Eddie shoots from the hip... he’s part Trump, part Fergie
JIM TELFER ON ENGLAND’S FIERY COACH
Jim Telfer has a polite response to eddie Jones’ offer of a free ticket to next week’s Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham: Thanks, but no thanks.
The former Scotland coach, who described england’s stadium as a ‘concrete jungle’ filled with ‘bags of money’, will be watching from the comfort of his own living room.
‘i like eddie Jones, but i’ve been to Twickenham umpteen times,’ says Telfer.
What about a cup of green tea — Jones’ drink of choice — at their Pennyhill Park base?
‘i don’t drink green tea!’ he laughs. ‘i drink brown tea!
‘i’ll tell you a wee story. Scotland discovered Pennyhill Park before england. We stayed there twice in the late 1990s — then it became too expensive and england took over.
‘The last time i went down to Twickenham was 2003 — it’s just easier to watch on TV.’
Tuning in from his home in the Borders, Telfer is hoping to see Scotland’s first victory at Twickenham since 1983.
He is also hoping to witness Jones’ first defeat as england coach — although the 76-year-old wants to end any bad blood after comparing him to Donald Trump.
‘eddie tends to shoot from the hip and watch where the shrapnel lands,’ he says.
‘So does Donald Trump. But Trump divides opinion, goes on and on, while Jones is universally popular. eddie was a maths teacher. He’s an intelligent man and he’s good for rugby.’
As well as working as a teacher, specialising in chemistry, Telfer twice coached the lions and is best remembered for his ‘everest’ team-talk in 1997.
like Jones, he was a master motivator and prefers to compare Jones to Sir Alex ferguson.
‘There’s no old pals’ act with Jones or ferguson,’ he says. ‘They’re friendly to players, but not overly attached. They’ve both had dressing rooms with the best players in the world and everyone knows where they stand, irrespective of what’s said in public. ferguson was like that with manchester United — even when he was seething.’
Over a brown tea and biscuits, Telfer spends three hours talking through Scotland’s squad.
He picks out his lions contenders for this summer — Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray, followed by richie Gray, Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, finn russell, fraser Brown and Hamish Watson — and the landline phone rings seven times throughout.
‘i don’t know why it’s been ringing so much this week,’ he jokes. ‘my phone’s ex-directory but everyone still has my number. They must think i’ve got something to say about england!’
Telfer has done little to douse the anti-england fires over the years, previously labelling them as ‘arrogant, pretentious and condescending’.
He avoids talking up the rivalry, but voices concerns about the impact of cash amongst the blazer brigade.
‘rugby’s been taken over by money,’ he explains. ‘it’s not just Twickenham, it’s murrayfield, too. You’ve got young fellas out on a sponsors’ jolly paying £9,000 a seat. A lot of them don’t know much about rugby.
‘Twickenham’s one of the only stadiums not named after a sponsor.
‘But for a genuine supporter, it’s difficult to get tickets to Twickenham. i’ve got friends in St Helens, genuine rugby supporters, who have no chance of seeing a Test there.’
Next week will be the biggest lions audition for Scotland’s hopefuls.
According to Telfer, Alun Wyn Jones should be skipper and, if england secure another Grand Slam, they will dominate the Test XV for the tour to New Zealand in the summer.
As for calls to shorten the length of the tour, he recalls his own experience as a player: ‘for the 1966 tour, i caught the train from Newtown St Boswells for london on April 21. frank laidlaw got on at melrose and Derrick Grant got on at Hawick and we got back on September 20.
‘We played 35 matches, with two or three days’ holiday in fiji. We watched Alf ramsey win the World Cup from New Zealand. Now they’re talking about shortening the tour even more? it would be very tough on the players.’
returning to current matters, Telfer questions how Jones would fare if he were not speaking from a position of power.
Often the underdog, he claims it would be impossible for a Scotland coach to speak with the same swagger, before heaping praise on Vern Cotter.
‘Vern’s leaving at the end of the current season and the players want to send him out on a high,’ says Telfer.
‘it’s a shame because he’s not at the end of the road. He’s got a lot more to offer this team and the players respect him because he does what he says.
‘He’s a Kiwi, but the first thing he did was work out what makes Scotland tick. He should really be staying until the World Cup.
‘He’s got Scotland to the stage where they’re not a laughing stock. Now they have a bit of respect from the opposition and he’s given the country hope.
‘There’s all this hullabaloo about the Calcutta Cup. There is a big brother, small brother kind of thing about it. You like to knock off the big boys and england are the big boys.
‘The scrum is the worry for me. five seconds of hell. Unless the scrum shores up, Scotland won’t win the match.’
ground-breaking achievement to be collectively celebrated, posthumously in the cases of Gemmell, Ronnie Simpson, Bobby Murdoch and Jimmy Johnstone. The next Honours list is published at the Queen’s official birthday in June, a month after Celtic mark a half-century since the win over Inter Milan that made them the first British club to lift continental football’s premier prize. ‘These types of achievements are given out to people who devote their lives to something or do something exceptional, and I’m nearly sure that everyone would say that’s what they’ve done,’ said Rodgers. ‘Sometimes these things can come too late. I always think that if you can honour good people and people who have truly achieved something, then these guys absolutely deserve it. ‘Look at the way they carry themselves. I was at a function last night at the club for the foundation and Bobby (Lennox) was there, John Clark, Bertie (Auld), these are guys that have lived the life of a Lisbon Lion. They’ve played that role with great honour and esteem for the club. ‘I have got to say that I find it hard to understand why they haven’t been commemorated in a greater way. ‘For a Scottish team to win the European Cup, they really set the trail for every other British club. ‘You see these things handed out left, right and centre now but these guys are true icons and they put the signpost in the ground for British football. ‘So, yeah, it is a sad week but I also look at it as a chance to celebrate that memory of Tommy and the guys who are here. ‘There is a real duty on us this season in particular to shine a light on their achievements.’ A minute’s silence will be held in honour of Gemmell ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against St Mirren at Celtic Park.