My Championship Manager 99/00 story gets back underway now on Fuller FM. I’ve already rewritten history by taking Scotland to one major tournament, and now we’ve got another in our sights.
You join us midway through the Euro 2004 qualifiers, where Scotland are battling England and three other teams for a place at the upcomining continental finals. If you want to see how we got on in our earlier matches, you can read Part 5 right here.
When you’re ready, let’s get going…
APRIL 2003
Scotland went into the second half of our Euro 2004 qualifying campaign looking good to reach next year’s finals in Portugal. We were top of Group 8, albeit only ahead of Bulgaria on head-to-head, with England two points behind.
We would soon face our two group rivals – but first up was a trip to Macedonia, who’d famously taken a point off England in February. Real Madrid midfielder Barry Ferguson and Celtic left-back Gary Naysmith missed the trip to Skopje with knee injuries, but these were the 26 players who did make it:
GOALKEEPERS: Alan Combe, Robert Douglas, Neil Sullivan
DEFENDERS: Russell Anderson, Kevin James, Brian McAllister, Dominic Matteo, Craig McCulloch, Jackie McNamara, Tony Smith, David Weir
MIDFIELDERS: Iain Anderson, Jamie Buchan, Craig Callaghan, Scot Gemmill, Willie Howie, Eoin Jess, Allan Johnston, Paul Lambert, Neil McCann, Mark McCormick, Jamie McKenzie
FORWARDS: Marc Anthony, Mark Burchill, Michael Craig, Paul Dalglish
There’s one name there that you will not recognise. It’s time to introduce you to another regen…
I’m very excited about Craig McCulloch at right-back. Since joining Arsenal from Derby at the end of 2001, McCulloch has thrilled the Highbury faithful with his crossing ability and consistency. The 20-year-old has even been trusted to succeed Tony Adams as Gunners captain, and I’ve no doubt he’ll be leading the Tartan Army before long.
MACEDONIA 0-3 SCOTLAND (Euro 2004 Qualifying – Group 8, Match 5)
With Burchill and Anthony taking a back seat, the stage was set for Prince Paul of Dalglish to be crowned King of Macedonia. The 26-year-old Chelsea striker blasted in the opener after 26 minutes, with McCulloch getting an assist on his debut.
Howie and Craig each spurned several opportunities to get on the scoresheet, so Dalglish hogged the limelight all for himself. An early second-half stunner and a late volley completed Paul’s hat-trick and left Alexander’s fellow Macedonians feeling far from Great.
Meanwhile at Wembley, England got their campaign back on track with a 3-1 Wembley win over Bulgaria in which Andy Cole scored twice. They thus moved into 2nd, with the opportunity to steal top spot if they won at Hampden Park in June.
JUNE 2003
Before the biggest game of our campaign so far, let’s look at the major stories from the 2002/2003 season.
Roy Hodgson’s Celtic snatched the Scottish Premier League title back for Rangers before beating Raith Rovers 3-0 in the Scottish Cup Final. However, Gers newcomer Anthony pipped Bhoys hotshot Burchill to the SPL’s Golden Boot by 24 goals to 23.
South of the border, Leeds were living the dream. Not only did David O’Leary, Peter Ridsdale and their bank manager celebrate beating Manchester United to the title by five points, but they then pipped Arsenal to the FA Cup. [Sigh] At least my beloved Gunners beat Aston Villa on penalties to win the League Cup.
Bayern München lifted their first European Cup in 27 years, as Jardel came off the bench to win them the Champions League Final against Barcelona. Spain did get the better of Germany in the UEFA Cup Final, though, with two Pablo Coira penalties delivering Celta the silverware at VfB Stuttgart’s expense.
Oh, and a 17-year-old striker who’d made one substitute appearance in the Italian fourth division was nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year. Of course.
Now… England. I initially made three changes to my squad, taking out Callaghan, Smith and Weir to reinstate Ferguson, Naysmith and St Mirren defender Paul Rudden. A fourth change became necessary when Michael Craig dislocated his shoulder, with St Johnstone forward Kevin Thomas being drafted in.
