To begin a story in the middle is perhaps a little unusual, even obtuse. But there is some method in the madness. We start with the moment of reckoning. True, it was a little extended. It occurred sometime between 28th March and 4th April. The year was 1896. It was also not obvious. It wasn't a tactical change. The style, the shape of the team remained the same. I doubt that there was any less commitment. They were all playing for Scotland after all. Physical fitness might have played a part but probably not too much. The change was in the level of competence.
The game on 28th March had been against Ireland. Scotland's team included some notables. “Toffee” McColl at centre-forward won his second cap,
John Cameron on his left his one and only. Both were amateurs, playing for Queen's Park, as did Willie Lambie, younger brother of the great John Lambie, outside them both on the left-wing. At right-half was Ranger's Neillie Gibson, at left-half Heart's George Hogg. John Drummond, also of Rangers, was behind Hogg at left-back and at centre-half was once Renton's now very much Celtic's James Kelly.
At the age of just thirty it was to be recalled Kelly's eighth and last cap. The reason was simple. That day he captained a team that barely scraped a draw, 3-3, admittedly in Belfast but being 3-2 down at half-time and only equalising in the 78th minute. Until then Scotland had never lost to Ireland, never mind drawn. Two of Ireland's goals were scored by the inside-right, Barron, and although he should notionally have been marked by Hogg it seems Kelly took the blame. It looks as if his legs might even have gone or were going. Perhaps Hogg was caught out covering him. He would even retire as a Celtic player the following season.
Nevertheless, the selectors must otherwise have been reasonably happy with what they had seen against the Irish because for the next match five of the team were retained, Lambie and James Blessington up front, Gibson and noticeably Hogg at half-back, and Drummond at full-back. He was made captain. There were, however, some positional changes. All five from the previous game swapped flanks. Why is unclear. Some had played out of position. Some now would. However, it was the six new inclusions, or rather the three plus three recalls, who really were the talking point and seemed to have made the difference.
The match on 4th April was in Glasgow. It was the big one against England. Scotland would be 2-0 up at half-time. England would pull one back in 80th minute but no more. For the first time that decade Scotland would be beat England. It had not been possible with the amateur cum shamateur teams that had represented the country until 1893 nor even with the teams of Scottish professionals from 1894, leaving only one last option. Finally the Scottish FA had had no choice but to bite the bullet and include for the first time the best of the hundreds of Scottish professionals playing in the English league. And it worked and would more or less continue to do so for the next thirty-five years largely because of the quality of those who played in Kelly's position in
The Cross for the next generation.
The Cross may have first come to football at Renton in 1888 a decade after The Pyramid's invention and James Kelly have first played for Scotland that same year, but it does not mean that it was also adopted then by the national team. That seems to have been a much more drawn out and complicated process.
The fact is that after James Kelly's first cap he was not retained. In the following two games both against Ireland Dewar of Dumbarton was used in the first and then Queen of the South's David Calderhead. Both were must more conventional. Calderhead might even have been a permanent solution had he not been almost immediately snapped up by Notts County, turning professional and therefore becoming ineligible. Then even in the next game, against England, although Kelly was brought back it was at right-half with Dewar again at centre-half. And it seemed to work, at least eventually. It took an hour to adjust. England was 2:0 up at half-time and then crumbled at home in London, 2:3, the Scottish winning goal being scored in the last minute. At which point Dewar was also snapped up, by Blackburn Rovers.
It might then have been thought that Kelly would have been the obvious one to turn to. Neither Kelly nor Dewar seemed to have been at fault for either of the goals and Kelly was the last one standing. Instead it was firstly Third Lanark's Lochhead before he in turn left for Sunderland, then St. Mirren's Brown, who was twenty-nine years old and Heart's Begbie, aged just twenty-one, that were tried. Only then in April 1890 did Kelly return but it was at least against England and in Glasgow and the result a draw. At that point again it might have been thought that Kelly, now about to turn twenty-six, would finally be the natural fit. Instead Brown was retried and over the next two seasons six others. There could be no better indication that Scotland was still struggling with Kelly for whatever reason, had accepted the idea of the centre-half but still saw it as defensive, a struggle that was only complicated by Kelly playing just once, in a loss against England in 1892, one of three losses in three years but a game remarkable in six ways, but at right-half.
