Simple geography, basic economics, won't stop the fans.
One Glasgow butcher is even selling his shop just to go to Argentina.
It'll be well worth it.
And these World Cup jerseys here, there's a limited amount of them.
I don't know why you're laughing because we're going to win the World Cup.
That's the cable.
As far as I'm concerned, newly married, me and my wife,
Scotland has got to win this World Cup.
Without a doubt, they're the best squad that's left the British Isles yet.
Every eventuality has been taken care of.
I think a medal of some sort will come,
and I pray and hope that it's the gold one.
Oh, yes!
That does it.
The space is in the wardrobe for it to be put there.
The first bus journey we did,
which I think was this bit here on the map,
took us 18 hours...
..and, at that point, you kind of start to think, "This is a big place."
This was a really remote part of the Highlands of Scotland.
Before night in 1978, we had no TV.
And it took a lot of work to take a cable from the hill behind us all the way here.
You're talking a good four miles of cable
and you dug, and you dug, and you dug.
We were digging to see Scotland win the World Cup.
Ah, wouldn't it be marvellous if Scotland
became the 1978 World Cup victors? I hope they do.
Excuse me, sir, would you buy one of these?
No.
Oh, superb!
The '70s were a difficult time in Scotland...
..a time of trial for all sorts of people.
Politics was very confused because there was no real Scottish dimension
in politics, in terms of a parliament or an assembly.
The old industries were dying, so it was a rough old time.
The Queen's approach provided ample evidence
of the decay and dereliction Scotland's planners and developers
are striving to remove.
Here was Scotland, it was still, by and large,
seen by many people as being a region of England.
It didn't have its own parliament.
It didn't have that sense of nationhood.
Yes, there was some talk of oil in the North Sea
and there were political parties arguing
it was Scotland's oil, therefore it should benefit Scotland.
That's what independence is about.
There's any number of ways you can do it.
And yet, somehow,
there wasn't the real feeling that we were the complete kind of nation.
And then along comes this mercurial, magical figure...
Ally MacLeod.
I think it's a bit like Muhammad Ali, you know, you get an image
and you live up to it.
He'd introduce himself and say, "I'm Ally MacLeod and I'm a winner."
When somebody comes out and says that to you, it makes you think
that we've got someone here that's going to take us
in the right direction.
I mean, how do you feel yourself on the field?
I mean, you must be happier in your own minds.
That's the first thing. If you don't enjoy football, you can chuck it.
When you look back on his previous career, with Aberdeen and Ayr,
he was successful with those clubs.
Ally MacLeod has won his first major prize in Scottish football.
He was a character in training.
He said, "Right, we'll go to the beach."
We came down here and it was worse than this than you are seeing just
now, there was about a foot of water,
and we played five-a-side in the water.
Bloody freezing.
Those who know me know I've worked for 13 years as a
manager and things haven't been easy for me.
I've had to work to where I've got here and I don't intend now to stop
working until there's a medal at least.
That yours? Your room?
And then my room was away... Aye, round the other side.
Undoubtedly, his greatest fans are his three children
and, for the moment at least, he can do no wrong.
He was optimistic.
He never looked on the negative side of anything.
He was just that type of person.
You can do anything and be anything if you put your mind to it.
At the same time, he was quite shy.
Sometimes there was a lot of bravado.
I'm quite confident in my own mind
that my manner of management is the right one, you know?
Here we go. Still pride of place.
There's a lot of happy memories,
so try and remember the happy ones.
I met him in 1953
and it was at the local dance.
He was a humorous person.
He was kind.
And I hadn't long lost my dad and I had two young sisters,
and he was absolutely fantastic with them.
I don't know, he seemed to bring out the best in people, really.
That's all I can say. Most people took to him.
Do you actually think you can get Scotland to the World Cup? Yeah, I think I've a great chance.
I wouldn't have taken the job if I hadn't, you know?
Nae bother! Nae bother, big yin!
# Into the valley
# Betrothed and divine
# Realisation's no virtue
# But who can define... #
What happens is you get guys who go
and truly not to watch a football match,
but to see themselves.
What they're really saying is, "Let me see me."
But if that outlet wasn't there for the supporters,
what else is there for them to do in Scotland anyway?
