Craig Brown - The Game of My Life. Craig Brown
he influenced me the most and made me take a serious look at the possibilities of a PE teaching course. I suppose it was because he was such a wonderful sportsman, a great all-rounder and an excellent gymnast. He excelled at every sport he took part in. He was also in the spotlight because of playing for Aberdeen and Scotland at the time.
There were other professional players at Jordanhill, too. Bobby Clark, a top goalkeeper with Aberdeen and Scotland, Ian Riddell of St Mirren, Roger Hynd, a nephew of the Shanklys who played for Rangers, Doug Houston, who played for Dundee, Dave Hilley of Third Lanark, Frank Coulston and Dick Staite of Partick Thistle, Joe Gilroy of Dundee, Derek Whiteford of Airdrie, and many others, who I hope will forgive me for failing in my struggle to bring their names to mind.
We often had games between the professionals and the top amateur players and these were usually held on a Wednesday on one of those red-ash pitches that were prevalent in Scotland at the time. They were tough matches, and very often my direct opponent was a young man by the name of Archie MacPherson, who later became a top commentator with the BBC. I found him a difficult opponent. He was a very fast winger who was very clever with the ball and, quite unashamedly, I used to have a kick at him to try to slow him down a bit. I saved some of my hardest tackles for Archie.
My PE course was to last three years. It was very thorough and rigorous. For instance, three times a week we went to Cranstonhill baths and started our day with swimming instruction in cold water – and I do mean cold water! We went up and down that pool until we were too exhausted to notice just how cold it was. In those days my Ibrox training happened during the evenings and, even though I was working so hard at my PE course, I was still able to drag one leg after the other. When I think back, I must have been pretty fit in those days! The Ibrox training was hard enough in itself. Our fitness trainer was Davie Kinnear, a military-type gentleman who was very strict and had us running round the track wearing spikes to maximise our ability. He was quite a taskmaster but he did have a sense of humour. I remember once when Johnny Hubbard broke away and ran up into the terraces. ‘What are you doing up there?’ asked Davie Kinnear.
‘I’ve come to collect some of Sammy Baird’s long passes,’ replied Johnny.
We all held our breath, waiting for the explosion we were sure would follow. It didn’t come. The trainer just burst into laughter. So, we had some fun as well as our hard work. Ibrox then was a really happy environment.
Johnny Hubbard, or ‘Hubby’ as he was predictably called, still does a wonderful job coaching youngsters in Prestwick and Ayr and his acute sense of humour prevails. I recall when, yet again, he was accusing his inside forward, Sammy Baird, of being a selfish player. After a match against Aberdeen he said to Sammy in his distinctive South African accent: ‘Sam, there were 58,742 spectators out there today!’
Sammy replied, ‘How the hell do you know that, wee man?’
‘Because I was counting them when you were on the ball, you greedy b…!’
However, I did have one problem at Ibrox. My best position was that of left half – or left midfield as it is now called. It was a position in which there were some very good players, and I always make a joke and say that I was third choice. The first choice was an amputee and the second one was a Catholic!
On that subject I have to say that I always found the religious differences that surrounded Rangers and Celtic to be despicable. It isn’t so bad these days with both clubs playing down that factor in their Glasgow coexistence. In the past it was a different story, with the religious divide being quite a serious problem. Yet it never seemed to be a problem in the dressing room. The players of both clubs have always mixed well socially and, when called up for their country, the subject never seemed to be on the agenda. It appears to be something that has been carried through the generations by the supporters. I never heard anything about religious differences in the Rangers dressing room, and I’m sure it was the same in the Celtic camp.
The Old Firm games were a cauldron of hate – much more than I realised in the innocence of my teenage years. I used to have an umbrella that could have been mistaken for a white-and-blue design – although it wasn’t. In fact it was a Bank of Scotland umbrella. I was a young player at Ibrox at the time and was using the umbrella in the rain when I was accosted by a couple of Celtic fans who told me what to do with my umbrella … ‘or else!’ It came as quite a shock to me. I had always looked at the rivalry as a natural condition between two clubs in the same city. I had never realised that there were greater undercurrents than just seeing who was top dog in Glasgow football. I soon learned that it was better not to identify yourself with one club or the other when you were out and about in Glasgow – it was safer that way. As I’ve said, there was no such animosity between players and my friendship with Billy McNeill continued even though we were in opposing clubs. Our friendship prevailed and still does to this day.
As Scotland manager I was sometimes accused of favouritism towards one or other of the two Glasgow giants. It was a ridiculous charge, of course. In the summer of 1997, my brother Jock became general manager of Celtic, and that caused more than a little consternation because it was suggested that he was a Rangers fan. He has never been a Rangers fan. I can assure you that he, and the rest of the family, have always been Hamilton fans. There is hardly a day that goes by without some rumour or other getting started in the football world. Most of them are very wide of the mark.
Both my brothers are smashing guys, really decent chaps, and although both are well qualified academically this is never apparent in their attitude or speech in their dealings with other people.
My middle brother, Bob, is a Church of Scotland minister in Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen. He has an MA degree from St Andrew’s University which involved four years of study, a Bachelor of Divinity from Glasgow University which required three years of study, and a Master of Theology degree from Duke University in North Carolina. Bob was, in fact, a student for eight years, during which time he took various jobs to supplement his income. He was always committed to joining the ministry.
People who know that my brother is a minister often say to me that I must be a devout person also. However, if my brother were in Barlinnie Prison, that wouldn’t make me a criminal. That is probably a very flippant remark because, while I don’t consider myself to be a devout person in the extreme sense, I like to think that I have a degree of faith, although I can never aspire to the tremendously strong Christian beliefs that my brother Bob has.
My other brother, Jock, also has great academic qualifications, and he must be a really clever guy because I never ever saw him study. He left school in Hamilton and went straight to Cambridge University where he gained his MA degree in law. That, of course, was English law and, when he returned to Scotland, he had to sit the Law Society of Scotland exams to be qualified to practise law in Scotland. After gaining dual qualification he went on to embark on a very successful legal career. While at Cambridge he captained the university soccer team and, unlike me, he has played at Wembley three times in the annual varsity fixture against Oxford. He acquitted himself very well as a rugged, dirty centre-half playing in a high standard of game for Cambridge.
While he was general manager of Celtic, I hardly ever saw or heard from him. He spent much of his first period there travelling abroad to meet players and set up transfer arrangements recommended by the Celtic coach, Wim Jansen. So, although Jock and I get on very well, our contact was greatly reduced because of his all-embracing club commitments.
When the job was first mooted he asked for my opinion. I, rather selfishly, said: ‘I don’t think you should take that job because I get enough abuse when I go to Rangers as it is, and if my brother is at Celtic it is only going to get worse. No doubt the abuse I get at Celtic will increase as well if the team is not doing too well. Please stay out of it. Stick with your legal world and your role as BBC football commentator.’ He was the top man for BBC Scotland, after all.
The next day I phoned him again and changed my tune.
‘I’ve phoned because my reply to you yesterday was very selfish. I was thinking of how it would affect me, but I never gave a thought to how you felt about it. I should be strong enough to take whatever comes and I’m sure I can handle any comments that