Leon Wobschall: Rivalry still in the blood, says Lorimer as ‘auld enemy’ collide

THE next instalment of an age-old footballing rivalry will be written at Celtic Park tomorrow evening when Scotland face the ‘auld enemy’, England – and many in Yorkshire will take more than a passing interest.
Davie Hay and captain Billy Bremner celebrating after the Scotland v England international at Hampden in May 1974.Davie Hay and captain Billy Bremner celebrating after the Scotland v England international at Hampden in May 1974.
Davie Hay and captain Billy Bremner celebrating after the Scotland v England international at Hampden in May 1974.

Head down the A1 to Leeds and the decorated English and Scottish footballing contingent who graced Elland Road during Leeds United’s golden years of the 60s and 70s will be taking a keen interest on what happens in the east end of Glasgow.

Expect a wager or two to take place, but it remains to be seen who is smiling when Leeds’ greats next meet at a function or on the golf course.

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In the blue corner are the likes of Leeds icons Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray, while on the opposing side are fellow legends such as Allan Clarke, Mick Jones and Trevor Cherry.

Scotland versus England matches were firmly part of the footballing landscape in their heyday and it was not just May blossom associated with late Spring, but also fiercely-competitive, no-holds-barred contests between the British Isles’ two leading footballing nations.

The memories are plentiful and vast. Who can forget Paul Scholes’s deadly double on the last occasion the two combatants met at Hampden Park in 1999 in a Euro 2000 qualifying play-off with Doncaster-born Kevin Keegan leading the Three Lions out that day?

A goal from a Geordie, Don Hutchinson, enabled the Tartan Army to triumph 1-0 in the second leg at Wembley, but it was England, who had their passports at the ready the following summer.

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Fortunes have ebbed and flowed since the footballing nations locked horns in November 1872, in a 0-0 draw, recorded as the first official match between the two football associations.

Tuesday’s match, coming 142 years after the first meeting, will be the 112th time that England and Scotland having faced each other, with the record close, England having won 46 times to Scotland’s 41 with 24 draws.

Aside from that famous play-off of autumn, 1999, the only other competitive meeting in the past 25 years came during the group stages of Euro 1996 when Paul Gascoigne bamboozled Colin Hendry before firing home a magical strike, the cue to a lavish ‘dentist’s chair’ celebration in a 2-0 Wembley win.

It was a day when Rotherham lad Dave Seaman made himself a hero for beating away a penalty from Gary McAllister.

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On plenty of other occasions, however, it is the Scots who have been the ones smiling.

No self-respecting Scot of a certain age will forget their heroes beating England in the capital in April, 1967 in a memorable 3-2 triumph which saw ‘Slim’ Jim Baxter – playing south of the border for Sunderland – play an impromptu game of keepie-uppie as the world champions suffered their first defeat since winning the World Cup.

What about the delirious events of June 1977, when ‘Ally’s Army’ prevailed 2-1 at Wembley, thanks to a crashing header from Leeds defender Gordon McQueen and close-range effort from Kenny Dalglish?

In many respects, that 60s and 70s era represented the high water mark on the England-Scotland rivalry.

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Whereas once most leading club sides south of the border had a fair few Scotsman among their number, now there are hardly any due to an influx of overseas talent.

It was somewhat different at Leeds in the days of Don Revie, for whom May 24, 1975, represented arguably the finest hour of his spell as England manager with goals from captain Gerry Francis (2), Kevin Beattie, Colin Bell and David Johnson seeing them trounce the Scots 5-1 in the gone but not forgotten Home International Championship.

Lorimer recalls how Revie famously once organised a five-a-side match in the early 1970s between his English and Scottish international contingent. It did not last long before the United manager called an early end to proceedings. Not a good idea..

Lorimer said: “Within a few minutes, Don realised he was making a big mistake as the tackles were flying in and he had to cancel straightaway or else he knew there would be trouble!

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“Our team alone had six or seven and all the big clubs such as Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United had at least two or three Scottish players.

“So the day-to-day rivalry was there. It probably is not there now and there is only the odd club with a Scottish player but I am looking forward to the game as most people are.”

Lorimer has mixed memories of the fixture, having famously scored an own goal when he deflected a shot from team-mate Allan Clarke past Bobby Clark in a 5-0 win for the English at a snowy Hampden Park in February 1973 in an SFA centenary match.

He is much more inclined to remember the events of May the following year when the World Cup bound Scots secured a sweet 2-0 victory, thanks to strikes from Leeds striker Joe Jordan and a Colin Todd own goal.

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Lorimer said: “I do remember that one as we were strong at that time and a really good side.

“The pride we had, of course, was that England weren’t going to the World Cup and we really were giving the English lads plenty of stick down at Elland Road.

“But the big thing was we had to make sure we beat them in that game as we were better than them at that particular time. There was a lot of attention as we wanted to go off to Germany by having a win over England under our belt. It is what it is; the old enemy.

“I also remember the 5-0 game. It was an icy night and England had a great side. I scored an own goal and it wasn’t a day to remember.

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“Before a European final once we were playing in a Scotland versus England game and I remember Don saying to Billy and Norman: ‘Don’t you be steaming into any stupid tackles because we have got the European final.’

“In the first five minutes, who was the first tackle between but Norman and Billy and both trainers were on the pitch because they could not resist a tackle and whacked each other right up in the air.

“You cannot tell a Scotsman or Englishman when those games are going on not to do this or that. It is in the blood!”