Well, what there might be, Dennis,
is Scotland might become more politically aware
if we were less football-conscious.
We're a stateless nation.
The Scotland national team was one of the few focuses
that we had for our national identity.
It was so important to have that expression
and the fitba team was good...
..and therefore there was a wee bit of a swagger developing.
Willie Johnston.
In it goes to Dalglish.
Lou Macari supporting.
There's an overlap. Martin Buchan.
Good running by Buchan, read it well.
There's Kenny Dalglish in there. Over it goes!
Oh, yes! That does it.
No wonder he turns to the supporters.
Scotland have qualified for the World Cup finals.
All the colour and excitement and national feeling that was associated
with football in those days
was kind of focused on an adventure
that was happening on the other side
of the world, in some exotic place, which no-one could really imagine.
Yes!
ARGENTINIAN AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENT
Erm, OK.
There's your shot.
I'll give you another go at this when the little boy comes out.
And as you've joined us in the capital city of Argentina...
I'll start again for you.
And as you join us in the capital city of Argentina,
a three-year-old boy, Ricardo Havelange,
the grandson of the president of the Federation of International Football
Associations, Doctor Havelange,
moves forward to his grandfather and to make the draw.
When the draw was made there was two or three of us in the STV studios,
sitting waiting on the draw coming through.
Escosia! Yes, Scotland.
The teams started coming out.
You know, Holland were the prize team.
So Scotland meet Holland in the last match in that group.
Peru.
Yes, Peru.
That's not too bad.
Scotland, by the way, have only played Peru once - they beat them then.
And then Iran comes out.
And Iran confirmed as going into Group Four...
..with Holland, Peru and Scotland.
Out of the blue beamed to Sean Connery,
who was in his house in Spain,
and he chipped in with everything that we thought,
"Oh, Peru, Iran, we'll beat them quite easy."
So that's the news from Argentina,
and I think there will be some smiles in Scotland tonight.
We thought qualification was guaranteed.
Iran?
Don't make me laugh.
First time for Iran in the finals.
The same with Peru. Just thought, "What? Peru?
"That boy that played in the 1970 World Cup, Cubillas."
Oh, look at his control! What a goal!
What's his name, right? How do you pronounce it?
Cubillas!
It was Thomas Cook we went to to just book up.
I had two or three mates that I travelled with
and we just agreed that we were going.
There was no questions, we were going.
I've afforded it simply because I'm in business
and I can take some money out of the business.
The business will maybe flounder, but...
..as long as the Scots do OK, you know?
I was in the rag trade at the time, so I was doing reasonably well.
One Glasgow butcher is even selling his shop just to go to Argentina.
How much is it costing you, Robert? Well, roughly £2,000.
Nae bother. Nae bother.
There was a tangible feeling of excitement about the expedition to Argentina
and it was an adventure for people
to a place most of them had never seen or imagined before.
The mind was made up. I was going to go
because I was Scottish, like, you know?
It was London to Madrid, then Madrid to Buenos Aires.
21 of us, kilts, scarfs, bonnets, and all that, like, you know?
1978, I was 18 and living in the north of Scotland.
My dad, he came to me on the dock gates.
I was at work and my dad phoned me.
There was a boat. Grain boat, loading, going out to Argentina.
We can get across on that grain boat,
work our passage and hitching a lift with it.
We had about four hours and we were on our way.
No money, Colin left his job, I sold my motorbike.
The plan was done in a pub in Edinburgh.
That's the map we took with us.
The Daily Telegraph map of South America -
that was it - that was our travel guide.
We flew into Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Which we thought was in South America.
Of course, it's in the Caribbean.
We had no idea there was 5,000 miles we had to go
to go from up here.
Buses and trains through Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru,
over the Andes to Bolivia, down into Argentina,
and then eventually down to Cordoba.
That's where Scotland were playing... For the first game. Peru.
I always remember that the first bus journey we did,
which is this bit here on the map, it took us 18 hours...
..and, at that point, you kind of start to think, "This is a big place."
MUSIC: Shang-A-Lang by The Bay City Rollers
# Radio Clyde, 261! #
It's Radio Clyde on 261
and the time now has just gone eight o'clock.
Now, I know they are listening to Radio Clyde at this moment and so,
on behalf of the whole of Scotland,
let me dedicate this record to Ally MacLeod and the captain,
Bruce Rioch, and to all the players, as well.
