SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND
Big Eck and I silenced our detractors then I took the wife to the disco on the Tube SAYS WILLIE MILLER
TALES of travelling on a Tartan Army-occupied Tube train seem a long way from the current era of international competitors being lifted and laid in the lap of luxury.
As for the idea of a Scotland star pitching up at Stringfellows in the aftermath of a Wembley win?
In this age of social media frenzies, that news would be halfway round the world before he had even popped the cork on that first bottle of bubbly.
Yet, if much has changed in the 35 years since Willie Miller sampled his most enjoyable memory under the old twin towers, some aspects of the England-Scotland rivalry have certainly endured.
Among a certain type of Auld Enemy cheerleader, absolute ignorance of the opposition is still seen as a badge of honour. They won’t know who half of Scotland’s players are. Throw the names John McGinn or Lee Wallace at them, just for example, and you will be waiting an eternity for even a flicker of recognition.
Miller has been in that movie, played the uncredited character who ends up stealing every scene from the guys given star billing in the build-up. It’s fair to say that, in the three-anda-half decades since that glory day, the former Aberdeen great has enjoyed reminding people of how his ‘unknown’ defensive partnership with Alex McLeish stymied the best England had to offer.
The legendary centre-half, who famously hooked a Peter Withe header off the goal line on the day, explained: ‘My biggest memory of Scotland-England? Humping them. One-nil in 1981, John Robertson’s penalty.
‘Without a doubt, that was huge in my career, huge in big Alex McLeish’s career, too. Because it was the boys from the sticks going down to Wembley and actually doing something the English just didn’t think was possible.
‘The commentators were looking at a couple of guys from, you know, a provincial club — and just dismissed us.
‘I had gone through the whole period in the 1970s of trying to break into the international team. At that time, you had players from the Old Firm and Anglos. There weren’t any Aberdeen players, weren’t any Dundee United players; we were considered sub-standard.
‘So that was a big occasion in ’81. And we knew it at the time. To come out of that game with not only a victory, but a clean sheet, having kept out Tony Woodcock, Trevor Francis — who came on for Woodcock — and the big lad Peter Withe, that was something.
‘They were the best that England could throw at us. And it was huge that we kept them out.
‘There was definitely a snobbery about me and big Alex. Absolutely. We had a point to prove. They didn’t know who we were. Didn’t know our names, didn’t know our history, didn’t know anything about us whatsoever.
‘I still think that kind of a snobbery exists now, where they don’t really understand the Scottish game. I certainly always thought that the English players felt they were superior to us. That was the overwhelming impression I got, any time they played us.
‘You’ve got to remember who they had in that team in ’81, in particular. Tony Woodcock was one of the best players in Europe. Trevor Francis had won the European Cup. Bryan Robson was the captain of Manchester United. So I think the English always felt that our game was inferior.’
Once Miller had played his part in a magnificent rearguard action, succeeding in getting England ‘telt’ in no uncertain terms, he had undoubtedly earned himself a night out. Back in the days when the fixture was played at the end of the season, players generally used the final whistle as the starting whistle on their summer holidays.
Taking up the rather surprising story of what happened after the match, Miller revealed: ‘I got my case, met my wife — and then we went on the Tube with all the Scotland fans.
‘We dropped my case off back at the hotel and then went to Stringfellows, which was actually a nightclub where you could take your wife at that time. It wasn’t what it became later.
‘But, aye, we just travelled on the Tube with the Tartan Army. Just me and my wife, because we were staying down for a couple of days.
‘It wasn’t limousines waiting to take us wherever we wanted to go. You had to get your case, get on the Tube and off you went.
‘The Tartan Army certainly rejoiced in us being there. I don’t remember any of them buying me a drink — although we certainly had a couple of bottles of champagne at Stringfellows, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
‘No, Mr Stringfellow didn’t come through to see us. I didn’t see any of his girls, either. Be sure to mention that!’
Even a handsome World Cup victory wouldn’t have the current Scotland stars heading for the bright lights of London. To be honest, few are planning postmatch celebrations of any kind.
Miller understands the kind of pressure under which former team-mate Gordon Strachan is working this week, saying: ‘I think it’s a huge challenge for this team.
‘Gordon has shown a lot of faith in the players. He’s sticking with the same group of players, with maybe one or two younger ones, who failed in the European Championships. It was a failure.
‘And he’s taking them into a World Cup that has got to be a success, for the players and the manager.
‘Having shown this faith in the players, he needs a bit of a return from them. You can’t ask for a bigger return than beating England at Wembley.
‘You’ve got to try to put pressure on England at home, because they haven’t played well since they got knocked out of the Euros by Iceland. I’ve watched a lot of them since then.
‘I watched the 90 minutes of the Iceland game. They were dreadful. Then, you’ve got Slovakia away when they win late on, a draw with Slovenia, a change of manager.
‘So Gordon and the players have to be thinking: “Wait a minute. Although it’s England, even if it’s at Wembley, this isn’t a situation where the opposition are on a high. They’re on a low, they’re in a state of uncertainty. Let’s capitalise on it”.’
Up and at ’em, fire and brimstone, give them a reason to sweat. A reason to fear humiliation by a bunch of nobodies from the sticks. Some things never change, right enough.