Firstly Scotland at Ibrox was four down in twenty-six minutes. Secondly at centre-half and captain was Queen's Park William Sellar winning his seventh of eight caps, the first seven years earlier. Thirdly at left-half was David Mitchell of Rangers. Fourthly it was the moment that seems to have marked the final acceptance by Scotland of the Scottish, attacking centre-half. All Sellar's caps past and future were as a central or right-sided forward so the selectors were looking for an attacking player to fill the role. Fifthly Sellar would not prove to be the solution, all the goals coming through the Scottish centre and lastly they would have to return to the one player they had been avoiding for the pivotal position, James Kelly.
Thus it was in 1893 for two games there would be a settled half-back combination, Mitchell on the left, Kelly now aged twenty-seven and ostensibly at his peak, in the middle and fellow Celt, Willy Maley, on the right. It would result in a win, 6:1, against Ireland at Celtic Park and then a loss once more to England, the third loss against the Auld Enemy in a row, but in a curious game. England went ahead. Scotland equalised through right-winger, none other than one-time centre-half, William Sellar. It was 1:1 at half-time. Scotland scored a second two minutes after the re-start again though Sellar, England equalised in the 65th minute and then Scotland more or less fell apart. In the 75th and 80th minutes the English left-winger, Fred Spikesley, scored twice. Facing him was the venerable
Walter Arnott, aged not quite 33, and looking like he had run out of legs.
The whistle at the end of that 1893 match, final score 5:2, marked four things. Firstly, it was the end of the last of the box-four generation. Arnott never played for Scotland again. Secondly, it started the ball rolling towards the change in Scottish eligibility rules to include non-residents, i.e. those playing in England,as over the next four games two of the four centre-halves tried, with Kelly again side-lined, would move south. The cupboard north of the border was bare. And thirdly it was the definitive introduction to the international game of the Cross, the Scottish Cross, which in time and essence would become the fundamental of the winner of the first World Cup, at least one of the World Cup finalists from 1934 to 1958 and all bar one of the teams taking part in finals of the World Cup since 1958. Its rise came with the eclipse of what might be called The Top, 2-3-5, in reality 2-3-2-2-1, the last hurrah of which was the Miracle of Bern in 1954 and the totally unexpected defeat of Hungary by West Germany. And by the way the exception would be in 1966, when Alf Ramsey's England played a unique formation; 3-2 and 4-1 in defence as required and an attack seemingly evolved from 2-3-5 but as much due to his imagination as anything else. After all Ramsey was a man marked by two defeats. The first had been the Americans in 1950 at England's first ever attempt at the World Cup. The second was the Hungarians in 1953. And lastly it would in reality be the end of James Kelly's international career.
Kelly would be Scotland's centre-half on one more occasion, the draw against Ireland in 1896 that was the last straw before the eligibility change. He was thirty and on the decline. He would finish even at club level for following season. Ireland was 3:2 up at half-time. Scotland only clawed it back in the 78th minute. Defeat, which had never happened previously, would have been almost unthinkable. Against England it definitely was. The best players had to be included no matter where they plied their trade. The residency rule was jettisoned and immediately the centre-half baton was passed on.
Spiritually it did not actually go far, nor chronologically even if physically the distance was a little greater. The new incumbent was another James, James Cowan. He was plying his trade in Birmingham, at Aston Villa. He was just three years younger than Kelly and remarkably had been born in Jamestown. Jamestown is two miles north of Renton, just the other side of Alexandria. He had even played for Renton as a youngster before joining Vale of Leven and from there moving south. And he came from the same mould.
James Cowan would make Scotland's centre-half his own for three years and successfully; two wins against England in the first two. It might have been one or two more had he not arrived drunk for the third, the 1998 fixture against England in Glasgow, a game in which Scotland was 0-2 down in twenty-three minutes and eventually lost 1-3. He was lucky too because alongside him he would have considerable talent. Neilly Gibson was there as he had been for Kelly's last appearance, and in 1898 on his left John Tait Robertson. Neilly Gibson would win fourteen caps in all, Tait Robertson go on to claim eighteen but even they could not save Cowan that day not only because he was inebriated but also up against Gilbert Smith, with Steve Bloomer alongside. Bloomer score twice.
Cowan would never play for Scotland again but his disgrace did leave a hole. The following year Queen's Park's Christie was asked to step up but against England the team would lose 2-1. Admittedly it was away but the team was talented with a considerable spine and should perhaps have done better. Ned Doig was back in goal, Gibson and Tait Robertson on either side and McColl and a new name,
R.C. Hamilton up front for the third time that international season. It was Hamilton, who scored the consolation.
