TAM Forsyth was a well-established international when Argentina came around in 1978, and even more ensconced in Scottish footballing folklore thanks to one tackle on Mick Channon in the closing seconds of the 1976 clash against the Auld Enemy, when “Jaws” struck on the unsuspecting Southampton striker.
At the World Cup, Forsyth played in all three games, against Peru, Iran (coming on as sub to replace Martin Buchan) and Holland (as they were more commonly known back then). “Played three? Well, I had a shirt on,” Forsyth mocked.
While Scotland had a star-studded squad (diamond-encrusted gold compared to today), Forsyth picks on two absentees who would have helped the cause.
“Danny McGrain was out injured and had been for a while, and he was a big miss. And then Gordon McQueen was injured in the game against Wales at Hampden but still went on the trip. They must have thought he had a chance of making it, or why take him?”
For the opening World Cup tie, Ally MacLeod, who previously could do no wrong, got it badly wrong against the “old men” of Peru. Having first failed to watch the Peruvians at close quarters, he then inserted Buchan (who Tommy Docherty once stated was a thoroughbred compared to Forsyth, the “Clydesdale”), for the suspended Willie Donachie at left-back, to stymie the threat posed by Juan Carlos Oblitas. Except the Peruvian played as a left-winger, and tore in to Stuart Kennedy instead.
Add to that the match-winning skill of Teofilo Cubillas, and the subsequent suspension of Willie Johnston for a failed drug test – “I always thought Ron Atkinson’s line about picking Willie up from the airport and telling him he’d got him a sponsorship deal with Boots the Chemist was a cracker” – and the 3-1 defeat was a night for Forsyth and Co to erase – until the next unforgettable experience, against Iran.
“The result was unforgettable – that match, I cannae mind much about it,” conceded Forsyth, now in his 70th year. “After Peru, we just couldn’t lift ourselves and didn’t play,” he sighed. One thing he did recall, with some clarity, was who was available to Scotland on the bench.
“At 1-1, we desperately need a goal. Big Derek [Johnstone] was on the bench.” said Forsyth, still sounding exasperated that DJ – who had netted against Northern Ireland and Wales a few weeks before – wasn’t thrust in to the action. Instead Joe Harper replaced Kenny Dalglish. “Big Derek had 40 goals that season, scoring for fun. No harm to wee Joe, but …”
And then came the Dutch.
“We weren’t given much hope. Not after our results and who they were,” said Forsyth, referencing Holland’s status as one of the favourites and as runners-up four years previous. What is often forgotten is the game against the Netherlands came just eight days after the Peruvian debacle. In France ’98, Scotland’s schedule was Wednesday, Tuesday, Tuesday.
“World Cups today seem to take forever,” Forsyth said. “Then it was three games in a week, just in and out – out being the case with Scotland,” he says, adding some dark humour.
There was little darkness however about Scotland’s 3-2 triumph against the eventual finalists, a performance Forsyth gives much credit to one influential midfielder, and he isn’t talking Archie Gemmill.
“Everyone seemed to have been getting their chance except on man – Graeme Souness. What a player, just exceptional. I think you could see the presence he had at that level. He’d been doing it with Liverpool. What was his last game for Liverpool before that World Cup?”
It was, of course, the European Cup final, won with a solitary Dalglish goal, set-up by a pass from Souness.
“Aye, the European Cup,” remarked Forsyth, almost as if to say with those credentials, Souness should have played long before the final game.
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