Welcome to the penultimate chapter of my Championship Manager 99/00 series with Scotland. Tensions are rising in the Tartan Army as the 2008 European Championship draws nearer. Today’s chapter will cover the final season of pre-tournament friendlies.
If you want to find out just why Rod Stewart looks so stressed out here, you can revisit the first year of our Euro preparations in Part 11. I don’t want to talk about it.
SEPTEMBER 2007
So here we are, folks – it’s my final season in charge of Scotland. Euro 2008 is just around the corner, and I’ll pass on the torch once we’ve finished co-hosting the tournament with Wales.
Speaking of Wales, we’re beginning this chapter by playing them at Hampden Park. Let’s quickly check in with how their manager Mark Hughes is getting on…
There’s a bug with international player/managers on CM99/00. When they retire from playing while managing a national team, their job title changes to “Unemployed”, and when you try to click on their profile, the game crashes. (The “Unemployed” bug still exists in CM00/01 and CM01/02, but you can at least view their profile without getting a runtime error.)
Anyway, here’s the squad…
GOALKEEPERS: Neil Alexander, Alan Combe, Robert Douglas
DEFENDERS: Alan Archibald, Brian Donaldson, Steven Hammell, Graeme Hendry, Kevin James, Kevin McCann, Craig McCulloch, Gary Naysmith, Jim Walker
MIDFIELDERS: Iain Anderson, Michael Balfour, Craig Callaghan, Willie Howie, Allan Johnston, Gary Mason, Neil McCann, Steve McKenzie, Ken Rafferty, Marvyn Wilson
FORWARDS: Marc Anthony, Mark Burchill, Michael Craig, Jim McDonald
No fewer than six players – Russell Anderson, Paul Rudden, Baldur Bett and Barry Ferguson and Paul Watson were absent – and all with groin injuries. In unrelated news, I’m expecting a baby boom among Scotland footballers just before the Euros kick off.
There was also no Jermaine McSporran, who’d yet to find a new club after leaving Tottenham on a free transfer. This summer had seen Dalglish move from Chelsea to Leeds, while Rudden had travelled across the Midlands to sign for Nottingham Forest from Port Vale.
While Rab Douglas hadn’t moved clubs, he had been ousted as Celtic’s first-choice shotstopper after they signed former Milan goalkeeper/right-winger Christian Abbiati. That meant the Scotland number 1 jersey was up for grabs again – and Alexander had put himself in contention with some strong performances for newly-promoted Premiership side Tranmere.
The other uncapped player in my squad was McDonald, who scored 17 Scottish Premier League goals for Raith Rovers last season. Only Craig at Dundee United had bettered that, so it would be interesting to see if this new strike partnership could outshine our Anthony and Burchill ‘Old Firm’ dream team.
SCOTLAND 1-1 WALES (Friendly)
After six minutes, the signs were looking good. In-form Fulham midfielder Craig Callaghan hit a fantastic first-time ball to near-namesake Michael, who half-volleyed in the opener. Sadly, McDonald couldn’t join him on the scoresheet, partly because Danny Coyne turned out to be the new Neville Southall.
To be fair, Alexander was also performing heroics in the Scotland goal… but his dream debut was ruined by Chelsea striker Andrew Mainwaring on the hour mark. Anthony and Burchill came on to try and turn the game back in our favour, but it appeared that they’d left their scoring boots in 2006.
You can make that FOUR draws in a row. On the bright side, England were the first team to qualify for Euro 2008.
NOVEMBER 2007
Our schedule was clear in October, so we just sat back and watched the preliminary group stage reach its climax. Joining England in qualifying as group winners were France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Yugoslavia, Belgium, holders Denmark and first-time qualifiers Slovakia.
Romania were the best 2nd-placed team, so they could also start planning for the Euros. The final four places would be decided in November by play-offs between Switzerland and the Czech Republic, Norway and Germany, Israel and Sweden, and Bulgaria and Holland.