And then the selectors went bold. It was the moment when for the first time for a good decade the best Scottish players could be said to be playing, the cream still at home and the best from English teams. Notably, instead of Christie still only twenty-six, they selected twenty-one year-old Alex Raisbeck to fill, indeed, fulfil Cowan's and Kelly's role. Born in Polmont by Falkirk Raisbeck was an East Coaster. As a seventeen and eighteen year-old he had played twenty-five games for Hibernian. That he did so for the Edinburgh club was one of several signs that The Cross had spread from its Leven Vale birthplace increasingly to replace The Pyramid, which Old Reekie had used for a decade and a half from the late 1870s, and become the Scottish style of choice. And he also played four games on loan in a Stoke team that would be threatened with relegation from the English First Division. Stoke would avoid the drop, whilst Raisbeck had been noticed. He would be bought from Hibernian by a Liverpool mid-table in the same division, the following season Liverpool would finish as runners-up, ironically behind Cowan's Aston Villa and two years later still it would be champion as Villa, with Cowan's club career almost at an end, just avoided relegation.
Raisbeck would play just eight times for Scotland from 1900 until 1907. It seems incredibly few caps but he would be saved for the big games against England. And he would be on the losing side just once. Nevertheless he was also fortunate. As had been the case with Cowan, those around him were from the beginning of top quality. In the first England encounter Gibson and Robertson would be at half-back alongside. In goal was
Henry Rennie, the most innovative 'keeper since
Robert Gardner, the sweeper, the narrower of angles and the reader of body-shape. The full-backs were the experienced Rangers pairing of John Drummond and Nichol Smith. McColl was up-front with John Bell, Bob Walker, Johnny Campbell and Alex Smith. Sixty-three thousand came to watch. Scotland would a goal up in a minute, three in twenty-five and run out 4-1 winners. A new century had begun well and would frankly hardly pause for thirty years more.
1901 saw Scotland almost snatch a win in London. Having fallen behind they were ahead with fifteen minutes to go only that man Steve Bloomer again to pop up. Raisbeck was settling into a team that was tweaked but not drastically changed in personnel or style. Robertson was still there but with Gibson replaced by Andy Aitken. Like Gibson he would also go on to win fourteen caps. R.C. Hamilton was back replacing Bell. Barney Battles Snr came in for Smith. Then in 1902 Smith was back in, Templeton replaced Hamilton and that was it in another 2-2 draw. There was continuity as there also was to a considerable extent the following year. Doig replaced Rennie. The full-backs were still a pairing, Sunderland's
McCombie
and Watson and a returning Hamilton simply moved across to fill McColl's slot and Speedie came in.
The result was a 2-1 away win but there was more to it than that. There was also a variation still on the theme of The Cross. In defence there was still the mobile goalie, not the larger, powerful but static ones that had become the vogue in England. There were still wide full-backs marking the wingers, narrow half-backs with an attacking centre-half but now in attack an extra possibility had been added. The team could employ either the short, quick, bustling centre-forward like Bob McColl or the taller, deeper-lying R.C. Hamilton with his longer-range shooting and heading ability. But still it needed someone to make it happen. Raisbeck.
It is of course impossible at this distance today to say whether the football played by the Scotland team in the first seven years of the 20th Century was a result purely of Raisbeck. It was a era of exceptional players. Moreover the various combinations of Raisbeck, Aitken, Alex Smith, McColl and Hamilton seem to have been more than the considerable sum of their parts and with other major players still to come that happy situation would continue.
As to Raisbeck himself, he was not particularly tall, just 5ft 10ins. He was well-built at over 12 and a half stone. Yet he had stamina as well as timing and athleticism. He could out-jump many an opponent in the air as well as out-run and out-pass them on the ground.
Athletic News described him as having
“a name in Scotland as the best centre-half in the country”.
That is, of course, the best Scottish-style centre-half, and quite possibly the best centre-half, full-stop, anywhere.
In 1924 a retrospective of him said he,
"…….was wholeheartedly a destroyer of attacks when it came from the opposing wing”,“he was speed in turn and on the run”
and
“his judgement was sound, his valour outstanding and, naturally for a half-back, his control and placing of the ball was equally confident.”
He could tackle, run, rien and pass. Yet all was not always plain sailing. In 1904 the forward-line of the previous five years broke up. McColl had not played since his move from Queen's Park to Newcastle and from amateur to professional. Why is unclear. Hamilton and Rangers were also struggling a little, whilst in defence there were injuries to both McCombie and Rennie. Raisbeck himself had been injured for much of the season. Liverpool was relegated. He was rusty. England won in Glasgow by a single goal fairly late in the game.
