Ally MacLeod - International Management

International Management

After such success with Ayr and Aberdeen, in May 1977 the Scottish Football Association appointed him manager of the Scotland national football team. He introduced himself to the squad with the blunt statement: "My name is Ally MacLeod and I am a winner." In few months in charge, he beat England at Wembley and ensured qualification for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina from a group containing Wales and the then European champions, Czechoslovakia.

Scotland's World Cup expectations gathered momentum with MacLeod happy with the wave of massive optimism, saying to the press his team would return with "at least a medal". Scottish comedian Andy Cameron recorded a version of "Ally's Tartan Army", which reached Number 6 on the UK charts just before the World Cup.

Qualification was particularly sweet for Scotland since, for the second World Cup in succession, Scotland had achieved what their traditional rivals England had not. Defeat against England (who had fallen to MacLeod's team the previous year) in the Home Championships of 1978 was taken to mean little. Spirits remained sky-high as 25,000 people came to Hampden Park to watch the squad circle the ground in an open-top bus prior to their departure for Argentina. Prestwick Airport was packed with supporters seeing the team off. When a journalist asked him "What do you plan to do after the World Cup?" MacLeod replied: "Retain it."

Some observers were worried by the absence through injury of full-back Danny McGrain. Opponents Peru's impressive credentials went overlooked and were not expected to provide many problems in the first match. Peru, however, won the game 3-1. Scotland took the lead but Don Masson missed a penalty and in general failed to play to their potential. As MacLeod himself put it, the performance was "rank bad".

Plentiful excuses emerged: there had been a dispute concerning bonuses, the hotel swimming pool had no water in it, there was nothing for the players to do. It was then revealed that the winger Willie Johnston had taken a cold tablet which contained a banned substance, fencamfamin. He was sent home.

MacLeod, at a press conference, saw a mongrel dog approach: "I think he is the only friend I have got left", he said, stretching out a hand.

The game with Iran finished a 1-1 draw, after a poor display by the Scots. They then needed to beat the Netherlands, one of the tournament favourites, by three clear goals, to qualify.

MacLeod gave Graeme Souness his first game of the World Cup and was rewarded with a much-improved team performance. When Archie Gemmill scored what is widely thought to be one of the greatest World Cup goals ever (it was officially ranked seventh best by FIFA), to make the score 3-1 to Scotland, qualification to the next phase at last looked possible. Three minutes later, though, the Dutch pulled a goal back, the game ended 3-2 and Scotland were eliminated on goal difference. The Netherlands proceeded to the final, where they lost to Argentina.

MacLeod survived an immediate inquest by the sport's authorities but resigned after one more game in charge, only 17 matches and about 500 days after his appointment.

The Scottish Football Association's annual report, issued in May 1979, stated that, "regardless of the depressing aspects of Mr MacLeod's latter days in the Association's employ, it would be quite unfair not to comment that he was largely responsible for kindling an enthusiasm for the Scottish team that far exceeded anything which had gone before. The Association benefited considerably from that enthusiasm and should not forget it".

In his autobiography, The Ally MacLeod Story (1979), he wondered whether he had "generated just too much excitement. Had I raised the level of national optimism just too high?" But he was able to console himself - "Would the Scottish fans have tolerated anything less from me than whole-hearted conviction?" MacLeod also reassured the reader that he, for one, never thought that Scotland were invincible, and claimed to be perfectly at peace with himself. "I am a very good manager who just happened to have a few disastrous days, once upon a time, in Argentina."