Dare to hope that a little Gemmill magic touches the team again

Archie Gemmill celebrates after netting the winning goal for Scotland against the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup

The man behind me on the bus said he had lost all hope of equalising in the game when Germany scored the fourth goal, and I quite see his point. It’s the youngsters I feel for. They still hope. But we’ve been here before.

There are those of us who recall Ally’s Army heading to the Argentine in 1978. World Cup mania seized the nation. Andy Cameron even got a hit record out of it. “We’re on the march with Ally’s Army” was a jukebox favourite that summer, although for my money the B-side was the track to hear.

“Ah want tae be a punk rocker” was a stone cold banger of a tune, including the classic chorus “Ah want tae be a punk rocker but ma mammy willnae let me/she says if Ahm a punk she’ll throw me oot and hit me”. Now come on. Have you ever seen a better use of Scots? These days that lyricist would get a grant from one of those language quangos, and good luck to them I say.

That World Cup started with a game against Peru. We were confident of success. After all, we had that chart-topping tune to belt out, and with Seventies swagger we asked who were these guys anyway? The guys who were going to inflict a 3-1 defeat on us, that’s who. At least it was a Scot who scored the single goal.

We didn’t do much better against Iran. A draw. And then we faced the Netherlands, true titans of football. Hope drained away. The nation groaned, but got the Tennent’s in anyway.

It was glorious. Eleven Scottish men went full-on giant killers. 3-2 to Scotland, with Archie Gemmill’s incredible heart-pounding goal going straight into legend. It’s still considered one of the greatest in any World Cup competition. Even I remember it. Our entire house shook. Heck, the uproar in Scotland must have registered 2.9 on the Richter Scale.

The team we beat went onto the final, losing to Argentina.

C’mon, we drew against Switzerland. Let’s dare to hope that a little Gemmill magic touches the team again.

Dare to hope that a little Gemmill magic touches the team again - Susan Morrison