The very best of luck out there.
# Hey, it's been a very long time
# You wear it well
# A little old-fashioned but that's all right
# Well I suppose you're thinking I bet he's sinking
# Or he wouldn't get in touch with me... #
These World Cup jerseys here, there is a limited amount of them.
I don't know why you're laughing because we're going to win the World Cup.
MUSIC: Rocker by AC/DC
I think a medal of some sort will come,
and I pray and hope that it's the gold one.
# A rocker
# Roller
# Right out-of-controller... #
The fans call it World Cup fever,
but currently it's big business that's really dominating Scotland's
attempt to become the world champions -
simply pouring tens of thousands of pounds into Scotland's booming
football business.
I recall doing a tour of the country with Ally.
There's no question that people responded to him.
This was this relationship between the public that wanted this demigod
to succeed and a man who lapped it up.
We're the greatest team in the world!
The television and the papers all built him up.
You know, they believed what Ally was saying.
Everybody believed what Ally was saying.
Ally MacLeod had us believing we could win.
He was asked, "Can Scotland win the World Cup?"
And he would turn around and say yes.
I've been saying, if we win it and all the fans say,
"Forget the if, Ally, it's when we win it."
You know, the fans have now got all that.
Everybody wanted to be your friend. Everybody wanted to know Ally.
Everybody wanted to come to your house.
Every facet of culture was being swamped.
Football got into people's lives in a way it hadn't done before.
We're decked out in our kilts.
Thanks to Ally, all of the UK was interested in Scotland.
Well, this is on behalf of the Blue Peter viewers.
Ah, wouldn't it be marvellous if Scotland
became the 1978 World Cup victors? I hope they do.
When you're a young lad in Scotland and you want to be a footballer,
the dream is to get in the national team.
You've had it since you were a wee boy playing in the streets,
kicking a ball about,
hoping one day you would get a chance to play
at Hampden or Wembley or the Maracana.
I came from a family of six brothers.
My mother was widowed when I was ten years of age,
so it was hard. We had a hard time of it.
Just to be a footballer, you would do anything.
1-0 lead!
When Argentina came along in '78 and I was picked in the squad, you know,
for somebody in the family to go and do something was fantastic.
When the national squad was picked,
you hoped and prayed that you'd be in it
because there was that many exceptional Scottish players.
And when you get picked, the feeling is unbelievable.
Johnston going.
So you had Johnston playing wide,
very good player.
Then Kenny Dalglish,
fantastic player who was off the back of his first year at Liverpool.
Well, I have trouble enough trying to speak English,
trying to learn a foreign language would be a bit difficult for me.
Liverpool had just won the European Cup that year,
Dalglish had scored the winner in the final.
You've got players playing at the very highest level
in the English First Division.
And there by Jordan!
Joe Jordan! Who do you fear? Joe Jordan!
This image of Joe Jordan bulleting goals into the back of the net.
I'll tell you one thing, if they started in the English league,
the Scottish squad now,
the start of next season they played
in the English First Division, it'd be finished at Christmas.
It would be disappointing for the lads if they didn't make it because,
without a doubt, they're the best squad that's left the British Isles yet.
There's about four players all for that last place.
And I went to the toilet, and Ally came into the toilet and says,
"Right, son, away and phone your dad."
He says, "Don't phone anyone else, just your dad,
"and tell him you're going to Argentina.
And I said, "What?" And he said, "Shh."
Now we have a team which has the ability
to do the job when it has to be done.
CHANTING: We're going to Argentina!
I don't care what they say about West Germany,
Brazil or Italy or any other teams.
As far as I'm concerned, newly-married, me and my wife,
Scotland has got to win this World Cup.
We're praying as hard as we can and let's see if they can win the World Cup.
# We're on the march with Ally's army
# We're going to the Argentine
# And we'll really shake them up when... #
In 1698, five Scottish ships set off to conquer South America.
They hoped to establish a colony at Darien and an empire for Scotland.
They were led by a charismatic...
The arrangements for the departure, I've looked at the timing of things
and I think Ally would need to arrange transport to Hampden at 5:45.
The departure when they went around Hampden on the open-top bus,
what a joyous thing to happen,
the absolute audacity of saying,
"Oh, we'll have the going away party.
