From disaster for Scotland to the last great Hampden roar

The passion remains undimmed, the memory as sharp as the famous chequered jacket. If Arthur Montford’s long, distinguished career in broadcasting has a defining performance, then it was delivered on 26 September, 1973, on a night of nights for Scotland.

As is the case today, it all boiled down to Scotland requiring victory against a Czech side, then known as Czechoslovakia. It was more straightforward than today – a win and Scotland went straight into their first World Cup since 1958. Trepidation and excitement proved a potent mix, even for someone regarded as the best in the business.

“His shameless bias reached its spectacular zenith during the nerve-shredding match in 1974 which Scotland had to win to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time since nineteencanteen,” recalled the Scottish football fanzine The Absolute Game, in a celebration of Montford’s career, in May 1994. “Never was the saying about ‘fans with microphones’ so true. The obvious nervous tension and near-panic in Arthur’s voice was a perfect companion to what was happening both on and off the pitch.”

Montford sounded just as the fans felt. “Disaster for Scotland, disaster for Scotland”, he wailed as Scotland went 1-0 down. “Come on Denis!” Montford urged of Law, who was running around like a teenager in a bid to get Scotland back into the game. And “watch your back Billy!”, he warned, as Bremner, the skipper, risked being scythed down when lingering on the ball.

Montford, now 82, recalls it all as though it were yesterday. The game – and the commentary – proved so good that STV showed the whole transmission again a few days later. Perhaps they should have shown it again last night, although the tape runs in Montford’s head in any case.

“It was the last Hampden roar,” he recalled to The Scotsman this week. “The Hampden roar was born in 1929 – Scotland 1, England 0 – with a late goal direct from a corner by Alex Cheyne. That was the birth of the Hampden roar.

“That night against the Czechs – and the late, great Scottish historian Bob Crampsey agreed with me – was the last Hampden roar. Not long after that, Hampden began to be redeveloped and changed. That wonderful bowl and all these great games and the record crowds, Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt and so on, it was all changing. To the chagrin of the Scottish football lover, they even changed the goals,” Montford continued, as lyrically as ever. “The goals used to be particularly beautiful and graceful, square posts with the old sweeping nets which went a long way backwards.

“A lot of people won’t understand what the Hampden roar is unless you tell them. But that is what it was, the roar of the crowd. The noise building, building, building and then Bremner hitting the post, the ball going out to [Willie] Morgan, who moves it on to his right foot and crosses and Joe Jordan coming in and heading the winning goal.”

Montford can still see it in his mind’s eye. He perhaps still has the bump on his head as he leapt from his seat to celebrate Jordan’s winner, with just 11 minutes left, and hit the commentary booth roof. He makes no apology for losing his professional cool, particularly since Jordan, the hero, had started his career at Montford’s beloved Morton.

“Of course Archie [Macpherson], myself and others were, frankly, partisan,” he said. “I used to wear a rosette under my jacket and sometimes a tartan scarf as well. The English thought we were mad of course – they called us fans with microphones, or, in Allan Herron’s case, fans with typewriters.

“The commentary was totally Scottish in its context. It was an extension of how the fans felt, so the viewers could establish what is was all about. You hoped for something special and when it arrived everyone just went “boom”. I hear it in my voice – ‘Jordan scores’ – and wonder: ‘Good God, is that me?’”

There are snippets from his commentary included in the Scotsport 50th anniversary tape, which was presented to Montford. Not that he tends to watch it. “I am not great for memory lane,” he said, perhaps surprisingly, given his powers of recall. He looked ahead to this afternoon’s clash. “Unless Scotland win it will be” – that word again – “a disaster”, he said.

Montford won’t be watching it all unfold live this time around, but he will be in touch. “On Saturday I am taking my handicapped brother Stanley out for the afternoon,” he explained. “I take him out every week. And then on Sunday I will be at Hamilton [for Morton’s Ramsdens Challenge Cup clash against Hamilton Accies]. I will be listening, however. I will have the car radio on, and I will be listening to [Radio Scotland commentator] David Begg, who I was playing golf with today. Funnily enough, he was asking me about that game against the Czechs.

“The late Willie Ormond, who was hugely underrated as a Scotland manager, threw open the door of the dressing room and we all piled in – radio, television, press, everybody. We spoke to as many players as we wanted. Everyone was leaping around and dancing in the dressing room. I was telling him [Begg] about it. He said: ‘what do you mean, you just walked into the dressing room and spoke to the players’?”

These were different times, clearly. Montford, though, is simply relieved to know Scotland will be kitted out appropriately this afternoon, like in the old days. “We are back to blue shirts and white shorts – the Scotland colours are blue and white and that should be it.

“And who knows, there might be another Hampden roar. I feel there could be a ‘Joe Jordan’ moment coming up.”