Who’s the best Euros left-back of last 30 yrs? It just has to be Andy or Kieran .. none of your Maldini rubbish
Clarke helps Edinburgh kids pick their finals XI
SCOTLAND boss Steve Clarke joined a team meeting with a difference – helping kids from Team United pick their best Euros team of the past three decades. During lockdown, youngsters from the Edinburgh-based club, which supports young people with autism and helps them overcome social barriers they face in sport and physical activity, have been carefully selecting a top 11 from the past 30 years of the European Championship. The selection process has not been easy and in recent weeks the players from Team United have been meeting on Zoom calls and chats, debating their selection. As they made their final choices, which form part of a newly-installed European Legends gallery at the Scottish Football Museum, the conversation took a surprise turn as they debated who would take the left-back slot, Paolo Maldini or Andy Robertson. “Why don’t we ask the Scotland manager?” said founder of Team United, Ann Brown and the kids looked on in stunned silence as Clarke joined them on screen. The Scotland manager had tough questions about their selection, asking Hibs fan and Team United star, Lewis Kerr why he picked Steven Gerrard ahead of John McGinn. And on the choice of left-back, Clarke said: “It has to be Andy Robertson or Kieran Tierney, none of that Maldini rubbish!” Ann said: “I thought it was tremendous and the boys excelled themselves. They love being part of a team and the social interaction they have had, picking their dream team during lockdown, has been a joy to see. It keeps them connected to the sport they love and their team-mates. “It has been a godsend to us and also to parents, for whom the past year has been a very challenging time. “Steve was brilliant. He was really engaging and stood his ground on some tough questions. They got such a surprise when they saw him, and it took a lot for Steve to do this. He didn’t know what was coming but he did amazing.”
The tough questions would not have been out of place at a Scotland press conference.
“Are you coming to Celtic after the Euros?” asked Hoops fan and Team United defender Ben Lang.
“I’ll be going on a long holiday after the Euros,” said Clarke diplomatically. “And I am contracted with Scotland until 2022, when I’ll hopefully be taking us to the World Cup in Qatar.”
“Will there be any surprises when you choose the team for the World
Cup qualifiers in March and for the Euros?” asked United’s flying winger and team statistician Olek Kortels.
“There won’t be too many surprises,” said Clarke who was blown away by the kids. The Scotland boss said: “The kids know their stuff. I was impressed with their knowledge.”
● European Legends is one of the SFA’s legacy projects for UEFA Euro 2020. To mark the 60th anniversary of the tournament, a new UEFA Euro 2020 Legends exhibition has been installed in Scottish Football Museum.
The UEFA Euro 2020 Glasgow website now offers users the chance to pick their own dream team. You can find out more about this and pick your very own dream team there.
THERE is no shortage of Scottish giants when it comes to sporting legends reared in Lanarkshire.
From football managerial greats Jock Stein and Sir Matt Busby to Lisbon Lions captain Billy McNeill.
Ring kings Walter McGowan, Pat Clinton and Ricky Burns and wizard of Wishaw John Higgins in snooker.
But Ian St John is up there with the best of them after Motherwell was left mourning one of its bestloved sons.
The former striker, who has died aged 82 after a long illness, might be best remembered in football for his time with English giants Liverpool.
Signed by fellow Scot Bill Shankly for a then club record £37,500, the former international spent a decade at Anfield where he scored 118 goals in 425 games.
But it was at his local club and boyhood heroes Motherwell – who he watched lift the Scottish
Cup as a fan in 1952 – where it all started for St John.
He was signed by Bobby Ancell and part of a clutch of rising stars nicknamed the ‘Ancell Babes’ and showed his scoring prowess with a hat-trick in two minutes and 30 seconds against Hibs, one of the fastest trebles recorded in Scottish football history.
St John spent five years at Fir Park, netting 105 goals in 144 appearances, before his move to Merseyside where legend has it when the Liverpool board were reluctant to part with the transfer fee Shankly said: “We can’t afford not to buy him.”
He didn’t take long to repay that fee with a hat-trick on his debut against rivals Everton. St John won two top-flight tiles and
scored the winner in the 1965 FA Cup Final against Leeds United at Wembley.
He returned to his spiritual home for a season as manager of Motherwell and led them to a ninthplace finish in an 18-team top division and a first victory for the club at Celtic Park in 23 years in the League Cup.
He signed Bobby Graham, a former team-mate at Anfield and also from Motherwell, and also handed a professional contract to the strike legend and cult hero Willie Pettigrew who had idolised him growing up.
For the younger generation, St John is best remembered for his time as a successful TV pundit when he teamed up with former England striker Jimmy Greaves to front the hugely popular Saint and Greavsie show. And Pettigrew admitted it was a privilege to play under the legend who had recovered from illness after an operation seven years ago to remove his bladder and prostate in a battle with cancer.
The 67-year-old told Record Sport: “Ian had an aura and a presence about him. When you consider what he had achieved at Liverpool then it was unsurpassed for someone from Motherwell. When he talked you listened.
“He’s undoubtedly up there with the biggest sporting legends from the area – and there’s been a few.
“But despite the career he had there was no arrogance or anything like that. He was fair and honest but there was no messing about. He was straight to the point and if he told you something you didn’t argue with him because he knew what he was talking about.
“What you saw on the television was what he was like. He was always good-natured and fun. Playing under Ian was good because I played in the same position as him as a striker and I got good tips and instructions off him.
“He was in charge for the season before the top flight was cut to 10 teams. He was a good coach and manager. He really transformed the club.
“He tried to get Motherwell to get the ball down, pass it and play football. Instead of midfielders lumping the ball up the park it was about playing steady, cultured football. There was actually a bit of a rebellion against it because people don’t always like change.
“He wanted good football and that was the start of it. We finished ninth under Ian but were only four points off Dundee in fifth so it was a better season than it sounds and he must have done something right because he went to Portsmouth that summer.”
Pettigrew, who last met St John shortly after his operation in 2014, says he’s privileged to have known the man capped 21 times for Scotland.
He added: “I’m a Motherwell fan so I’d watched him play along with Willie Hunter Pat Quinn and a few others in the 1960s.
“Ian was big, strong and physical and renowned for his heading ability. And I went down to watch him play a few times for Liverpool with Bobby, who played alongside him at Anfield and who he brought to Fir Park when he was manager.
“I last met Ian St John when he was recovering from an operation.
“He worked at the Bridge Works at Motherwell when he was a kid and signed for the club. Whenever he came back to Motherwell he was always well looked after.”