Kilmarnock hosted the Under-21s warm-up match, which we ‘dominated’ statistically but still only drew 1-1. Callaghan’s 39th-minute opener was cancelled out early in the second half by England winger Matthew Etherington. Even so, a similar result at Hampden wouldn’t exactly be terrible for us.
These were the tactics these two bitter foes pitted against each other. While we looked to take the game to our English visitors with an ambitious 4-3-3, Kevin Keegan had opted for a more cautious counter-attacking system.
Being tactically outsmarted by Keegan would be like losing a game of chess to my pet cat. I couldn’t bear even the thought of it. We could not lose this match.
SCOTLAND 1-1 ENGLAND (Euro 2004 Qualifying – Group 8, Match 6)
It’s fair to say neither team took any prisoners in this match! England drew first blood in the 19th minute, when Andy Cole thundered in his fifth goal of the qualifying campaign. Not bad for someone who only netted four goals for Manchester United all season.
The referee had handed out three bookings before Cole’s opener, and he would deal another three before we equalised. A fantastic pass from Howie two minutes before half-time played in Anthony, who just couldn’t stop scoring for the Tartan Army.
The Auld Enemy were feeling the heat, and Jamie Carragher wilted under pressure 11 minutes into the second half. A mistimed challenge on Ferguson earned the Liverpool stopper a second yellow card, and England needed to dig their heels in to grind out a draw.
We therefore took a two-point lead into September, where victory over 3rd-placed Bulgaria would secure us a play-off spot. Macedonia were definitely out of the top-two running. While Armenia still had a mathematical chance of making the play-offs, it was as likely as – say – a 17-year-old Italian regen finishing 2nd in the European Footballer of the Year voting.
SEPTEMBER 2003
Back-to-back major tournaments on British soil, anyone? England will stage the 2006 World Cup, and now it’s been announced that Scotland are co-hosting Euro 2008 with Wales! If I’m still managing the Tartan Army by then, that would be the perfect time to end my reign.
As far as the next Euros were concerned, though, we still had a little way to go to book our place in Portugal. Beating Bulgaria put us on the brink of qualifying as Group 8, though a slip-up would potentially hurt our chances of even making the play-offs.
One man who would be key to us in Sofia was Howie, who’d been on the move again this summer. After suffering a THIRD consecutive Premiership relegation with Leicester, the young playmaker had taken his talents to newly-promoted Manchester City for £7.5million. I’d put short odds on the Citizens immediately returning to Division 1 and Willie signing for Grimsby next year…
Manchester United left-back Steven Hammell would finally earn his first Scotland cap in this match. The 21-year-old PFA Player of the Year runner-up had been plagued by untimely injuries this year, missing our previous three matches with a bruised head, a groin strain and a damaged shoulder. Thankfully, he didn’t suffer a nosebleed on the flight to Bulgaria.
Hammell took the place of Naysmith, who was kept home by suspension. Despite Dundee’s relegation from the SPL, Michael Craig was recalled after a hamstring injury grounded Burchill, while Wilson was reinstated ahead of Buchan.
BULGARIA 1-1 SCOTLAND (Euro 2004 Qualifying – Group 8, Match 7)
For a long time, this match was making me want to tear my hair out. Anthony and Howie battered the Bulgarian goals with shots in the first half, but Ivaylo Ivanov just batted them away with ease. Another infuriating moment saw Dalglish get poked in the eye by defender Bahva Ivanov, who somehow escaped with only a booking.
Then came the 71st minute. Douglas tipped behind a drive from Dimtcho Beliakov to concede a corner, which Rosen Kirilov delivered into the box. Waiting for it was Ivanov’s centre-back partner Krasimir Dimitrov, who crashed in the shot that would surely deal a cruel blow to our Euro 2004 hopes.
Three minutes later, though, that all changed, as one former Rangers hero came to the aid of a current Ibrox icon. Ferguson found a gap in the Bulgarian defence, exploiting it with a lovely ball to Anthony that was rifled home by the 25-year-old goal machine.
Meanwhile, a late hat-trick from Robbie Fowler saw England beat Armenia 3-0 and replace us at the summit on head-to-head. The Three Lions would therefore secure automatic qualification if they won their final match, against a Macedonia side who were still winless and surely couldn’t end that…
How about that! In fact, Armenia also found a way to beat Bulgaria 3-1 and knock them out of contention! That meant a point at Hampden against Armenia would see us through as group winners, and likely consign England to the play-offs!
