The Scotland – Manchester United connection

[rondwisan]

Take Five: The Scotland – Manchester United connection
sport.stv.tv - 01 October 2010 14:11 GMT



Darren Fletcher is just the latest in a long line of Scots who have enjoyed success at Old Trafford. Here are five of the best.

Scotland and Manchester United star Darren Fletcher, who has given an exclusive interview to Sports Centre: Friday Night Football, is just one of many whose name is in the history books at Old Trafford. On the field and in the dugout, Scots have helped deliver success to the world famous club and STV Sport has picked five of the best.


Denis Law

Quite simply a legend for club and country. Denis Law was a prolific striker throughout his career and is the only Scottish player to be crowned European Player of the Year, He also holds the distinction of being inducted into both the Scottish FA and English FA Hall of Fame.

Law jointly holds the record for most international goals for Scotland with 30 goals in 55 caps. His record with Manchester United is no less impressive, netting 237 goals in 409 appearances.

Remembered as part of United’s ‘Holy Trinity’ along with Bobby Charlton and George Best, Law would be undoubtedly be one of the first names on the team sheet for United and Scotland were he playing today.


Joe Jordan

In a well-travelled career that also took in Leeds United, AC Milan, Hellas Verona and others, Joe Jordan’s CV includes over 100 appearances for Manchester United and 52 international caps.

There were few sights in football as fearsome as a fired-up Jordan and he added determination, strength and no little skill to the United forward line after joining from Leeds in 1978. Though his time at united did not coincide with one of the club’s many purple patches he scored 35 goals in red and helped the team to the final of the FA Cup in 1979, though they lost 3-2 to Arsenal.

In international colours, Jordan scored 11 times and was a fierce and committed patriot but, as shown in our video, one whose intelligent reading of the game would go on to serve him well in his coaching career. Also in our video is Gordon McQueen, another who had the distinction of playing for the home side at Hampden Park and Old Trafford.


Brian McClair

By the time Brian McClair left Celtic to join Manchester United in 1987, the intelligent forward had already established himself as one of Scotland’s best. The man known as ‘Choccy’ (because his surname sounded like ‘éclair’) headed south to the club where he would spend the majority of the next 23 years.

McClair became one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s most trusted servants, making over 350 appearances at Old Trafford and scoring 88 times. The Bellshill boy won four English Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and a Cup Winner’s Cup, as well as scoring the winning goal in the 1991 UEFA Super Cup.

In Scotland colours, it was often felt that McClair didn’t hit the same heights as in his club career but he is still the proud holder of 30 international caps. He is also a member of a select group who have scored for Scotland in a major championship finals, netting against CIS in the 1992 European Championships.


Sir Alex Ferguson

Simply listing the honours Sir Alex Ferguson has won as manager of Manchester United serves to demonstrate why his name is now inextricably linked with the club. Eleven English League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 English League Cups, a European Cup Winners Cups, and 2 Champions Leagues is not the trophy cabinet of a good manager, it confirm his claim to be one of the greatest managers of all time.

Ferguson has put together several great teams in his time at Old Trafford, nurtured countless prodigies to the top of the game and presided over some of the most exhilarating football produced by any British team in recent years.

Having established Aberdeen as a major power in Scotland, the talented manager found himself with a tough job to revive United’s fortunes and is widely believed to have been close to the sack before turning form around. That seems a long time ago now as Ferguson has seen off rival after rival and now often finds himself up against managers who learned at his knee.

As our video shows, the last name on our list though, had such a reputation that even Ferguson was nervous about trying to live up to the standards he had set.


Sir Matt Busby

Sir Matt Busby is not only one of the most successful Scottish managers but he was a pioneer of the modern game. When Busby was offered the top gig at United, he demanded that he was directly involved in training, picking the team and even choosing who was bought and sold by the club in a time when committees and boards routinely made decisions that affected the first team.

Busby took over at Manchester United on October 1, 1945. The following year, they were runner-up in the league before United won the FA Cup in 1948. The league title followed in 1952.

He built his squad around youth, including the indelible Duncan Edwards, who was capped by England at the age of 18 and was the fantastic young talent of his day. The 'Busby Babes' were dominating English football, with two more league championships in 1956 and 1957.

However, in 1958, tragedy struck when Busby and his team were on their way back from a European tie against Red Star Belgrade, which was held in Munich. The plane they were on crashed on the airport's runway, killing 23 people. Amongst the dead was Edwards, who passed away in hospital after the tragedy.

Busby himself was seriously injured and was offered the last rites on two occasions. He pulled through and set to work rebuilding not only a team but a shattered club.