To be fair with Raisbeck back fit and playing again Liverpool would instantly begin the bounce-back but in the mind of the Scottish selectors there must still have been some question-marks over a Second Division player and for the England-Scotland fixture in 1905 they turned elsewhere. They had, with Scottish football having adopted The Cross throughout and The Pyramid replaced even in Edinburgh, a ready replacement in Charles Thomson of Hearts, who had already played three of the lesser internationals. And the defence was reassembled with a new twist. Thomson had Aitken behind him to the right, McCombie now with Newcastle was behind Aitken and Watson again beside McCombie. But in front of Watson replacing Tait Robertson was a new name, Peter McWilliam. He, as a wandering left-half might have brought another dimension to the team but not quite yet it seems. The game in London was heading for a draw the half-backs on both side in control before in 78th minute Sharp, the English right wing, got the better of Watson, centred and Bache at inside-left put a 20 yard shot into the top corner.
In 1906 with Liverpool restored to the English First Division Raisbeck was back at centre-half for Scotland. He simply slotted in between Aitken and McWilliam in beating England in Glasgow with otherwise new full-backs and an attack that otherwise hardly had a cap between them. 102,000 spectators, a new World Record, watched on at a rebuilt Hampden Park. Scotland scored either side of half-time. England, even though they were down to ten men for all but the first ten minutes, pulled one back nine minutes from the end from a direct free-kick but the Scottish half-backs were in complete control. And Alex Raisbeck would play one further time for Scotland before injury cut short his career. In 1907 again between Aitken and McWilliam he would take the field in a 1-1 draw at St. James Park, Newcastle in a team that proved unique in several ways, not just as a Raisbeck swan-song. Charles Thomson, who had already played centre-half against Wales in defeat and Ireland in winning, captained but from right-back, one, as a sign of the times and the way, in which English clubs were raiding the Scottish game even at junior level, of just two members of the XI actually played their football north of the border. Bob Walker was the other and he also played for Hearts. It meant that in THE Scottish game of the season not one of the international team played in Glasgow. Indeed not one of the players had even been born in Glasgow, not even the stalwarts. Aitken had been born in Ayr, McWilliam in Inverness
It would have been expected that with the retirement of Raisbeck Thomson, his effective understudy, would have stepped up. And that is exactly what happened, at least in theory. In reality Scottish football entered a period of what can only be described as confusion. Thomson was already thirty years old. James Kelly had finished his international career at the age of twenty-seven, Cowan at twenty-nine, Raisbeck at twenty-eight. It looked as if Thomson could only be a stop-gap. In addition there were problems between Hearts and Thomson that, although he would take the field for Scotland against England in 1908, restored to centre-back and as a Hearts player in a home draw at Hampden he would soon be on his way, to Sunderland and seemingly into the wilderness. His new team was struggling almost at the foot of the English First Division. Indeed, whilst Thomson returned to captain Scotland in the game against Wales in 1909 it proved to be something of a disaster. In thirty-nine minutes Wales was 3-0 up, two of the goals from centre-forward, Davies, the player Thomson was marking. And, although the final result was a more acceptable 3-2, Thomson was gone, replaced positionally and as captain by James Stark of Rangers for the other two international games of the season.
In fact the picking of Stark proved to be a god-send for Thomson. It gave him a little time. Under the former Scotland lost the 1909 England game 2-0. Both goals were scored from the left-wing so Stark should not have been implicated. Yet he was replaced, by William Loney of Celtic. Meanwhile Sunderland, having been sixteenth in the season before Thomson joined, would with him at the club from 1908-9 until 1919 not finish lower than eighth, take the league in 1912-13 and just miss out on The Double that same year, losing 1-0 to Aston Villa in the Cup Final. Where it mattered, on the pitch, Thomson was proving that no matter what age ability and form age could be maintained. The result was that in 1910 he was recalled for the game that mattered, which with him also restored as captain was won at home 2-0 but at something of a canter. With Aitken and McWilliam to each side Scotland was two up in half an hour. As The Times reported,
"The game was fast and interesting from the start, and for nearly 20 minutes neither side could claim any marked advantage. Everything up to that point suggested a close and even fight, but then Scotland scored, and a great change came over the play. The Scottish side, encouraged by their success, played with fine dash and confidence, whereas the limitations of the English defence, suggested even in the early stages of the match, became more and more marked. A second goal for Scotland followed rather more than half an hour from the start, and afterwards there was never any doubt about the result..."
And from that point on there was never any doubt about Thomson either. As Scotland would lose just one game to England in five years, by a single goal in London in 1913, when he might have had reason to be a little jaded, so, when fit, in spite of being well into his thirties, he would remain a fixture until international football was suspended on the outbreak of hostilities.