OCTOBER 2003
For our final game, I restored five players to the squad. Midfielders Craig Callaghan (Huddersfield) and Michael Balfour (Wimbledon) were promoted back from the Under-21s, while Burchill and Weir also returned. Ferguson, Gemmill and Rudden were injured, with Michael Craig dropping out.
My fifth change came a week before the game, when James twisted his knee in Hearts’ 1-0 win over newly-promoted Clyde. The skipper was replaced with 25-year-old Chelsea centre-back Alan Archibald, who would make his senior debut, as would Kevin Thomas.
So yeah… we needed a point to qualify. What could possibly go wrong?
24 hours before the big game, our Under-21s suffered their most humiliating result yet after being beaten by an Armenian Spork – a Coffi Spork, in fact! Greyed-out players have the best names in Championship Manager, that’s for sure!
Fortunately, I couldn’t find any Costa cutlery in Armenia’s senior squad (though, bizarrely enough, I did come across a defensive midfielder named Colin). Surely their weaponry would be no match for ours?
SCOTLAND 4-0 ARMENIA (Euro 2004 Qualifying – Group 8, Match 8)
Absolutely not. A stunning solo goal from young right-back McCulloch broke the Armenian resistance after just 19 minutes, and we never looked back. Our midfield dribbling wizard Howie thrilled Hampden with a couple more strikes late in the first half to give us a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The final blow was struck 10 minutes into the second half, as Howie powered in a free-kick for his hat-trick – and his 10th goal in just 21 Scotland caps. I brought him off to a standing ovation immediately before we cruised through the final half-hour, letting our visitors have only one shot on goal.
Joining us as group winners were Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Croatia, Spain, France, Denmark and first-time qualifiers Finland. World champions Sweden went through as one of the three best runners-up alongside Belgium and Holland. England and Wales faced play-offs against Switzerland and Norway, with the Czech Republic and Romania also battling over a spot.
NOVEMBER 2003
To celebrate our qualification for Euro 2004, we invited our Aussie friends back to Hampden for an end-of-year party. They would bring the beer; we would serve the food.
Neither Howie nor Matteo could make it – groin and calf strains, respectively. Naysmith returned after sitting out the last few squads, and Ferguson was back in too, even though his recent form for Real Madrid had been disappointing. Honestly, I’m surprised Real haven’t just sold Barry to Newcastle yet.
Thomas wouldn’t get a second cap yet because of a thigh injury, which meant Dundee United striker Steven Thompson was in line for his first. James was also staying at home, so I decided to give the captain’s armband to rising star McCulloch for the first time. How would he handle the occasion?
SCOTLAND 1-2 AUSTRALIA (Friendly)
Honestly… not great. To be fair to McCulloch, I think some of the other lads had too much haggis and Foster’s. How else would you explain us losing at home to a team ranked outside the world’s top 100?
We actually started pretty well, with Johnston scoring in the fourth minute after Mark Bosnich had spilled an Anthony shot to his feet. But then Neil Sullivan – making his first appearance since the 4-0 loss at Wembley last year – was beaten to a Lorenz Kindtner cross by Paul Agostino, who quickly drew the Socceroos level.
Disaster then struck in the 32nd minute, when McKenzie knocked Craig Moore over in the penalty area. The Rangers and Australia captain duly put his country ahead from 12 yards, and that was how it stayed. I would’ve made a joke about man of the match Bosnich being drugged up if I hadn’t already done that last time.
England joined us at Euro 2004 by beating Switzerland in the play-offs, but Wales conceded a last-minute Egil Østenstad equaliser and went out to Norway on away goals. Romania thrashed the Czech Republic to complete the 16-team line-up.
So Scotland are heading into a second consecutive major tournament! Now that’s something Scottish football fans could only dream of in real life!
I’ll be back on Monday, when we’ll go through the 2004 European Championships. Can we build on a successful 2002 World Cup, or will we revert to our old ways and be back home before the postcards?
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Fuller FM 
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