After being the best midfield player in any team at the 74 World Cup. And all he did was have a few small drinks - hardly the worst crime in the world.
Are you aware of all the facts? I think not. Neither am I. I think you're also perhaps suggesting that Scots don't enjoy 'a few small drinks'???? Look, if enjoying 'a few small drinks' got you banned sine die, Scotland wouldn't be able to field a team! No, there was more to it. Remember, 2 of those involved in the 'incident' were reinstated a year later. None of the players who took part in the 'rowing boat' incident a year earlier were ever disciplined! A couple of days before the home match against england, Jimmy Johnstone was set adrift by other team members in the Clyde estuary, blotto & without any oars. Air Sea Rescue had to be called to rescue him at 5am. Not one of the players was disciplined for this. So it doesn't stack up - no-one has ever been banned sine die from playing for Scotland simply for drinking. There was more to it. Gawd knows what it was. I'm sure it was more than the reported 'altercation that involved a light being broken' Hardly crime of the century, is it?
except I think he was reinstated too, just by then he was at the end of his career so did not play again. the reports I have read suggest they trashed the hotel room as well as a few drinks - again, hardly in the same league as some other players' antics we are talking about today (nor was your Johnstone anecdote in the same league, dumb though it was)
Someone's been reading Wikipedia, I think. It's all crap. Have a read at Joe Harper's account of the nightclub incident. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/SFA w...ook on Danish cop; 21 years on,...-a060988137 An the rowing boat incident was far more serious - it was before the england match, involved a number of drunken players, and involved calling out the coastguard. Johnstone could easily have died. It was 5am, effectively open sea, no oars, pitch black & incredibly drunk. The possibility of losing your life is rather more serious, I think!
Yes I have read some of these before, just being playful, is how I see it. I am surprised you have a different view. And he was reinstated a year later, like the rest of them - - only difference his international career was over by then. And you must be joking about the Johnstone incident, some people would hand out medals for putting a Scotsman in that position. But being serious, when I said "other players antics" without naming names (as, unlike others I am conscious the laws of libel apply on chat rooms as much as elsewhere) I was thinking of players (I am not talking about leeds now) who have used women as punch bags, allegedly. More than one such comes to mind, allegedly.
Forgot the link, didn't I? Edited it now, if you fancy a read. I know what you're talking about re. the 'punch bag'. She appeared behind the bar in Paris during the world cup in a Scottish bar. She was loving the constant chants of 'get your tits out for the lads', and her, ahem, companion went mental & beat the living daylights out of her. Allegedly. How he escaped from the bar, I don't know, 'cos the troops weren't happy.
Thanks, I had read it - I agree it says there was more to it than a few drinks (but I had my tongue firmly in cheek when I said that anyway, given his nationality ). It still comes over to me as he was doing the usual Bremner thing of complete loyalty to team and teammates. And I note Harper thinks the reason the SFA came down so hard and fast was they hated his @@@@ing guts because he kept sticking up for the players rights. We all know he had a bad side (Charity Shield etc) but you can usually explain his misdemeanours as being over-committed to the cause. If you were in the trenches, you'd not complain if you had Bremner at your side. And a disgrace no one from the SFA went to his funeral, btw (according to another article, a couple of days later).