That month saw us play our fifth and final home friendly of this year – against renowned international soccer behemoths Australia. I mean… if we couldn’t beat those shark-wrestling, barbie-grilling, Fosters-drinking Sheilas and their cokehead goalkeeper, I might as well resign immediately and manage Wycombe in Division 3 instead!
[I’d like to humbly apologise to my Australian readers for any offence I might have caused.]
[Zoink!]
Mark Burchill had now not scored for Scotland since the 2006 World Cup Quarter Final against France. He was also struggling to find the net for Celtic as well, having only hit one goal in their first 12 games of the reason. I’d now lost patience, and for the first time, I left him out of the Tartan Army by choice.
That was good news for Dalglish, who’d now returned from injury. Bett, Ferguson and Watson were also back, with Johnston, McKenzie and Wilson being dropped. Another change to my squad saw Tottenham left-back Dominic Matteo return once again after Naysmith tore a groin muscle.
After initially being named in the squad, two of our most influential players – James and Howie – picked up groin and ankle injuries respectively. Newcastle defender Russell Anderson was restored, and young defensive midfielder Robert Wilson got another chance after returning to form with Newcastle.
SCOTLAND 1-1 AUSTRALIA (Friendly)
I can’t believe this. I actually cannot believe this.
Neil McCann put us ahead after 23 minutes with his 12th goal in 40 caps, but then our players’ minds turned into jelly again and we let the Aussies back in the game. Harry Kewell’s 56th-minute free-kick gave the Socceroos a draw, and so we completed our 2007 schedule with THE most uninspiring list of results unimaginable.
If you really want to know, the four teams who won the play-offs were Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and Holland. Right now, I wouldn’t expect us to beat any of them, even if they gave Neil Sullivan citizenship and put him in their goal. (Neil is now 37 and still playing regularly, having somehow weaseled his way to Liverpool.)
JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2008
I didn’t actually take the Wycombe job in the end. You may know from my previous series that I’m an absolute glutton for punishment, but come on… I’m not THAT masochistic. Instead, they hired some crime thriller writer named Steve Bruce.
At a slightly higher level, Manchester United missed the chance to win a record third FIFA World Club Championship in Amsterdam. After winning their group without conceding a goal, they squandered the Final 1-0 to Feyenoord, whose Burkina Faso forward Mamadou Zongo scored an 87th-minute penalty.
Meanwhile, with Rangers on course to retain the SPL, manager John Deehan unexpectedly went south to take over a mid-table Arsenal team. His replacement at Ibrox was… former Chelsea boss Gwyn Williams. Probably not a good idea, guys.
Oh yeah, and the Euro 2008 draw took place.
The tournament would open up on 7 June with us hosting Wales at Hampden Park. This would be the Red Dragons’ first European Championship, and they would be hoping to better their World Cup performance by getting out of the group.
We would follow that with successive matches at Celtic Park against Sweden (and their ridiculous crop of ex-wonderkids) and Spain (who beat us 4-2 at England 2006). If we are to make it to the Quarter Finals, we’ve got to start playing well again – and very well at that.
But yeah, it looks like Wales won’t even get to play on Welsh soil at their home tournament. I wonder what Mark Hughes makes of that…
MARCH 2008
Before the Euros got underway, we had two more friendlies in which to fine-tune our preparations and find some form. The first of them was against Austria in Vienna, where we had a pretty good record of late.
Alas, there would be no Marc Anthony in the squad as the Rangers striker faced a race to get fit for the finals. Douglas couldn’t even get on Celtic’s bench these days – and he, Bett, Iain Anderson and Neil McCann all paid the price for miserable campaigns.
Captain James and left-back Naysmith were restored at the expense of Kevin McCann and Matteo respectively. Fellow stalwarts Burchill and Howie earned recalls, as did Preston’s attacking midfielder Mark McCormick.
24-year-old Fulham goalkeeper James Evans and 26-year-old Perugia midfielder Steven Nicholas got their first senior call-ups. They were later joined by a third potential debutant in Norwich’s 21-year-old centre-back John Graham, who replaced an injured Hendry.
