It is one year to the day since the death of Alan Gilzean, the legendary former Dundee, Tottenham and Scotland striker. To commemorate his passing, we're publishing this extract from the recently re-released In Search Of Alan Gilzean by BackPage Press.

Alan Gilzean’s apogee with Scotland arrived at the start of his international career. He may have made a further 17 appearances for his country following his move to White Hart Lane, but it is his winning goal on a grey, wet afternoon against England, in April 1964, for which he is best remembered.

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Scotland 1 England 0

Hampden Park, April 11 1964

Scotland went to Hampden Park on Saturday and achieved what they set out to do. They beat England for the third successive year, in the end comprehensively, and the first such run of victories for Scotland since 1882 was a matter of congratulation. Neither side, however, gave an exhilarating performance and the match left little feeling of elation. In the first half Banks’ groping fingers touched a Gilzean header on to the inside of a post and the ball broke out instead of in. In the second half Scotland twice had strong grounds for being awarded penalty kicks when Armfield brought down Gilzean and Moore obstructed Law. But the only reward came to Scotland 12 minutes from time, when Gilzean headed home the winning goal direct from Wilson’s corner kick. White, denied the space and time which he needs, was of less value than he can be, particularly in his service to Henderson. This latter failure was especially unfortunate, for it was on the shoulders of Henderson and Gilzean that the chief burden of attack fell. Of course, they buckled down nobly to their task but how much more effective they might have been if their colleague had seen to it that the lines of supply to them were more continuously kept open. It was an obvious move, for Gilzean’s artful flicks and passes often had opponents going the wrong way.

– The Glasgow Herald

The Herald:

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Raymond Jacobs’ match report sheds light on a facet of Gilzean’s game which perhaps goes some way to explaining why Scotland managers viewed him with suspicion. His ability to think quickly was a given, but sometimes he thought too quickly, and if he wasn’t being serviced properly then he could sometimes be lost to games. Gilzean was never bitter about winning so few caps: “So much depends on whether the team manager fancies your style of play,” he said in 1973. “I have always regarded a Scottish cap as a bonus. It’s great to play for your country, but they don’t pay your wages. It’s your club you have to keep happy.”

His biggest disappointment during his international career involved Scotland’s failure to reach the World Cup finals in 1970, after losing a qualifier 3-2 against West Germany in Hamburg in October 1969, a match in which he scored to level the game at 2-2. A draw would have left Scotland requiring a win over Austria in Vienna a few days later to secure their passage to Mexico.

Gillie had some illuminating explanations for why the nation had underachieved for so long. They were the same problems the Scots would face for years to come. “[West Germany] were the luckiest blokes alive that night, and they know it. We pulverised them, and still lost. How, I just don’t know. For me, that was the greatest Scottish performance. For just one night they forgot their ‘England Complex’. Scotland international performances have suffered terribly because they regard the England game as the only game to win. If England lose, they clinically examine how they lost just another game. If Scotland lose it’s a national disaster.”

Flicking through some of the old cuttings which Bill Hutcheon, the editor of the Dundee Courier, provided for me at the start of my search for Gilzean, I reacquaint myself with a couple of reports which I had almost forgotten about. After his goal against England, Gilzean was in demand. In The Courier and Advertiser, he reflected: “I knew I had to go to the ball before [Maurice] Norman and [Gordon] Banks and headed it quite well, but I wasn’t sure about the direction. I came down off balance, facing away from goal, and from the terrific roar I knew it must be in. But even when I turned and saw the ball lying in the net I could hardly believe it.”

There was even time to talk to his mother Barbara, who was preparing to move house while waiting for Alan to return home from his international exertions. “We’re flitting to just around the corner,” she said. “What a weekend this has been. The phone has never stopped ringing with people wanting to speak to Alan and offer him congratulations and best wishes.”

The Herald:

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Two months later, Coupar Angus town council honoured its famous son in a ceremony which the Provost John Davidson described as “unique in the annals of the town”. Gillie, who attended the ceremony with his father, mother and Irene, was presented with a gold wristwatch which had been purchased using subscriptions from people in the town and all over the surrounding area.

In an article in the Dundee Courier and Advertiser dated Friday June 12, 1964, Provost Davidson is reported to have told those gathered that he had been in the Borders recently and when he told people that he came from Coupar Angus they had remarked “that’s where Alan Gilzean is from”. The article continues: “In a speech of thanks Alan said that school football had been ‘his best subject’. But many times he had doubted if the football was worth the trouble he had got into because of it. But he had got over the rows he got for trampling on gardens and playing in his best clothes and had joined Coupar Angus Boys’ Club after school.” A week later and Gillie, again accompanied by Irene, was presented with a handsome trophy cabinet by his former school, Coupar Angus Junior Secondary School, which clearly had forgotten all about the trouble caused by its sometimes errant former pupil. In turn, Alan presented the school with the dark blue Scotland jersey he had worn on his debut. Again The Courier and Advertiser were first with the story, noting that “out in the playground afterwards Alan was besieged by young autograph hunters, many of whom were young ladies”. Today, the jersey is housed in a cabinet at Coupar Angus Primary.