"We are so confident about going into this
"we'll actually fill Hampden Park and go round on an open top bus,
"the signifier of success and winning cups,
"we'll do that on the way out there, never mind on the way back."
I actually introduced the team onto the pitch.
Here's Asa Hartford, here's Archie Gemmill, right?
The whole country was carried away with the enthusiasm and the thought
that we might do something in the World Cup.
You had to walk out yourself, you didn't walk out with anybody else.
You had to walk from that dugout, out to the centre of the park,
and all these people were shouting for you.
"Oh, this is great."
But you didn't know what to do.
You see Ally MacLeod walking out,
he's got his hands in his pockets and his head's down
because he was really embarrassed about it all.
See going down the 77, heading to Prestwick in that bus,
the amount of people that were on the overheads on the motorways
with the Scotland flags and everything all the way down, it was wonderful.
Everybody up on the viaducts, everybody out in the local towns,
and the players were absolutely astounded. They couldn't believe it.
Got to Prestwick airport, it was bedlam.
It was something. I've never seen scenes like it before.
I'll never forget, when he was leaving,
he turned to me and he said,
"I'll either come back a hero or a villain."
We travelled down through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.
Buses, trains...
We just had to keep going.
And this was travelling third class with goats and chickens.
We were on a train, 18-hour journey,
and this lady came on the train with literally a tray,
and I kind of waved some money to her.
She took my money,
put my hands out like that and slapped a fried egg in each hand,
and then just walked away and left me.
And I'm sitting there trying to juggle these eggs and eat them -
and they were quite runny.
We basically worked our passage with a paintbrush in our hands...
..for the whole trip,
painting the boat, top to bottom, day in and day out.
30,000 people said farewell to the Scottish team
when they left Hampden Park for Argentina
and 30,000 welcomed them when they arrived in the city of Alta Gracia,
20 miles from Cordoba.
It was a highly emotional affair.
Nobody could quite explain why a city of 40,000 people should adopt
in such a fashion a football team from 7,000 miles away.
We just expected to drive up to the hotel and get to our bed.
I think all the lads were really tired.
And we see the reception we're getting here, it's lifted us all again.
It doesn't feel as if it was 29 hours ago we set out.
Certainly, no other national team has had the same class of treatment.
The friendliness of the Argentinians was quite amazing.
When we put on the kilts, we became instant heroes.
Many people would invite us back to their house
for dinner and to meet their families.
We were invited to barbecues.
They couldn't do enough for you.
I mean, we got invited to a party the first night.
The women were quite stunning.
I mean, they thought you were quite unique, you know,
going about in your kilt and your Highland dress, basically.
They were very amenable, shall we say?
We did gather in a place called Sorocabana.
It was a cafe bar. You know, drink and sing songs.
And I noticed Roxana.
# I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight
# Get teenage kicks right through the night... #
We made eye contact and she actually beckoned me across.
Dark hair, dark eyes, right out of the bat, I fancied her.
We attempted to communicate,
we didn't have any Spanish at all, and somehow we managed it.
A couple of giggles and jokes being told
and, yeah, we enjoyed a nice evening.
The coach took nearly half an hour
to travel the last few hundred yards,
with soldiers having to keep back the well-wishers.
We were already there, the press.
And Scotland arrive, we spoke to them,
got on their bus to go to the hotel and it broke down.
It was an old rickety bus that broke down three times.
At one stage, a few of the players had to get out and try and push the
thing to get it started, to get it up the hill.
And that was really the beginning of a lot of things going wrong.
They decided on this hotel in Alta Gracia...
..and this as their training ground.
I can't describe what it was, but it wasn't a hotel.
It was a place where they constructed rooms,
and it was still being worked on
because there was people putting carpet down,
and I think they put the rooms round an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
As soon as we went in to go for a swim, we opened the doors,
there was no water in the swimming pool - it wasn't finished.
The beds were no mattresses, they were rock hard.
The training pitch was a shocker.
We had some ankle injuries in the first couple of training sessions,
which meant we had to get the bus to Cordoba -
that took us about an hour to get there.
The Scots players finally began to train in earnest
for their first World Cup match against Peru on Saturday.
One image remains in my mind.
