Night that Jim’s Higher German came in handy
A YOUNG Jim Pearson spent 1969 pursuing his Higher grade in German before signing his first professional contract with St Johnstone.
His studiousness paid off in spectacular style two years later as Saints, spearheaded by their bilingual teenage sensation, dumped Hamburg out of the UEFA Cup.
Saints’ performance in their first- ever European tie stunned the football world.
But among the most- flabbergasted was Hamburg’s German international centre-half, Willi Schulz.
Schulz – a defeated 1966 World Cup finalist – wasn’t on the park on September 15, 1971, as Pearson struck Saints’ goal in a 2-1 first leg defeat in Germany.
At a packed Muirton Park, Hamburg’s famous stopper was back in the team – and tasked with shackling the Perth side’s 18-year-old striker.
Schulz failed, allowing Pearson to notch his second goal of the tie in an emphatic 3-0 win for St Johnstone.
The German defender simply couldn’t cope with his young opponent’s quick feet.
But Pearson reckons Schulz was even more shocked by his sharp tongue.
“That tie still sticks out as something very special,” said the now 64-year-old.
“I had only got into the St Johnstone team the year before at the age of 17, and I had been very lucky.
“For the European draw, The Sunday Post actually got us all huddled together around a
Jim Pearson in action for the Saints. transistor radio for a photograph, and I remember when Hamburg came up, there was a big cheer.
“They were a massive team at the time, with five or six German internationalists.
“I was fortunate enough to score in the first leg after John Lambie laid it on a plate for me. But in the second game, boss Willie Ormond put me on the bench.
“Henry Hall scored in the first half, then got injured and I came on to find myself playing directly againstWilli Schulz, who played forWest Germany at Wembley when the other lot won the World Cup in 1966!
“Not long after I came on, he had a go at me, in German obviously, but I was just out of school and I’d got my Higher in German, so I managed to answer back in his own language!
“I called him an old man – ‘Alter mann!’ – and he was absolutely shocked. It was hilarious.
“He started roaring back at me: ‘Was ist das? Ein Schottische Mann Deutsche sprechen?’ He was giving it all that stuff.
“He couldn’t believe that a Jock could talk a bit of the old Deutsch! But that’s football, you always try to be a bit smart with the one-liners – in any language!”
Having dispatched Hamburg, Saints, went on to knock out Vasas Budapest in the second round before falling to former Yugoslavian powerhouse, Zeljeznicar.
As if the 5-1 defeat dished out in Sarajevo wasn’t bad enough, Saints came close to disaster when their flight home was forced into an emergency landing immediately after taking-off.
The young Pearson took it in his stride at the time, but looking back he sees things differently.
“What happened was, when we took off, the wings of the plane iced up and we had to land straight away,” he said.
“I was so young I didn’t understand it all, but I always remember the pilot being taken off the plane,- shaking, so that tells you something.
“I also remember the television back home had reported it as St Johnstone having had trouble with their aircraft and my mother was worried.
“It wasn’t covered fully, because we actually got back up in the same plane and eventually got away safely.
“But when you think about what could have happened, it’s terrible – you just don’t think at the time.”
Pearson, now retired and living in Newcastle, still meets up with his 1971/72 team-mates in October every year, when the group take in a St Johnstone fixture at McDiarmid Park.