![[wembley]](/Colosseum/Stadium/4377/pic53-1.gif)
ENGLAND
CHAIRMAN'S EDITORIAL
We bring you an England v Scotland special edition programme today. The game was classed as “The Battle of Britain” and as it was such a special set of games we thought the LSC should honour the event in regal style. Read on McDuff!
The Chairman
4:00 Bottle of wine - T. Wright
4:30 The Regular Ernie Draw
4:45 A Unique Oldham Gift - The Chairman
5:20 Liqueur - T. Hastie
5:30 Kangaroo Nuts - S. Hastie
6:30 Another Unique Oldham Gift - The Chairman
6:49 Mystery Prize - The First Lady
7:00 The Tranmere Pint - R. Williams
Hi from Mexico,
We arrived here about two weeks ago and are preparing the boat for Polynesia (March departure). Expect to get back to Surrey around December 5/6 in time for Christmas. Hope to see you at the LSC meeting when I return...Norm.
Bring your wallet - Dan
IT COULD happen, couldn’t it? The sheer unpredictability that makes football the greatest game on earth means that Scotland could defeat England at Hampden on Saturday afternoon and go on to knock them out of Euro 2000 at Wembley next Wednesday. Yet once you strip away all the hype that surrounds this game, you begin to realise that a Scottish triumph would rank among the biggest upsets of our time.
Of course, Craig Brown’s team could simply outplay England, home and away. Or they could outdo Kevin Keegan’s superstars for passion. Then again, the Scots could follow the traditional path of the underdog down the years and defend staunchly, score on the break and win the match. This is part of what makes football great - unlike basketball, cricket and the rest, the actual act of scoring in football is so rare that the best team doesn’t always win.
But despite all that, there is something of the inevitable about this game. The gulf between the very best Scottish players of today and the very best English players is bigger than you could normally see being bridged by mere collective effort or national willpower.
Twenty-five years ago Scotland usually had as many excellent players as England, and even when they didn't standards of fitness and training were so much lower that you could make up what you lacked in skill by sheer physical effort. Nowadays the physical effort is the base of what you've got to do and somehow, on top of that, you've got to put in the skill.
Scotland's team has one or two good footballers; England's has several good ones and one or two terrific ones, and it's the terrific ones England will have to rely on to break what is otherwise going to be a very dour stalemate between two teams with more to lose, almost, than they have to win. So, if David Beckham gets at the left side of Scotland's defence and midfield in a way that he was doing six or eight after months ago, he should supply enough quality balls for Shearer and Owen - assuming he's fit - to turn that little bit of quality that England have into actual advantage.
The Scottish defence is based once again on collective organisation but it cannot disguise its lack of pace. At home they have to make an effort to get the advantage so they must try to push the team up the pitch – but it's in the space between the last defender and the goalkeeper that Owen can do his damage. The problem for Scotland is that no matter how well they play they are always going to struggle to score. If Billy Dodds really is their best striker, then not even England's occasionally ramshackle defence will be losing too much sleep.
Scotland's best hope is to turn the game into a war and get after England's players. If they can clog Beckham, Owen and Redknapp out of their stride they might, just might, win the game. The trouble with this ice hockey-style approach is that current refereeing suggests they’d wind up with the same number of players as an ice hockey team.
The number of players booked in the first leg of the Scotland v England was 10 (Scotland 5 England 5). That’s a draw then!
WHY ENGLAND WON
1) David Beckham doesn't know the meaning of the word defeat. No,
really, he actually doesn't.
2) Even Sheffield Wednesday put five past Neil Sullivan.
3) If they hadn’t got through, they wouldn't be able to lose to Germany
on penalties in the semi-finals.
4) Did you see Scotland's strikers?
5) Steve McManaman was injured.
6) After a morale-boosting trip to the dentist's chair, Paul Lambert was
out for three weeks
7) As the film Braveheart proved, the English are not fazed by a
line-up of Scottish backsides.
8) Posh Spice has set her heart on calling her next baby Utrecht.
WHY SCOTLAND WANTED TO WIN
1) The Scots think Euro 2000 was a new European banknote and
there's no way they'll want to miss out on that.
2) Alex Ferguson was so confident he didn’t pulled any of his players
out of the England squad.
3) Alan Shearer is on the payroll of a bloke called McDonald.
4) Not to disrupt their long-planned strategy to go out in the first round
of the finals.
5) As his autobiography has reported, Tony Adams is no good at
keeping clean sheets.
6) After putting a ball through the next door neighbour's greenhouse,
Michael Owen had been grounded for a fortnight
7) Alan Shearer has been losing sleep worrying about Paul Scholes
playing in the hole behind him.
8) David Weir brought along his long-lost cousin, George.
Some thought about the Wembley Game......
Collins is adamant that the Scottish team is relishing playing in front of a partisan crowd in London. “In a way it will be easier for us at Wembley and we have nothing to lose,” the Everton midfielder told the LSC. “The expectations will be levelled at England and, because of the result on Saturday, everyone will expect them to ease through. One thing about Scotland is they never give up. With so much at stake, we might have to gamble on the night, but if it comes off, it would be worth it.
