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Gallus: Scotland, England and the 1967 World Cup Final
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who insist that football is just a game, and those who know better. Take the April 1967 clash between England and Scotland. Wounded by their biggest rivals winning the World Cup just nine months earlier, Bobby Brown's Scots travelled to Wembley on the mother of all missions. Win and they would take a huge step towards qualifying for the 1968 European Championship, end England's formidable 19-game unbeaten streak, and, best of all, put Sir Alf Ramsey's men firmly back in their box. Lose? Well, that was just unthinkable. Meanwhile, off the pitch, the winds of change were billowing through Scotland. Nationalism, long confined to the margins of British politics, was starting to penetrate the mainstream, gaining both traction and influence. Was England's World Cup victory a defining moment in the Scottish independence movement? Or did it consign Scotland to successive generations of myopic underachievement? Michael McEwan, author of The Ghosts of Cathkin Park, returns to 1967 to explore a crucial ninety minutes in the rebirth of a nation.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 22, 2023
An excellent account of the Scotland victory over England at Wembley in 1967. The author is clearly a journalist of some quality. The writing style is fluid and engaging.
The book is well researched, from newspaper archives and autobiographies, but also provides first hand insight, notably from interviews conducted with figures such as Jim McCalliog, a player of whom the author is clearly very fond. The research places the game in both its social and historical context, with the detail really giving excellent insight to the time.
The England point of view is well represented in a book designed for a Scots audience, if a little over-reliant on views taken from Bobby Charlton’s writings. To this Scot the book celebrated and applauded the English achievements appropriately.
This book really should have been 5 stars. It’s a bit harsh it misses out but I felt the structure, particularly in the first half of the book is a little disjointed. This book should have been a little simplified. It tries to do a little too much. It cannot be denied that fitba is the way that many Scots have been forced to, or chosen to, represent themselves and their Scottishness on the world stage. But the sideways focus of the book on politics and nationalism really feels like it is under-explored and the two or so chapters that focus on this read like necessarily broad descriptions which overlook much of the nuance and feel shoehorned into the narrative. This doesn’t really work.
Strip this focus back a little and you have a superb, engaging, well researched look at a game that has gone into Scottish folklore. I think there is still scope for a book on how fitba affects Scottish identity and politics. This book doesn’t do that. But it didn’t need to try.
4.5 stars.
The book is well researched, from newspaper archives and autobiographies, but also provides first hand insight, notably from interviews conducted with figures such as Jim McCalliog, a player of whom the author is clearly very fond. The research places the game in both its social and historical context, with the detail really giving excellent insight to the time.
The England point of view is well represented in a book designed for a Scots audience, if a little over-reliant on views taken from Bobby Charlton’s writings. To this Scot the book celebrated and applauded the English achievements appropriately.
This book really should have been 5 stars. It’s a bit harsh it misses out but I felt the structure, particularly in the first half of the book is a little disjointed. This book should have been a little simplified. It tries to do a little too much. It cannot be denied that fitba is the way that many Scots have been forced to, or chosen to, represent themselves and their Scottishness on the world stage. But the sideways focus of the book on politics and nationalism really feels like it is under-explored and the two or so chapters that focus on this read like necessarily broad descriptions which overlook much of the nuance and feel shoehorned into the narrative. This doesn’t really work.
Strip this focus back a little and you have a superb, engaging, well researched look at a game that has gone into Scottish folklore. I think there is still scope for a book on how fitba affects Scottish identity and politics. This book doesn’t do that. But it didn’t need to try.
4.5 stars.
April 11, 2025
brilliant, insightful book full of anecdotes and stories from the build up to the game and the game itself.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews