WORLD CUP 1998 20 YEARS ON
I started my career at Meadowbank and there I was walking out next to Ronaldo SAYS DARREN JACKSON
PERHAPS the sense of tranquility he enjoyed that day in Paris stemmed from a belief that someone up there was watching out for him.
Of all the Scotland players who stalked the surface in the Stade de France clad in their kilts before reverting to their dark blue battle togs for the opener with reigning champions Brazil 20 years ago, Darren Jackson’s personal story was easily the most conspicuous.
A printer by day in his formative years as a striker with Meadowbank Thistle, the fact he would spend the day eyeballing Rivaldo, Ronaldo et al was, in itself, like an excerpt from a comic-book story.
But the fact he had overcome serious illness just six months earlier and become the beneficiary of another’s great misfortune simply added to the sense that this was all somehow pre-ordained.
It’s possibly no bad thing that the moment of clarity arrived just as the greatest show on earth was about to begin.
‘The memory that stands out is standing in the tunnel as we prepared to walk out,’ Jackson recalled.
‘I was always last out — as was Ronaldo. I remember seeing him out of the corner of my eye. That’s when it hit me. I had started out at Meadowbank as a part-timer. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought then that one day I would be standing beside a player like that on the day of the opening game.’
Nine months previously, you could have named your price on such a happening. Signed from Hibernian by Wim Jansen as Celtic set out to stop Rangers winning 10-in-a-row, Jackson was struck down by hydrocephalus — an accumulation of spinal fluid in the brain — that required immediate surgery. So serious was the situation that Celtic spoke in the frankest of terms about their obligations towards him in the event that he would never play again. At that juncture, the World Cup seemed the stuff of fantasy.
‘Jock Brown (then Celtic’s general manager) told me right away that I could pack it in and that I’d be well looked after,’ Jackson revealed.
‘But I’d waited 31 years to get to one of the biggest clubs in the world. I wasn’t going to give it up. I knew the operation was going to make me better. At that moment Scotland wasn’t in my thoughts. I just wanted to get myself right and get back into the Celtic side first of all.
‘But deep down I knew if I could get back into the squad I’d give myself a chance of Scotland.
‘Craig (Brown) would never have taken me out of loyalty. What I’d done in the past didn’t matter. I had to be fit but I knew if I could sort that out he’d consider me.’
Jackson defied all medical expectations. Within three months he was back in contention at Celtic but his illness had necessitated the signing of Harald Brattbakk, meaning he found himself peripheral to Jansen’s plans.
‘I started the season in the team. If I hadn’t needed the operation, I’d have backed myself to have stayed there,’ he reflected. ‘But after my operation, they brought Harald in. I then didn’t play as much as I felt I should have.’
For all his affable nature, it’s hard to dispute Jackson’s view on Brown as a manager who made decisions without a semblance of sentiment.
Ally McCoist and Stuart McCall, both mainstays of the previous campaigns, failed to make the final cut. Had the ill-fated Gary McAllister not been injured, Jackson might well have joined them.
As it was, both he and the great Rivaldo wore the No 10 jerseys on the day the entire world seemed to stand still and tune in.
‘I was a very lucky man,’ Jackson said. ‘If Gary hadn’t been injured, he would have played and been No 10. I actually still felt Billy McKinlay would play ahead of me but I wasn’t going to argue.’
No one could question Jackson’s contribution during a campaign that encompassed the sublime, the ridiculous and everything in between.
It had started with a point away to eventual group winners Austria, continued with a win in Latvia — in which Jackson scored — then lurched into farce in Estonia when our opponents ignored the rescheduled kick-off time only to be granted a replay by FIFA.
‘There was drama at every turn,’ Jackson said. ‘From the game where we beat Sweden at Ibrox to the game that never was in Estonia, it had it all.’
The infamous episode in Tallinn, compounded by the fact the replayed game in Monaco the following February ended in stalemate, had the potential to derail a campaign that was gathering momentum. To the credit of the squad, it was treated as a minor bump in the road.