“I don't think we've done ourselves justice. We let ourselves down and we let the fans down. It's up to us to make amends at Wembley in the second game. It's not a foregone conclusion like people seem to think. Of course it's not ideal, we've left ourselves with a mountain to climb, but we are capable of going there and getting a result.”
“Only One Of Brown & Keegan Will Survive These Play-Offs”
I am a Scotsman from Aberdeen and as ardent an Aberdeen and Scotland supporter as you will ever find. Realistically, Scotland are out of Euro 2000 and anyone who believes otherwise is simply dreaming.
KEVIN KEEGAN has warned that failure to reach Euro 2000 would be ''the biggest disaster ever to happen to England''. Keegan's men are in the driving seat with a 2-0 lead going into the second leg of the qualifying play-off.
"I've said it before, I strongly feel that the only difference between the two teams were the goals that England scored," observed Craig Brown. - Very Profound (The Chairman)
AND SO TO WEMBLEY
Here are the top ten favourite community songs on the Scottish songsheet for the journey down:
1 Help! – The Beatles
2 Going Out – Supergrass
3 All I Need Is A Miracle - Mike And The Mechanics
4 Nevermind - Nirvana
5 Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
6 High And Dry - Radiohead
7 It’s Over – Roy Orbison
8 I’m A Loser – The Beatles
9 You Just Can’t Win – Them & Van Morrison
10 Here’s To The Losers – Frank Sinatra
SECOND GAME SCORE - ENGLAND 0 SCOTLAND 1
After Match Comments/Thoughts......
ENGLAND crept into the European Championships last night despite being thoroughly outplayed by Scotland at Wembley. Craig Brown’s side produced a fantastic performance to win 1-0, but bowed out 2-1 on aggregate with their heads held high. England were woeful and manager Kevin Keegan has a huge job on his hands if they are going to make any progress at Euro 2000. Captain Alan Shearer said they had "sneaked in through the back door". Through the cat flap more like.
"We didn't play well. We just couldn't get going at all," conceded a virtually hoarse Keegan. "There's a lot of excuses we could make - maybe for some of the players it was a little bit too much for them in defending a 2-0 lead. Too much psychologically. We knew we had to work, but it was a poor performance. But give Scotland credit because they took a chance and when we got the ball we didn't use it well. We know we've got a lot of work to do. But we've got the chance to show our ability on the biggest stage in the Euro 2000 finals.
Dave Gibbons insisted: "It has to be said that performance was nothing short of pathetic. Keegan's tactics once again were shocking and to say that we have a chance of winning the whole tournament is a joke."
Robert Mullen - “As a Scot, it sticks in my throat that we played England off the park in both games and came away with nothing. Player for player, no-one can argue about England's superiority but as a team that superiority lies with Scotland.”
Monday's Daily Record: "Failure to drag Scotland from the wreckage of an embarrassing Hampden defeat and into the Euro finals will leave him (Craig Brown) with no other option but to go.”
IT'S BEEN A GOOD WEEK FOR...
Kevin Keegan Against the odds (if you look back to the 0-0 draw in Poland), he's qualified England for Euro 2000.
Craig Brown Against the odds (if you look back to the home defeat by England), he's maybe done enough to save his job as Scotland boss.
Paul Scholes (the Latics fan) He's scored all five goals now in Keegan's two good wins.
Gary Kelly (Latics goalie) - Called up for The Republic of Ireland squad in Turkey.
IT'S BEEN A BAD WEEK FOR...
Craig Brown The bottom line next June will still be: he didn't qualify.
Kevin Keegan If things don't improve dramatically, the bottom line next June will be: he didn't qualify for the quarter-finals.
REASONS WHY ENGLAND HAD TO QUALIFY
1) Kevin Keegan has been speaking double Dutch for years.
2) The Belgians live on chips and beer. So no dietary problems, then.
3) Not even Martin Keown could fail to score in Amsterdam.
4) If the beef war is still on, the Frogs might refuse to play (beat) us.
5) Players have heard the Amsterdam Arena is a top night-spot.
6) Seaman is always popular in Amsterdam.
The Scottish Joke.....
A guy walks into a bar with an octopus. He sits the octopus down on a stool and tells everyone that this is a very talented octopus. "He can play any musical instrument in the world." Everyone in the bar laughs at the man, calling him an idiot. So he says that he will wager $50 to anyone who has an instrument that he can't play. A guy walks up and sits a guitar next to the octopus. Immediately the octopus picks up the guitar and starts playing better than Jimi Hendrix. The guitar man pays up the $50. Another guys walks up with a trumpet. This time the octopus plays the trumpet better than Miles Davis. The guy pays up his $50. Then a Scotsman walks with some bagpipes. He sits them down and the octopus fumbles with it for a minute and then sits down with a confused look.
"Ha!" the Scot says, "Can ye nae plae it?" The octopus looks up at him and says, "Play it? I'm going to make love with it as soon as I figure out how to get its pyjamas off!"
Summing Up....
The best result for all occurred. Scotland won and retained face. Their manager’s position was secured (for a small period of time at least). England played badly and went through. Keegan knew what he was doing. He wanted England to be a low seeding in the draw. The only thing to complete the scenario is for Oldham to beat Swansea in tomorrows FA Cup, Second Round game.
First the Jocks now the Jacks................. Time will tell.
After The Game The Kindly Scots Helped Get The Redevelopment Of Wembley Underway