SCOTTISH football is blessed with a superb museum, covering all aspects of the game, especially at international level where we were one of the founding fathers. To that end, there are certain individuals, akin to heroes with battle honours, that have lived long in the memory.

Similarly, there could be a rather large Room 101 housed at Hampden, containing the opponents, names and individuals best forgotten. Teofilo Cubillas and Peru for instance. Most football folk of a certain age would wince at their very mention after their 3-1 victory over Scotland in the 1978 World Cup. Not so Willie Morgan.

In fact, he is only too happy to reflect on the Peruvians and the diminutive midfield maestro. For Morgan, his memories of facing the South Americans were completely the opposite to many of his countrymen and team-mates.

“I’d played my first game for Scotland in Belfast, against Northern Ireland in 1967. It was great, playing against George [Best]. But we lost, and even when I joined Manchester United from Burnley the following year, there wasn’t any way back for me with Scotland.

“That’s how crazy it was. We did have a lot of good players, to be fair. But, Tommy Docherty had been brought in as Scotland manager and was going to do things his way. After five years, I was back in the squad, and so was Denis [Law] who hadn’t been picked for a couple years,” Morgan recalled, although for the Peru game, the Scots were missing their Leeds United contingent.

“I wasnae really too interested on who the opposition was – did we win?” he laughed. “Of course we did, though I’ve never quite worked out why Peru would have been in Glasgow, in April?”

For Morgan, the 2-0 victory was the first step in his rehabilitation with the national team, on a path that would eventually lead to West Germany and the World Cup finals in ’74.

“Tommy gave a few a chance, or another chance – and then he left, and turned up at Old Trafford,” something that, four-and-a-half decades on, still makes Morgan laugh. “He was going to do things his way there as well.”

Morgan stayed in the set-up under Willie Ormond and made it to the World Cup. He even made it in to the recording studios and had his very own line in Scotland World Cup song, Easy, Easy with “ring-a-ding a-ding there goes Willie on the wing”.

Is he living off the royalties still?

“Aye, I think the only one who made money was Bill Martin, who wrote the song [as he had done with Phil Coulter to win Eurovision with Sandie Shaw]. I had dinner with him a wee while back and asked him when we were recording the second album!

“But reaching the World Cup, God, you have no idea what that felt like. It was magnificent, unbelievable, Hampden was unbelievable. We [Scotland] don’t do it anymore. They are missing something special.”

Morgan’s place aboard the flight to Germany was assured, almost from the moment he cut inside his Czechoslovakian marker to nonchalantly arc in a cross with the outside of his right boot on to the head of Joe Jordan. And the rest is history.

So too, was Morgan’s time with Scotland, his last game in dark blue coming in the 1-1 draw against Yugoslavia in Frankfurt.

“When going through the tourn-ament unbeaten was considered a failure,” he winced, pausing momentarily before adding, “but at least we got there to fail.”

Hence his reason for feeling some sympathy for the class of 1978 in Argentina and those painful earlier references to Peru and Cubillas, who Morgan had further memories of.

“In the mid-70s America was the place to go. I was out there with Chicago Sting and then the Minnesota Kicks. They were great times.

“Anyway, I was out there, in the States, in ’77 and this guy came up and introduced himself to me. ‘I played against you at Hampden in 1972,’ he said. I didn’t get the chance to say ‘did you?’ before he said ‘Teofilo Cubillas’ and held out his hand.

“And he had played that night, because I vaguely recalled him from the World Cup in Mexico in 1970. This was him in America making plans for his future, and following the likes of Pele, Best, Cruyff, Beckenbauer – and me – to the old North American Soccer League, for his retirement.”

A year on from their chance encounter in the USA, Morgan, and all of Scotland, got to see Cubillas, Hector Chumpitaz, Juan Munante and several other Hampden veterans again in action.

“And the next time I saw Cubillas, he was smashing shots and free-kicks past Alan Rough from 20-yards out. So much for retiring.”

While Morgan was a viewer for Argentina ’78, his playing career went on until 1981, when he finished up with Blackpool. Ironic in some ways, because as a teenager, they had tried to sign the boy from Sauchie.

“I wanted to play football, although playing for Fishcross Boys Club, my ambition was to play for Sauchie Juveniles. Then the scouts started coming to the door; Partick Thistle, Stirling Albion. Actually, the first person who came to the door was the priest, to see if I would stay on another term so I could play for the school, who had a good team at the time. But my dad said I had to work.

“But the scouts kept coming; Celtic, which pleased my dad. He wanted me to go there. The Rangers scout didn’t stay long, not when he saw what was hanging on the wall. Chelsea, Newcastle, Arsenal, Blackpool – their sales pitch was come here because we’ve got Stanley Matthews – but I ended up at Burnley, almost by misfortune.

“They were English champions but I’d never heard of them, seriously, but while I was there I broke my toe, so they kept me six weeks until it healed. But they were so nice, I decided to sign, and stayed on. I was only 15.

“My dad went up the wall! When I was 18 I could sign professional papers, and Celtic came back in. And still I didn’t fancy it.

“I loved England, and I had my own bed. My dad thought we were still at war with them.

“But it didn’t work out too badly, did it. Manchester United and a World Cup. ”