I can’t wait to take on the Auld Enemy again
WHEN I first played against Scotland at Wembley in 1981, it was the era in which it seemed there were about 80,000 Scots at Wembley and just a smattering of England fans.
The old Home Internationals, when we played Scotland every season, were a match my generation grew up on. And which a generation of Scots treated as a weekend to take over London.
After the FA Cup final, it felt like the next most important game of the year because — and younger readers may need to sit down and take deep breaths at this point — those were the only two games a season which were televised live.
I remember walking out at Wembley in front of that Tartan Army. I also remember how I watched a few years before as they invaded the pitch and smashed up the goalposts in 1977. As England players, that riled us. Seeing our stadium full of Scots drove us on and made us want to win more.
It didn’t help in 1981. We lost 1-0! But in 1986, shortly before the World Cup finals, I scored in the 2-1 win at Wembley.
Next Friday’s match will be a little different, being a qualifying game with points at stake and with Gareth Southgate and Gordon Strachan both under pressure for very different reasons.
But the sense of occasion and history are undeniable. I’m already looking forward to it.