In addition to helping United recover from tragedy, he also took on the duties of Scotland manager briefly in 1958, becoming one of the few to play and manage his country, having earned a solitary cap as a player in 1933.

By 1968, United were once again one of the leading football clubs in the world. Boasting a line-up that included George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, Busby delivered a European Cup for United and ensured his place in the heart of every fan.

Busby retired that year but remained at the club he loved as a director and then club president. He died in 1994 but is remembered today as one of the greats.

[theater of dream]

Scotland always create Brave Peoples....

[bang_zak]

Rise and rise again...ntil lambs became lions...

Halah OOT....

[rondwisan]

emang Robin Hood orang Scotland yaa ....

[K3nny_11]

Scottish Blood mank ga ada mate-nya... malah baru aja ane baca news MU tertarik ama kiper Rangers & Scots, Allan McGregor.. Scotland root-ny MU bakal maken kuat ajah..

[rondwisan]

halah ..., another golie rumors ...

[K3nny_11]

^

ga ada api tanpa asap...

[Ridwanox]

Originally Posted by K3nny_11

^

ga ada api tanpa asap...

bener banget gan dan ane sepakat banget

[rondwisan]

Ada Koneksi ...., ada Rivalitas ...
Menjelang laga friendly England vs Scotland nih ...
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18/11/2014 - ManUtd.com, Adam Marshall
Law and Charlton recall Scotland-England clashes


Ahead of Tuesday's clash between Scotland and England, ManUtd.com's Adam Marshall spoke to two legendary Manchester United team-mates who played for their respective countries with distinction - Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton...

Denis Law (Scotland - 55 caps, 30 goals)

I think it's lovely the Scotland-England fixture has been restored - of course, they did it last year at Wembley as well. I'm glad it's back.

It's the oldest fixture in international football history so, to have it scrapped for quite a few years was a bit of a disappointment to the England and Scotland teams, and the fans, because it was a fixture that was just different to everything else.

Playing for Scotland against other teams is not the same as playing against England and I am sure the English guys and supporters agree. There's more enthusiasm now little Gordon Strachan is in charge and it was a brilliant goal by Shaun Maloney against Republic of Ireland in Saturday's match, he's a good player.

In my day, my United team-mates Bobby [Charlton], Nobby [Stiles] and Steppers [Alex Stepney] were the enemy for an hour and a half. It was just during the game - afterwards, we'd be best pals again and have a beer together. As you can imagine, Nobby was not the coolest or calmest player in the world to play against, particularly with his bad eyesight. He couldn't see who he was kicking!

When I was a young boy of 15, playing against England for Scotland was a dream to me and a few years later it came true.*Playing for your country is the biggest thing you could ever do. No matter who you are playing, you want to beat them.

We had many games against England but we missed out on qualifying for the World Cup when it was hosted here. That was disappointing because we had a really good Scotland team then and it would have been nice to play in the tournament in 1966. When we played England the following year, we won and the press in Scotland were calling us the world champions. That was nice!


Sir Bobby Charlton (England - 106 caps, 49 goals)

I made my England debut against Scotland at Hampden Park in 1958 and there were no English supporters there - not one! Scotland fans had the entire stadium to themselves.

Billy Wright was our captain and he said: "Bobby, see that great, big terrace behind the goal. If Scotland score, none of the fans standing there will be able to raise their hands because they are so packed in." So I looked there when Scotland 'scored' an offside goal and Billy was right... only the fans' heads were moving [as they bobbed up and down]. I will never forget it!*There must have been 60,000 fans on that terrace.*

We eventually won the match 4-0 and I scored our third goal, set up by Tom Finney. As a forward, you had to support Finney as you knew what he was going to do. He was going to beat the full-back - he always did that because you could never take the ball off him, he was just sensational.

Then he was going to put the ball on his left foot and take it to the dead-ball line - there was always danger for the defence when he did that. Finally, he'd look up and chip it across so when the ball came down, you could smash it in. That’s what we did for my goal.

I was thinking: 'Tommy Finney is crossing the ball to me!' I smashed it in. I was so pleased because when I was a lad I used to travel to watch Stanley Matthews whenever he played at Newcastle and I'd go to see Finney too when he was up there.

When we were going back to kick off again, my team-mates were all saying: 'Well done, Bobby' and even the Scotland goalkeeper came up to me and said: 'Good goal'. Tommy Younger was his name and I just said: 'Thanks very much' but that stuck with me because I wouldn't have expected that from an opponent.

I loved playing international matches in those days. We'd play three games against Scotland, Ireland and Wales at the end of the season and they were always big games.