Glenn Gibbons: Walker knew how to parliamo Andalucia

Ernie Walker's formidable reputation as an administrator had been firmly established long before he retired as secretary of the Scottish Football Association in 1990, but it would be enhanced by what may be called his post-graduate work with Uefa and other bodies over the next 15 years.

For all the heights he attained and the military bearing and sense of propriety he brought to his official duties, however, Ernie was at his most appealing (and, it is easy to suspect, his most comfortable) when reverting to the street talk of his Glasgow background.

If the peculiar, inflexible obligations of his office caused Bertie Auld to dub him "the Ayatollah", slipping into the vernacular unfailingly humanised him, reminding those who warmed to his company out of hours of his generosity of spirit and sense of fun.

It was during such a social encounter some years ago that Ernie recounted his experience with that other giant, Jock Stein, before the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The pair spent a week reconnoitring living and training quarters in Andalucia, where Scotland would play their matches against Brazil, the Soviet Union and New Zealand.

"We hired this taxi, with the same driver, for three days," said Walker. "Jock must have had great parties at his house when he was a kid, because he seemed to know every popular song of the 20th century, and he sat in the back of this cab from morning till night singing every one of them.

"Finally, as we approached our hotel on the third night, the ordeal mercifully just about over, the driver turned to me and came out with a torrent of Spanish. I nodded knowingly, as if I understood every word.

"From the back seat, Jock leaned forward and said, 'What's he saying, Ernie?' I turned and replied, 'He's saying, for f---'s sake tell him to shut up. I've been listening to him for three f-----g days and it's burstin' ma heid!'.