At a training session in the Cordoba Stadium, outside it,
20 men lined against the wall, noses against the wall,
hands above their heads, with two men with submachine guns.
There is still a real fear that the Montaneros
will carry out the earlier threat to disrupt the World Cup.
This to draw world attention to the violent campaign,
since the coup two years ago,
in which over 2,000 guerrillas have been killed
and another 7,000 Argentinian people have simply disappeared.
We put it out of our minds.
We were there to watch football, enjoy this festival of football.
Following the 1978 World Cup Opening Ceremony,
BBC One will begin live coverage of Scotland's matches.
There's about 15 of us.
It was hard work.
Just get the TV in for the Scotland game.
It brought the country together
because he had us believing we were going to win the World Cup.
To everyone back home at the television,
keep your fingers crossed.
The Peruvians look relaxed and happy,
here getting onto the World Cup roundabout in a big way.
You haven't bothered in your preparation to go to see Iran,
Peru and Holland?
Well, basically, what I've decided to do is to try
and win the World Cup by preparing my own team to perfection.
We felt at the start of that game the magnitude of the situation came
right home to me.
And I'm here, I've came from the streets playing football,
and now I'm at a World Cup,
and I was just hoping I wouldn't let anybody down...
My grandad in particular, my family,
all my mates who were in the pubs.
Scotland's one up, 14.5 minutes gone.
Well done, Scotland. The perfect start.
Ally just said, "Look, it's all about us.
"It's all about us. We've got the players that are better than them."
I don't think we knew they were as good as what they were.
I didn't know anything about Peru.
I didn't even know any of their players.
We didn't think we would lose to them.
Brilliant goal by Teofilo Cubillas.
I remember Roughie saying, "Who takes the free kicks in and around the box? Is there anybodygood?"
And Ally says, "No, I've never noticed anybody."
Here he comes, Cubillas drives it in, and it's a goal.
Cubillas, a brilliant third goal for Peru.
Peru 3, Scotland 1.
And Scotland's World Cup hopes hanging by a thread now.
It was Archie Gemmill that came in and said,
"You've to go for a drugs test."
Done the drugs test, didn't think any more about it.
Went back to the hotel.
I played for 22 seasons as a footballer
and I enjoyed every minute of it,
bar ten days in Argentina.
I didn't know what he was talking about.
The next thing, Ally is there getting him out of the room.
And all he's saying to me is,
"You failed the drugs test, what have you got to say about that?"
We were absolutely stunned.
Once that happened, there was other discussions amongst the players
and it came about that there was
another one or two players had taken the same tablet.
Ally came up and said, "Look, he's been taking a tablet that's banned."
It was called Reactivan - that was the name of the tablet.
We have to take it seriously because it is on the list.
It was horrendous. There was every chance Scotland could be thrown out the World Cup.
When the hard-nosed reporters got wind of the story,
all bets were off and they were in there, boots flying.
This big story leaked out and they were going to run and run and run with it.
D-R-U-G-S, drugs.
The next morning, 100 people standing outside my room.
I didn't know what was going on.
Some Scottish athlete was taking performance-enhancing drugs.
We can't have our boys out there taking drugs.
I had taken two tablets called Reactivan.
You could buy them in a chemist shop.
People were trying to make out it made him quicker.
If you ask me now, what does it do? I have no idea.
It gave him power in his legs.
It's like drinking four cups of black coffee.
I had hay fever and it was supposed to make me feel a wee bit better, but it didn't.
The Scottish Football Association, gentlemen,
has never before been involved in such a matter
and the officials concerned here in Argentina
are determined that the good name of our
country must be protected.
Whatever Scotland's results on the football field might be,
they will be achieved fairly.
To get out the camp, he says,
"Get in the back, lie down, we'll put the blanket over your head."
And the guards come in with the guns...
..and, "Up, up, Johnston, up. Up."
And when I was on that bus on my own, with two soldiers and two guns,
I think, "Oh, this is it.
"They're taking me to the end of the runway and shoot me."
REPORTER: Willie Johnston flew back to Britain today,
crossing the globe in a half-empty DC-10 all alone.
He had been travelling for three days
after being smuggled out of the back entrance
of Scotland's training camp.
He slept little, half watched a movie and pecked at his food.