If you’re wondering where the heck McSporran was, the guy who’d scored 16 Premier League goals for Tottenham last season was now playing semi-regular Division 1 football for Portsmouth. He’s had an even more shocking fall from grace than Lee McCulloch (more on him later).
During our rotten run of draws, I’d used all of my most-trusted tactical systems – the diamond, the 4-3-3, the 3-5-2 – to try and get us out of our rut. I’d even considered using the ‘Diablo’, but then I realised… that only really worked on CM03/04.
So I took a leaf out of the international management playbook written by my esteemed compatriot Michael Bassett. When nothing else works, go back to 4-4-2.
AUSTRIA 0-2 SCOTLAND (Friendly)
WE’VE WON A GAME!!! Who knew going back to 4-4-2 would be the answer?
Nicholas burst onto the international scene with a spirited displ ay at right-wing, being the driving force of several Scottish attacks. While his shooting was wayward to say the least, he did help break the deadlock in the 59th minute when his cross was powered in by Dalglish.
20 minutes later, it was 2-0, thanks to a wonderful corner delivery from ‘Bob’ Wilson – now playing for Birmingham. Michael Craig headed home his fourth international goal, and after such a long wait, all was good within the Tartan Army again…
APRIL 2008
If you’re a regular reader, you’d probably have figured out who our next opponents after Austria were. Yep, that’s right. Our final warm-up before the Euros was at home to Tur… Switzerland.
For the first time, I named a completely unchanged squad, as everyone stayed clear of injuries. What a nice change.
The day before the big game, we had a ‘B’ international against a Swiss reserve side. For the occasion, I brought back several former Scotland internationals for one last Hampden hurrah, with several younger lads completing the squad.
But now it was time for the main event. Could Scotland’s ‘A’ team finish our Euro preparations in style?
SCOTLAND 1-1 SWITZERLAND (Friendly)
Erm… no. You can probably guess what happened. Our players were clearly puzzled as to why Marc Wyss was playing in goal AND at right-back for Switzerland – and they were also often getting him confused for his brothers David, Marco and David.
In all seriousness, we were sloppy in the first half and were duly punished midway through by a counter-attack. Our visitors went into the break 1-0 up thanks to a fantastic strike from Bayern München midfielder – and Jonathan Ross’ favourite footballer – Raphael Wicky.
Nonetheless, one of our own midfield magicians weaved his wand in the 58th minute to spare us from an embarrassing defeat. After Marco Wyss intercepted a Watson corner, Ferguson got to the loose ball and drove it past Marc Wyss.
SEASON ROUND-UP
For reasons unknown (other than perhaps Championship Manager being Championship Manager), our Euro 2008 group match against Sweden was rescheduled just weeks before the tournament.
It would be played three days earlier, thus giving Sweden less than 48 hours’ rest between their first two group games. In addition, it would now take place at Hampden Park, not Celtic Park. (I’m not suggesting that my bosses have been cosying up with UEFA executives or buying them expensive watches, but… you know…)
I’ll be covering Euro 2008 in full in the next post, which will also be the series finale. In the meantime, let’s assess the state of play across the major competitions in the 2007/2008 season.
We actually saw a proper title race in Scotland for once. Rangers didn’t seal the championship until the final day, beating Partick Thistle 2-1 to hold off Celtic by two points. The Gers also beat their Glasgow rivals in the League Cup Final. However, the Bhoys did lift their fifth Scottish cup in six years, defeating Hearts in extra-time.
A major upset saw Manchester United lose their Premiership crown, not to Liverpool or Leeds… but West Ham. George Graham ended a glorious managerial career by leading the Hammers (who finished 12th last year) to their first English title on the final day. The Red Devils did at least take home the League Cup.
Liverpool won their first FA Cup since 1992, which made up for the disappointment of losing the UEFA Cup Final 2-0 to Montpellier. In the Champions League, Juventus returned to the pinnacle with a 1-0 Final triumph over Ajax, in which the evergreen Juninho scored the 9th-minute winner.
