Craig Brown - The Game of My Life. Craig Brown
from a different angle showed that there was no question of a punch being landed.
At the end of that first leg we had conceded a deflected goal but Andy Penman had got one for us and a brace from Alan Gilzean completed his European hat-trick. I think that we all had to rub our eyes to make sure that we hadn’t been dreaming; the final score was Dundee 8, FC Cologne 1. The Germans returned home seething. Their supporters did not not blame them – they put it all on Dundee. Even one of their officials stated that if the goalkeeper happened to be injured early on in the second leg, a complete reversal might be on the cards. We shrugged that off, even though the newspapers made something of it. On reflection, I think that we were a little naive. Prior to that second meeting, we took it that the problems over our accommodation and training facilities were simply down to language differences and our own inexperience. We never even considered that there might be something more cynical behind it.
On the night of the match things had reached boiling point in Cologne. The Dundee directors and officials were virtually ignored by their German counterparts, even down to having to find their own seats as their hosts refused to have anything to do with them. At the very least it was extremely ill mannered but, once the game was underway, we quickly learned that there was a lot more to it than that. Once again I was not in the team, but even from the side of the pitch you could see that some of the German antics were far from gentlemanly. There was kicking, punching, spitting and even scratching going on – all with the total support of about 40,000 home fans.
Cologne took the lead after Ian Ure mistimed a tackle and had a penalty awarded against him. Habig scored from the spot. A few minutes later we were two goals down when Mueller scored what was, to be fair, an excellent goal. Then, with the game 27 minutes old, our goalkeeper, Bert Slater, dived to save a low ball and Mueller came in feet first with no hope of getting the ball. Sammy Kean, our trainer, rushed on to see blood running down Bert’s face and he knew that it was serious. Andy Penman took over in goal as Bert was stretchered off, but then the real drama began as the German ambulance drivers attempted to get Bert into the ambulance – which had been parked behind the goal – and off to hospital. Bert jumped off the stretcher and went with Sammy Kean to the dressing room amid a lot of shouting and arm-waving. I like to think that this was all a coincidence, but many remembered what had been said after the first leg about the possibility of our goalkeeper being injured.
Andy Penman did his best in goal but by half-time the Cologne side were three goals ahead on the night and the overall scoreline was now 8–4. The Dundee players trooped off the pitch blazing with anger at the German team’s conduct, and it was left to Bob Shankly – even though he was obviously angry himself – to calm the situation down. Meanwhile, Lawrie Smith had managed to patch up Bert Slater and had wrapped so much bandage around his head that he looked as if he were wearing a turban.
‘I look like Lana Turner,’ joked Bert, and that managed to take some of the heat out of the mood in the dressing room. The very fact that he was returning to action also gave everyone a lift. He played on the wing for a while, just to make sure that all was well, and then went back in goal – much to the relief of Andy Penman. Later, Bert claimed that he had been a better winger than Gordon Smith – another example of the famous Slater wit!
The second half was played in much the same style as the first, but the Dundee side had grown up a lot during the interval and refused to give in to the provocation. We mounted much more pressure on the Cologne goal and came close to scoring several times. Ian Ure unfortunately scored an own goal, but that was the end of the scoring and at the end Dundee had won the tie 8–5. It was not the end of the drama, however! As the final minutes ticked away there was a vast gathering of German fans around the touchlines. Taking throw-ins was difficult to say the least, and yet the German officials assured everyone from Dundee that this was quite normal in Germany. We weren’t convinced, and our worst fears were realised when the final whistle went and the pitch was invaded. The Dundee players were marooned together in the middle of the pitch as the home fans began to swamp them. Fists began to fly and it began to look very nasty indeed until the next part of the drama unfolded – as our skipper Bobby Cox explained, ‘Above all the noise I suddenly heard a voice say: “Don’t worry about this lot – the Jocks are here!” It was like the relief of Mafeking. It seemed that every British soldier stationed within a radius of a couple of hundred miles had come to the game and, at the end, they swept on to defend us. They were all in civvies but there was no mistaking them. They fearlessly wrapped themselves around us and practically carried us off the pitch to safety.’
It was quite a scene, I can assure you, and one never to be forgotten – although it was later forgiven. Immediately after the game there should have been a banquet, but the Dundee party boycotted it. Years later the two sides met again in the UEFA Cup, and this time there was a much greater feeling of entente cordiale – and Dundee won again, 5–4 on aggregate.
Much of the ill feeling in that tie had been caused by the German press, and that was another lesson I learned. I try to be very careful in what I say and to whom I say it. One false move and you can have all sorts of problems on your hands. That doesn’t mean to say that I blame the media for all the troubles of the world, but it does mean that certain members of the journalism profession could act a little more responsibly.
I suffered an example of this early in my career as Scotland manager when I left Davie McPherson out of the squad and called in Colin Hendry. When asked for the reason for Colin’s selection, I included in a list of his attributes that he was slightly younger than Davie. Imagine my consternation the next day when, beside a large photograph of Davie McPherson, was the heading – ‘Too Old At 29!’
So, Dundee survived their first sortie into Europe with honours, and we were all looking forward to the next round. The League season wasn’t going too badly – we had a good run which kept us within four points of the leaders, Hearts. It was a fairly confident Dundee side that went to Portugal to face Sporting Club of Lisbon in the next round of the European Cup. It was an exciting game, and we had gone into it to defend, which I felt we had done quite well. Two minutes from time, Sporting scored with a controversial goal. Everyone was sure that Bert Slater had punched the ball on to the crossbar and away, but the referee decided that it had crossed the line and he awarded the goal. We didn’t protest too much because in reality the Portuguese side deserved their victory, even if it was only 1–0. We felt that the possibility of turning the game around in the second leg was well within our capabilities. As it turned out we were right. About 32,000 turned up to see the side beat Sporting 4–1, with Alan Gilzean scoring another hat-trick and Alan Cousin getting the other. The 4–2 aggregate scoreline meant that Dundee were in the quarterfinals, and suddenly everyone began to sit up and take notice.
On the League front our form had slipped a little – although a 10–2 win over Queen of the South in December helped a bit. Alan Gilzean’s seven goals in that match equalled a club record.
Unfortunately, the gap between the leaders and ourselves was beginning to widen. Anderlecht were to be our next European Cup opponents. They had beaten Real Madrid in the previous round, so the Belgians had built quite a reputation – especially with nine internationals in their side, including Paul Van Himst. The first leg was at the Heysel Stadium in front of about 60,000. They were all set to cheer their team nearer to the European Cup final, but there was a stunned silence when Alan Gilzean met a Gordon Smith cross and put us ahead after only 60 seconds. Anderlecht were rocked for a moment but soon got their act together and played some great football. However, Alan Gilzean fired in another goal on twenty minutes and, even though Anderlecht pulled one back from the penalty spot before half-time, the dressing room was buzzing during the interval. Alan Cousin added to the Belgians’ woes just after the interval but, to their credit, Anderlecht kept cool and continued to play some attractive football. The Dundee defenders held firm, with both Ian Ure and Bobby Cox clearing off the line on the rare occasions when Bert Slater was beaten. When Gordon Smith scored our fourth goal with only nineteen minutes left, the game was all but over. It is to the credit of the Belgian fans that when the final whistle went to end the game they gave the Dundee side a standing ovation.
The return match at Dens Park a fortnight later was also a classic, with almost 30,000 people packed into the ground. Anderlecht put on another great display