I was sitting at the back of the plane and I could see the headlines
on the papers, people reading their papers, and it had Johnston.
It was then Portuguese or Spanish.
This boy sitting next to me, he went, "That's you?"
And I'm going, "Yeah."
For the first time, he read his own story in the British newspapers
and he didn't like what he saw.
In Paris, there was that many people coming on with cameras,
and journalists and film crew, and I couldn't get peace.
When we joined his flight in Paris, he looked tired and very unhappy.
Sick. Could you just leave me alone, please?
Have you ever known him to take drugs at all to act as a stimulant?
No, none at all. They made my wife's life misery,
my kids' lives misery.
They had a right go.
When I got to London, that was...
"Where's my wife? Where's my wife?"
Shock.
Terrible shock.
I just gave her a big hug.
You know, he doesn't like a lot of publicity.
He likes to stay in the background a lot.
Aye. Our whole lives changed - it did.
Argentina brought about a kind of shift
in people's understanding of how the popular press worked.
The so-called rats,
these were the newshounds from the new red top tabloids in England,
were sending journalists out to look for hard news, exposes.
We were under a focus that we'd never been under before.
So many rumours going around, so many stories about individuals.
Stupid stories, like the chasing bare naked women around the hotel.
Having got here, you don't think these lads are stupid enough,
or the manager is stupid enough, to let them mess about.
When things go wrong, you are there to be critical -
and things definitely went wrong.
It took a dark narrative into nightmare territory.
No other squad in the history of football
has ever had to be subject to what this squad has been subject to.
You look for a good story, you know,
"Mystery last night surrounded the whereabouts of..."
There weren't many moral dilemmas about it.
We hadn't been told what incentives and bonuses we were on for the games.
There was some very unhappy players.
Well, what do you want?
How much money will you hope to take out of the World Cup?
Buttons.
Wednesday night, Scotland meet Iran.
You weren't allowed outside the hotel -
there was a huge fence all the way it -
and we had armed guards as well.
It was boring and that's the only word for it.
We did find ourselves sitting outside
and there was a little ant colony.
They were taking all the little leaves across,
and we just used to sit and throw little stones at them.
Little stones,
and we were throwing it at the ants that were carrying the leaves,
see if we could knock the leaf off.
I can remember being outside the park, sitting drinking,
and looking forward to the game.
It was a beautiful sunny day.
We had the kilt and the football tops on.
COMMENTATOR: And winning today, of course,
is what it's all about for Scotland,
after the dramas and the problems of the last few days.
John Robertson playing in his first World Cup game -
he's in for Willie Johnson.
I appeared pretty quickly out of the blue and, looking back,
it was a big gamble from him.
I suppose I was really pretty bloody nervous, really.
I wonder what, indeed, is going through his mind at this moment.
Did you have no way of contacting Ally or speaking with Ally?
No, not really, no.
No, it depended on him giving me a phone call, really.
I didn't want to pester him.
You know, I just had to watch it on the television.
Of all the games that I covered in the World Cup,
that's the one that gives me more dismal memories.
That ball totally given away.
I was rubbish, that's the bottom line of it,
as we all were.
Macari got a touch and another one.
Burns fighting for it.
Helps it on. Dalglish is there.
The goalkeeper...over the bar.
We were watching it, I couldn't stand it.
I got up and I took the dog away for a walk.
Iran coming out and Robertson beat the offside trap - no, he didn't.
Scotland scored one of the oddest goals you'll ever see.
There's a goal. Oh! Would you believe it?
That's got to go down as an own goal, surely?
But then you think, "Well, maybe luck's changed."
I injured an ankle in training, so I watched the game.
I watched the worst horror movie you've ever seen -
Scotland versus Iran.
And he's well in behind Scotland.
The big man, Faraki. Parvin. Far post. Comes down.
Danaifar. Lots of pressure from Iran.
And he's scored! Danaifar. 1-1!
And there is the final whistle,
and that is very much a tragedy for Scotland.
Sake, man!
The Darien scheme was doomed. A lack of planning,
a difficult environment, and hostile natives
sealed the Scots' sorry fate.
The country would never be the same.
Well, it's total tragedy for Scotland.
Absolute total disaster.
In the press box, we were surrounded by the travelling Scots.
The mood was very dark.
The face of Ally MacLeod tells it all.
