed of playing at Wembley and this was my opportunity, although playing against newspaper men was a bit of a let down. On the bright side, it was maybe an opportunity to settle old scores with journalists who had been harshly critical of me.

We were first in the famous dressing rooms, then we walked up the tunnel where the ground staff had kindly turned on the recording of the Wembley roar (a whimper compared with ours at Hampden) and we entered the great empty stadium. Without being insulting to England, I could only think of that memorable day in 1967 when we beat the world champions and Jim Baxter had the time of his life.

But then disaster hit. Not long into the game, I was injured and had to be carried off the hallowed turf. My mind was trying to process how this could be and I thought, ‘why me?’ I was probably the only person having the time of his life as an ex-professional and football obsessive. It provided a good laugh for my parliamentary colleagues and much merriment amongst the press corp. The next day, the Daily Mirror had a piece and three photographs detailing my misfortune, which was both funny and sympathetic:

Some people think it’s all over… it is now. Football is a funny old game. One minute, Glenrothes MP was in full flight as a team from the House of Commons took on the press at Wembley Stadium. The next, the former East Fife star was being helped from the pitch by some of his Parliamentary colleagues after straining a muscle. The MPs lost the game 4-2 but Henry said, ‘It was an unforgettable experience playing on the famous turf.’

I was conscious that as politician and a Scot in a pickle amidst the hostile environs of England’s home of football, my press colleagues would live off that for a long time. The game at Wembley did bring a human face to the usually savage and unforgiving world of Westminster. Football has that reach.

Disaster and Tragedy

I remember as if it was yesterday, the Munich air disaster of the 6th of February 1958, when 23 people died. Many of the Manchester United first team, including the brilliant young player, Duncan Edwards, whose full potential had still to be realised, where sadly lost. Sitting in my bedroom aged ten, on that cold winters night, the news came over the radio and I felt heart broken and sad that people in my world of football had so tragically died. I have remained interested in the club ever since and there has always been a sentimental attachment, reinforced by the Scottish dimension of outstanding managers, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson.

Football is, of course, a hugely emotional and sentimental game, filled with memories and dreams but often tragedies and grief too. There have been more disasters in football than in any other sport. It is the most popular sport on the planet and will have therefore have its share of tragic events, but the horrific nature of some of them does mark football out.

On 29 May 1985 at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, 39 people lost their lives and 600 were injured when a riot took place involving Juventus and Liverpool fans. On 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, 96 people lost their lives and 766 were injured during a semi-final of the FA cup between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest. On 11 May 1985 at Bradford, 56 people lost their lives and 250 were injured during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City.