England Match No. 398 - Scotland - 2 April 1966 (original) (raw)

Squad details correct up to and including Scotland's match against Italy on 7 December 1965. Tallies from SFA.

Diary

Friday, 25 March 1966 - The Scotland Football Association last night appointed John Prentice, manager of Clyde, as Scotland's team manager. He will be in charge of the side against England at Hampden Park to-morrow week, and his contract is to run until June 30, 1970, he will also be responsible for the national side during the next World Cup series. Prentice yesterday sat in with the selectors when they nominated a pool of eighteen players from which the team to meet England will be chosen.Saturday, 26 March 1966 - The Celtic outside-left, John Hughes, has withdrawn from the party after it became came clear that the knee injury he received during the inter-league match at Newcastle was not going to heal in time. Monday, 28 March 1966 - Scotland's well-founded expectations of beating England on Saturday lie at the mercy of a log-jam of matches and the inevitable risk of injury they carry. Over the next three days no fewer than twelve of the seventeen players remaining in the pool will be engaged in cup or league games. The chairman of the selection committee, Mr H.S. Nelson, and the new team manager, John Prentice, will decide to-day whether or not to pick a replacement for Hughes. Tuesday, 29 March 1966 - A FA disciplinary commission, after a personal hearing in London yesterday, announced that Ian St. John had been severely censured, warned as to his future conduct, and fined �100. St. John was sent off near the end of the match at Fulham for Liverpool on February 26. The hearing yesterday lasted just over an hour and film from 'Match of the Day', the BBC2 programme, was shown during it. An FA official said afterwards "This is the first time that such a film has been used during one of our hearings."

Wednesday, 30 March 1966 - The formation of Scotland's team to play England emerged more clearly today when Eddie McCreadie and Ian St. John were withdrawn from the party. The final selection will be made tomorrow when the players assemble in Glasgow before they set off for training in Largs, or on Friday. Thursday, 31 March 1966 - The Scotland team to face England is chosen. The squad of fourteen trained for two hours at the Inverclyde Recreation Centre at Largs. The absentee was Jimmy Johnstone, who remained at Celtic Park for treatment to injuries he received on Tuesday evening in a league match with Kilmarnock. He joined the others later in the evening for a talk on tactics and reported himself as fit.
The only new cap is Tommy Gemmell, replacing Eddie McCreadie. Two players survive from the team that drew last year at Wembley, John Greig, a wing half for Rangers, but will be a right-back on Saturday, and Denis Law.

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CG