Belief could deliver ’67 all over again
SCOTLAND legend Jim McCalliog believes a victory over England in the upcoming Wembley showdown can re-energize football north of the border.
The former midfielder scored the winning goal against England on his debut in 1967.
That game is hailed as one of Scotland’s greatest-ever performances.
It featured Jim Baxter doing keepie-uppie on the Wembley pitch as the World Cup holders were humbled in the 3-2 win for Bobby Brown’s team.
McCalliog looks at the current team and doesn’t see the gallus streak that made Baxter and his team-mates such a formidable outfit.
He said: “There’s no doubt that we have lost that.
“We’re searching, as most countries are, for a hero.
“The only way we are going to come out of this dip is if we beat England a week on Friday. That would give us a big confidence boost.
“Can we beat England? I think we can. We had that attitude 50 years ago – we believed we could upset the odds, even on their own turf.
“They might have been World champions but our feeling was ‘so what?’.
“Gordon Strachan’s men will also have to think like that.”
Jim is now the organiser of the Legends of Football series and the first one features Graeme Souness and Joe Jordan in conversation at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow on Thursday.
McCalliog was only 20-years-old and playing for Sheffield Wednesday when he got his first cap for Scotland at Wembley
The legends of the day were a huge help to him.
He said: “I looked around and saw Law, Baxter, Bremner, Lennox, MacKinnon and Greig – all fabulous players. So why shouldn’t I be confident?.
“Jim Baxter put his arm around me and said: “you’ll be okay, son, we’ll look after you”.
“In all my time in football I don’t think I ever met anyone quite as gallus as Slim Jim.
“And he did look after me as he promised. He passed to me now and again – when he got a wee bit tired!”