The goals...
Ally MacLeod gets out there.
I just wanted to fly out and give him a hug.
Just seeing him looking like that, so down,
I thought, "That's not my Ally," you know?
Looking so alone.
I was worried he had no-one he could talk to.
When he put his head in his hands in despair,
it was almost like a silent scream.
It was a big disappointment, to be quite frank.
It was a downer, it really was a downer.
And as the players leave the field, booed off by their supporters,
Scotland are effectively out of the World Cup
and the Lion Rampant and a tartan scarf were thrown at them.
They'd let us down badly. I was totally angry.
You know, I'm the guy with the curly hair and the beard.
Without question, I think Mr MacLeod must go.
If I can get a flight tonight, I'm off.
MacLeod ought to be ashamed of himself.
It was an absolute shambles and a disgrace to Scottish football.
We went there with great expectations
and we became a bit of a laughing stock after the Iran game.
The players looked shocked at the fans' anger.
There was a viaduct above the bus,
and there must have been about 100, 200 supporters there,
and they were just throwing things at the bus.
Well, if things are not going right for you,
everything piles on top of one another.
We've just got to keep our heads up and hope for the best.
That bus was certainly the quietest bus that I've ever been on.
Do you all feel a bit sick considering the great send-off for the Scottish team?
They've just made a proper fool of theirselves.
What's gone wrong? Everything. The manager. MacLeod, right away.
His whole demeanour changed.
I remember, the next day,
I must have woke up about six o'clock in the morning,
and I went round the corner and there he was sitting on a bench
with his hands in his head, in tears.
For us, as children, it's very hard to see your father
being slaughtered.
Yeah. It was awful. It was awful.
I've got a lump in my throat just thinking about it.
It was a hard time. I mean...
You'd feel it unravelling in front of you after the Iran game.
He was so far away.
I think he felt very isolated during it all
and you felt so helpless.
We were kept off school because there was just so much going on.
We were hostages in our own house at one point.
Reporters in the bushes and they were coming up,
you'd see them, door stepping. It was a difficult time.
I was in the Tartan Arms in Bannockburn
the night we played Iran.
I go onto the stage and this guy stood up, a big, big guy, right?
I'm just about to speak and he went,
"Whoa! Wee man.
"Carry on. See if you sing that song, you're right out that window."
What do you think it will be like against Holland on Sunday?
We'll beat them. You still think we'll beat them? Aye.
We needed to win the game for sure.
We needed three clear goals.
We played a fabulous team.
I mean, it was full of absolutely wonderful players then,
so it was hope as much as anything else
and that was our state of mind when we travelled up there.
I think it hurt the Scottish psyche.
That year or so of us believing that we were something special.
We were back to being underdogs again.
No-one gave them any hope whatsoever.
COMMENTATOR: Big task ahead of them -
those three goals to stay in the competition.
I wanted back home.
I'd had enough of the conflicts, the controversies, the arguments,
the disputes, and I was fed up.
It did feel like a national disaster.
It could only get better.
But I still expected us to do something.
I didn't. I honestly thought we couldn't.
I had this picture of him there
and I was hugging it, trying to will him, really,
you know, kind of thing.
COMMENTATOR: Kennedy. Oh, and he's given the ball away to Rep.
Tumbled down in the box, gets up, and the penalty's given.
And, again, a disaster totally created by
the Scottish players themselves.
This for 1-0 to Holland.
There was such a feeling of deflation.
All of the kind of patriotism,
the pomp and the big beach ball of expectation
had been punctured
and here was this feeling, really,
you know that this was, kind of, the bitter end.
The whole world was against us.
Right, let's prove everybody wrong.
COMMENTATOR: Scotland still tackling hard and tackling quickly.
I think it was a matter of pride in the final game.
We've got a slim chance of getting through, we might do it.
COMMENTATOR: Jordan. Jordan got there. Dalglish.
1-1 it is. Kenny Dalglish.
You just thought, "We can do this."
There was a huge roar from the Argentinians as well.
They were very much supporting Scotland.
We had a great time with them
and they were loving that as much as the football.
He really must put it away
and he does.
2-1.
Oh, yes, this is so much better.
I remember Jock Stein saying, "I listened to your commentary,
"and you started off as if you were at a funeral
"and then, eventually, it was a full-scale wedding."
