19/06/2026
FIVE IN A ROW & WE STILL HAVE HOPE!
This was written in 1994 after our failure to qualify for the World Cup in the USA.
World Cup memories are for life. So says David Severs, who has survived five World Cup campaigns in a row.
West Germany ’74 ( Ladeside Avenue )
In the summer of '74, I was your average tearaway five-year-old, running around the streets, carrying-on, completely in my own little world. Never in a million years did I notice, or even care, that the World Cup Finals were underway in West Germany. I must say now, though, that I liked football, just didn't understand what it was about. Still played, occasionally.
Looking back, it's just my luck, having torn my hair out and screamed my lungs up over the last four World Cup Finals that Scotland have qualified for, I would just have to miss the best Finals to date.
We were undefeated, collected our most points ever (4) and unarguably our best squad of players ever assembled played some of the best football ever seen in the dark blue jersey. The likes of players we might not see again: Jardine, Bremner, Johnstone, Dalglish, and Law, to name only a few. We still managed to get knocked out in the group stage on goal difference, but came back home as heroes.
Argentina ’78 ( Ladeside Avenue )
By the time the next World Cup Finals came along in Argentina '78, I loved football, played every day, and watched it on TV whenever it came on. I even got involved in all the hype that was going on at the time—that we, Scotland, were going to win the World Cup. Well, when you're nine years old and football is your life, you believe almost anything. Even Ally McLeod.
So there I was, sitting in front of the TV, the whole family around me, glued to the screen watching Scotland getting stuffed 3–1 by the so-called "Dad's Army" of Peru. Things could only get better, or so I thought. Then Wham! Scotland 1, Iran 1. Disastrous. That's the only word to explain those two games.
Thinking we were out, we get some wee glimmer of hope. If we could beat Holland, one of the favourites for the Cup itself, by three clear goals in our final game, we could go through to the second round. As it happened, we didn't—but we beat them 3–2, with Archie Gemmill scoring the goal of the tournament to put us 3–1 ahead.
I can still remember to this day, my father leaping from his chair, arms stretched straight into the air and smashing through the lights that used to hang from the ceiling. I guess it was then that I realised what football was to some people.
Spain ’82 ( Riddochhill Drive )
In 1982, with the World Cup Finals in Spain, I spent as much time looking through the crowds of Scottish fans on the terraces, trying to spot my elder brother, who had travelled over to Spain to watch Scotland, now being managed by big Jock Stein.
An easy 5–2 win over New Zealand got us off to a flyer, or so we thought at the time. In our second game against Brazil, I still reckon Dave Narey and his wonderful bending 30-yard shot—that Jimmy Hill, an English commentator, describes as a toe-poke—is one of the best goals I have ever seen. I can also recall the other commentator saying, "That will take some beating!"
Famous last words. That's exactly what Brazil did, four times. Beaten 4–1, but by quality.
We could still make the second round if we beat Russia. We might have done, only, as usual, we press the self-destruct button when two of our own defenders collide with each other and let Russia score. The game finishes 2–2 and we go out on goal difference again, when the goals we lost against New Zealand come back to haunt us.
Mexico ’86 ( Stirlingshire on holiday )
I think the '86 Cup Finals in Mexico are the finals that Scotland lost, even before a ball was kicked. Big Jock Stein, who had led us in two World Cup campaigns, was dead, having suffered a heart attack in that qualifying game against Wales. A huge loss to the whole of Scottish football.
I was seventeen years old by this time, and was down visiting my brother and his wife in Tillicoultry — stayed for a couple of weeks throughout the World Cup. Alex Ferguson took over as manager for this World Cup only.
We get put into a group with West Germany, Denmark, and Uruguay, which was to be known as "the group of death". No so-called easy teams this time.
We get settled down for the first game against Denmark with a few cans of beer, and watch Scotland lose 1–0. We then watched Scotland lose 1–0 to West Germany, with more beer.
We still get a glimmer of hope of qualifying for the second round. We had to beat Uruguay. We only get a 0–0 draw, after the South Americans kick Scotland off the park in what I would say is the dirtiest game I have ever seen. One player that was sent off, and ten more that should have followed. I reckon Scotland were just glad to get that campaign out of the way.
For me, personally, the only high point throughout that World Cup was Gordon Strachan's goal against West Germany, and when my brother's wife found all the empty beer cans we kept hiding under her couch throughout the whole World Cup, there must have been hundreds lol.
Italy ’90 ( Redhouse Place )
"STOP THE WORLD! WE WANT TO GET OFF!"
That's the one newspaper headline that will stick in my head for years to come. Scotland 0, Costa Rica (who?) 1. Yes, who? For I don't believe until that game came along that most, if not all, of Scotland knew where Costa Rica was, never mind them having a football team. UNBELIEVABLE! even to this day.
I thought in the disaster of Argentina '78, that we might have learned something, but I guess not. I really believe the rest of the world were so shocked they didn't even laugh. It was only a 2–1 win over Sweden in our next game of the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy that softened the blow. We still got knocked out in the group stages for the fifth World Cup Finals in a row when Brazil beat us 1–0 in our final game.
The last ten minutes of that game were the longest of my life, with them scoring, and Mo Johnstone failing to score from just two yards out in the dying seconds of the game. I reckon if that had gone in, my sister and I would have jumped inside the TV, as that's how close we were to the screen by the end of the game. All I can remember is that somewhere in the background was my brother screaming, "I CAN'T SEE THE TELE!!"
Conclusion
Throughout the five World Cups I have sat, stood and jumped, I reckon I've had some of my best memories, even with some of the world's most embarrassing defeats.
Scotland having qualified for five World Cup Finals in a row is a remarkable achievement for a nation as small as ours, and we must not forget the other two World Cups in Switzerland in 1954 and Sweden in 1958, making a grand total of seven World Cup appearances. 8 if we include 1998 which was years after this article was Written.
Now we are onto World Cup number 9 and tonight we stand on the verge of finally getting through the group stage for the first time, a record that no other country even comes close to and one we must change. Tonight if we play to our best and i mean every single player, we might just be celebrating before we face Brazil in our final match where the pressure would be off and we could have a real go and look for our first victory over Brazil. Right! back on planet earth and looking back over our past World Cups, Scotland will probably put us through the ringer. Anyway Good luck tonight Scotland lets change our history.