Surprisingly, Juve haven’t won a single Serie A scudetto over the course of this save. Luis Fernández’s side only finished 5th this year, with Claudio Ranieri’s Fiorentina taking the spoils. Dilly ding, dilly dong!
Barcelona continued their dominance of La Liga with a magnificent SEVENTH title in a row, staving off Real Madrid by two points. Bayern won the Bundesliga for the third year on the spin, Ajax took their eighth Eredivisie crown in nine years, and Marseille’s three-year reign as Ligue 1 kings was ended by Bordeaux.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Before I go, I just want to update you on the whereabouts on some of my former Scotland players…
Tom Boyd [age 43]: Long-time Scotland right-back Boyd had a strange end to his career, playing in Ghana for Hearts of Oak – and then in Essex for Billericay – before quitting in 2004.
John Collins [age 40]: The midfielder and set-piece specialist left Everton in the summer of 2003, retiring soon afterwards.
Christian Dailly [age 34]: After several years as a lower-league regular with Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday, centre-back Dailly is now developing his duck goal celebrations at non-league Aylesbury.
Matt Elliott [age 39]: Elliott retired from the game in 2006, finishing up at Sheffield United in Division 1.
Scot Gemmill [age 37]: I didn’t follow Archie’s lad too closely after the midfielder drifted out of the Tartan Army set-up, but he’s long retired too. The last time I saw him, he was playing for Bradford in 2004.
Jon Gould [age 39]: After four years as a benchwarmer, Gould joined Conference side Frickley for a season. The goalkeeper has been a free agent since last summer but has now decided to retire.
Colin Hendry [age 43]: Our tough-as-nails ex-skipper called it a career at Cambridge United in 2005. His blond locks have long gone.
David Hopkin [age 37]: The erstwhile speedy right-winger has ended his playing career on a high this year, helping Yeovil secure promotion to Division 2 for the first time.
Don Hutchison [age 37]: After a hit-and-miss spell at Portsmouth, the attacking midfielder finished his career with Montrose in the Scottish lower leagues.
Eoin Jess [age 37]: The midfielder/striker was released by Premiership strugglers Fulham last November and has surely played his last match.
Paul Lambert [age 38]: Lambert saw out his playing days in the Conference, playing for Steve Bruce’s Doncaster in the 2006/2007 season.
Brian McAllister [age 37]: Big centre-half Brian is now at Barnet, where he averaged 7.24 over 42 matches this season. Bear in mind that the Bees just missed out on the Division 1 play-offs, and you realise how well he’s still playing today.
Lee McCulloch [age 30]: McCulloch has been stuck in Ireland since 2002, scoring close to 100 league goals for Athlone Town. How good might he have become had he stayed in Britain?
Jackie McNamara [age 34]: The right-back ended his long stay at Celtic last summer and is now winding down his career with Newtown in the Welsh Premier League.
Alex Rae [age 38]: As far as I know, Rae is my only former player who’s gone into management. After a short stint at Stirling in 2003/2004, he took charge of Division 3 side Dumbarton earlier this year, bringing in Dirk Kuijt as his first signing.
Paul Ritchie [age 32]: Centre-half Ritchie lost his Scotland spot after a terrible Premiership campaign saw Derby relegated. He’s since rediscovered his form at Pride Park, so don’t rule out a future recall under the next national manager.
Neil Sullivan [age 38]: Our former number 1 spent six-and-a-half years at Tottenham before (as I mentioned earlier) he somehow got a late-career move to Liverpool. He played in the UEFA Cup Final, for goodness sake!
David Weir [age 37]: The unluckiest man in my Scotland team narrowly missed out on tournament selection in 2002, 2004 and 2006. The veteran defender was released by Everton shortly after his latest heartache and never played again.
Again, results haven’t been too great, but I hope this has whetted your appetite for the big series finale.
Can Scotland save their best tournament for my last? Or will my tenure end in bitter disappointment? You can find out when Part 13 goes live on Monday morning. Don’t miss it.
Until next time, thank you for reading.
Fuller FM 
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