That's better. Good ball by Rough.
Asa Hartford.
There's Kennedy.
Kenny Dalglish.
Good play by Gemmill.
We were right behind the goal. Archie went like that to us.
"You done it!"
I've certainly got a clear memory of that goal.
Every single step...
Great play by Gemmill. Can he do it?
..dodging and dancing in and out.
Oh, come on!
He's done it. Oh, a great goal.
One of the goals of the tournament, surely, and look at it!
I was conscious, as if in a chorus line, 30 commentators rising up,
up, up, up!
Good play by Gemmill. Can he do it? Go on.
Go on, go on. Go on! Yes! Go on, Archie!
Oh, superb!
It was madness
and there was this extraordinary moment of euphoria.
Is it possible, after all this?
Can we do it?
Another goal and we're there.
You know, we were playing football, out there in Argentina,
and we were playing in the culture and the continent of Latin America,
and one of the things that Latin America has gifted the world
is the idea of magical realism,
that there's something magical, almost dreamlike,
about the world that we live in.
To have that little bit of magic in your life
that's not explained by the rational.
Someone said, "Why did you take the Scotland job?"
And I said, "To prove I'm the best in the world."
HIS VOICE ECHOES
There it is, the final whistle.
Scotland have come back from the dead and we're there.
I think a medal of some sort will come
and I pray and hope that it's the gold one.
In the River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires,
80,000 watching here, millions, millions more across the world.
We've got now 11 and a half minutes to go
to the end of this World Cup final of 1978.
Argentina 1-1 Scotland.
Scotland playing with a lot more fire, though, now.
And Rioch holds the ball above his head and he throws it back
and it's been picked up by Kennedy.
And Kennedy will send a long ball high across the area.
It's Gemmill. Gemmill laying it to Jordan.
And it's a goal!
A great header coming in from the far side!
The World Cup is coming to Scotland now.
Well, one thing's clear -
we're not going to get much sleep tonight.
# We're on the march with Ally's army
# We're going to the Argentine... #
There's Rep going. He has space there.
He might let rip. He does! And it's a brilliant goal.
And there is the final whistle.
The dream was over, then.
Scotland are out of the World Cup.
It was emotional.
Very dispiriting. We were clearly...
We just knew that was the end of the trip.
Roxana was heading back to Cordoba with her sister,
so she left and we left more or less on the same day.
I returned to Scotland.
It was simply a case of, well, we enjoyed it and, you know,
it's a shame but that's it.
When the bus is leaving and he just looked so unhappy.
You know, he really does.
And that's it, I thought,
"What can you do? What can you do?"
Today, only 100 fans stood on the concourse at Glasgow airport
for the team's homecoming.
The Scottish players and their manager made a discrete
exit from the back of the plane.
You could see, when he came back, he was a changed man.
He just... He'd lost his sparkle.
For a while. For a while, he'd lost his sparkle.
There was little of the anger and bitterness
expressed by some of the fans in Argentina,
just a few tartan teenagers waving their banners
and the now discredited badges of Ally's Tartan Army.
When I came back from Argentina, everyone, well,
all the newspapers and that, that were over there,
led me to believe I was going to be executed when I came back, you know.
I knew I wasn't going to be knighted, but, you know...
LAUGHTER
MUSIC: Don't Cry For Me Argentina
My dad is my hero.
My dad, my hero, that's what I always say, even to this day.
That's what I say.
# And as for fortune
# And as for fame
# I never invited them in
# Though it seemed to the world they were all I deserved... #
Hi. All right?
# They are illusions
# They're not the solutions they promise to be
# The answer was here all the time... #
It's all in the past.
# I love you and hope you love me... #
Self-government for Scotland means self-respect for Scotland.
Rox, do you want to come through?
I think they want to see if you're real.
Yes, here I am.
After 31 years, we're still together.
Very happy.
We've got a couple of sons, half Scottish, half Argentinian.
And it's all really down to Ally MacLeod.
Well, you could say that.
# Don't cry for me, Argentina
# The truth is, I never left you... #
Bring on the goodies!
# All through my wild days, my mad existence
# I kept my promise, don't keep your distance... #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MUSIC SWELLS
# I kept my promise
# Don't keep your distance. #