‘As players, you don’t actually think that what happened was a bad omen,’ Jackson added. ‘You just move on to the next game. It became irrelevant because we qualified. But it was utterly bizarre.’
A degree of revenge was had on Estonia with a two-goal win on home soil with Austria despatched by the same margin. A defeat away to Sweden marked out the trip to face Belarus in Minsk in June 1997 as being pivotal.
‘Craig was an exceptional coach but he was clever in things he’d say just before a game or at half-time,’ Jackson added.
‘I recall against Belarus, I
had been in the play-offs for Hibs against airdrie at the end of the season and felt physically done. In the first half, we just did not play. Just as we went out for the second half, he just said: “guys — this 45 minutes will take you to the World cup”. twenty-odd years down the line that’s stuck in my mind.
‘We went out, I got brought down for a penalty and Gary Mcallister scored.’
as a consequence of that 1-0 win, a 4-1 home victory over Belarus and an epic 2-0 win over latvia at celtic Park was enough to ensure Scotland would be at the party.
Jackson believes the fact so many of the final squad were celtic players still buzzing from winning the title on the last day of the season added to the sense of self-assurance in the camp.
‘there were seven of us,’ he said. ‘So of course it helped. So many of us had just won a historic title so we were on such a high. But you’ve got to look at the other players — John collins, colin Hendry, colin calderwood, etc. and look at the guys who were not even there — ally Mccoist, andy Goram, Stuart Mccall and Gary Mcallister. all were top, top players who were playing regular European football. that shows how strong the squad was.’ Brown’s great strength, Jackson believes, was forging an extraordinary spirit among the squad. ‘there weren’t really mobile phones then, so no one sat glued to them,’ he recalled. ‘We all sat together and played cards. craig created a club spirit. You could have sat at any table, roomed with anybody. the squad was so tight and close.’ their togetherness was exemplified by the choice of kilts as the garb for the day and the fact the matter remained within the four walls of the dressing room. ‘no one knew apart from the squad,’ Jackson explained. ‘My family didn’t know. craig didn’t even tell the SFa in case we were made to wear suits. You couldn’t keep that a secret now. Social media would kill it. It was wonderful. It made you feel so proud. all the Brazilian fans were looking at these men walking around with skirts on.’ What transpired scarcely needs retelling but the record books show that cesar Sampaio headed Brazil into a fifth-minute lead. dark thoughts of an annihilation briefly entered the mind.
‘that could easily have happened,’ Jackson said. ‘We were playing the best team in the world with the best player in their team in Ronaldo.
‘I was surprised how calm I was on the day. You tell yourself to enjoy it but that becomes harder when they score after a few minutes and you think “here we go”. So I think we deserved a lot of credit for the way we played. We showed a resilience.’
John collins’ penalty conversion may have sparked the most magnificent half-time celebration in history but tom Boyd’s own goal with 16 minutes remaining made for a more muted evening.
‘For me, I think it’s the biggest game Scotland will ever play in,’ Jackson opined. ‘It was the opening match in the World cup and we were playing the holders. It could only have been bigger had we played them in the final.’
as the class of ’98 gathered for a reunion dinner in Glasgow last night, the stories will doubtless have been told long into the night.
there is, though, something gloomy about all our yesteryears being toasted as Russia gears up for its opening game with Saudi arabia on thursday.
‘I’m like any Scotsman,’ Jackson said. ‘I’m desperate to take my boy to a World cup as a supporter. can I see it happening soon? absolutely.
‘I’m lucky enough to be working with the Under-19s and I’ve been doing a little bit with the 15s. I’m seeing players coming through who will play at a high level.
‘do I think there are players coming through who can take the all-important extra step? 100 per cent.’
FOR more information on events by The Longest Forty, including An Evening with Paul Gascoigne in Glasgow in September, go to www. thelongestforty.com