The night Stuart’s lucky underpants let him down
After his penalty-kick heroics against Coleraine on Thursday night, Motherwell keeper, Trevor Carson, will be hoping for a quieter time of it against Aberdeen this afternoon.
And certainly quieter than one of his predecessors between the sticks for the Fir Park club endured 41 years ago.
The Lanarkshire club travelled north to the Granite City on the evening of March 26, 1979, with the Dons playing their final match before facing Rangers in the League Cup Final five days later.
But any thoughts of the hosts holding back in preparation for Hampden were soon dispelled.
On a torrid night for The Well’s keeper, Stuart Rennie, Aberdeen went on the rampage, with Joe Harper (2), Steve Archibald (2), John McMaster, Dom Sullivan, Gordon Strachan and Duncan Davidson all finding the net.
When asked if that defeat six decades ago sticks in his mind, quick as a flash, Rennie, now 73, replies “8-0? Too right I remember it!
“It might sound a well-worn cliche, but, honestly, everything they hit that night went in.
“And my feelings of not being totally responsible for the size of the defeat was backed up by my opposite number that night, Bobby Clark.
“At full-time, he said to me: ‘If it hadn’t been for you, Stuart, it would have been more’.
The result was symptomatic of a season that saw Well finishing bottom of the table, and relegated to the First Division.
Their form led to manager, Roger Hynd, being sacked and replaced by the effervescent
Ally MacLeod, but he couldn’t prevent the slide out of the Premier League.
It also spelled the end of Stuart’s time at Fir Park, and maybe proved the power of the lucky underpants he had superstitiously worn for years was on the wane!
“The season we were relegated, we conceded 86 goals – yet I was voted Player of the Year.
“Even more ironic is the fact that Ally MacLeod decided to swop me for Hugh Sproat, and I ended up at Ayr United.
“I had been part-time right through my career, but I don’t know if that had anything to do with his decision.
“I had a good job with the Civil Service in Edinburgh, and while no manager ever actually asked me to go full-time, I don’t think I would have fancied it.
“The thought of going in for training every morning, then having the rest of the day to yourself, never really appealed to me, to be honest.
“That went all the way back to when I started out with Falkirk. While they were a full-time club, they also had two or three part-timers in the first-team.”
Among Stuart’s team-mates at Brockville were two future Scotland managers, Andy Roxburgh and Alex Ferguson.
“You could see Alex was future manager material,” said Stuart. “He was always quite vocal in the dressing room, and would have his input into how we should play and how we had played.
“Andy, on the other hand, seemed to lack confidence in himself, and his ability.
“He once scored four goals in one game for us. In the build-up to our next fixture, he was asking me if I thought he would be selected to play!”
Stuart won a Second Division Championship medal with Falkirk, and left for Fir Park in 1973 when Ian St John signed him to replace Keith MacRae, off to Manchester City for £100,000.
And it was at Fir Park that Stuart suffered two huge disappointments, both at Hampden, and both in Scottish Cup semi-finals.
He recalled: “In 1975, we played Airdrie, and a rule preventing keepers from taking any more than four steps with the ball had recently been introduced, but rarely used – until that night.
“I was being blocked, and took more than the four steps. But I couldn’t believe it when the referee blew up, and needless to say, John Lapsley scored from the resultant free-kick to give Airdrie the win.
“A year later, we lost 3-2 to Rangers after being two up at half-time.
“But the game turned when referee, John Gordon, blew for a penalty after Derek Johnstone, chasing a Peter McCloy punt, fell to the turf with no contact from me.
“I don’t think the ref was even in our half of the pitch at the time.
“Derek has never admitted he took a dive, though he has come close. Maybe one day!”