Ally McCoist exclusive: ‘I got bitten by the Scotland bug in 1978. Ally MacLeod convinced me we were going to win the World Cup!’

THE hype machine was in overdrive. When Scotland flew to Argentina to play in the World Cup in 1978, the expectation was that they had every chance of returning home with the trophy.

That was the mantra preached by Ally MacLeod, the manager whose confidence was as unwavering as it was misguided.

We’re on the march with Ally’s army became the soundtrack of a nation. With a team including Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Joe Jordan, Scotland would be a force.

No one was more convinced of this than a young Alistair Murdoch McCoist, who was in the crowd at Hampden and had seen the team given a remarkable send-off in an open-top bus.

McCoist was only 15 years old at the time. While still working his way into the game, he would win 61 caps, scoring 19 goals along the way.

The Scotland and Rangers legend has detailed his life and times with the national team in a new book. Dear Scotland: On the Road with the Tartan Army, out later this week.

McCoist speaks with typical candor and humor about his experiences with some of the game’s true giants: Sir Alex, Big Jock, Walter, Gazza.

But the journey for one of Scotland’s greatest ever strikers begins in that famous summer of 1978, when Scotland’s optimism was immediately dashed as they lost their opening match 3-1 to Peru.

“I was in Hampden with my dad to give them a big send-off,” McCoist explains. ‘Make no mistake: I expected us to at least be in the play-offs for third place!

‘If we didn’t win that, we would at least be in the semi-finals. I was just a young boy then. I took it as gospel that we went there to win the case.

“Alley [MacLeod] convinced me. I watched him on television and read him in the newspaper. I was sold on the whole thing.

“We had a great team in ’78. But we obviously had a bit of a reality check against Peru in the opening game, which obviously put us at a big disadvantage.

‘Between that World Cup and the ’82 tournament you have to leave it to Roughie [Alan Rough, Scotland goalkeeper]. The big man scored some of the greatest goals in World Cup history!

‘Roughie is one of the nicest, funniest and most self-deprecating men you will ever meet. However, when I think of the great man and our World Cup adventures, I usually think of him bending over to pick up the ball after watching an international superstar punch it past him from a ridiculous distance.

‘But 78 was my first real experience of dealing with the pain and disappointment that often comes with being a Scotland fan.

‘In that sense we are a funny breed. Everyone thinks Scottish people are very strict and all that.

‘But that’s nonsense. When it comes to football, Scottish people are some of the most optimistic people you will ever meet.”

Scotland would ultimately be eliminated on goal difference in the group stage, despite beating the Netherlands 3-2 in the final match and Archie Gemmill scoring *that* goal.

McCoist watched football growing up in the 1970s and had no shortage of superstar players to try to emulate.

Pele and Johan Cruyff would be the two most obvious examples. But it was Gerd Müller, the goalscoring machine of Bayern Munich and West Germany, who not only caught his attention but actually shaped McCoist’s career.

“I started my career playing most of my football in midfield,” McCoist explains. ‘But there was something about Gerd Müller that really drew me to him.

‘I think maybe it was his style, his physique, and just the relentless hunger he had for goals.

He wasn’t the biggest or the fastest, but he was an absolute machine in front of goal.

‘He outsmarted the defenders with his movements. He was smart about finding space in the box. To be honest, his finishing was just off the charts.

I vividly remember seeing him for West Germany and Bayern Munich.

‘I’ve seen him play live. In 1976, when I was only 13, I went to Hampden to watch the European Cup final between Müller’s Bayern Munich and a very cool St. Etienne team, resplendent in their bright green shirts.

‘It was the little striker who most caught my attention that evening, and I left the old stadium after Bayern’s 1-0 win with the little man firmly in my thoughts.

“I was always practicing in the park, trying to spin like him. Well, I wasn’t going to imitate Dutch star Johan Cruyff, was I?

‘If I had tried to copy the Cruyff turn that became famous that summer, I think I might have broken an ankle. No, for me it was Müller.

‘Something just clicked with me when I watched Muller. I felt like that style was something I could try to emulate. Then I started playing more as a striker.’

Incredibly, McCoist remains the last player to score a winning goal for Scotland in a major tournament. That came in a 1-0 win over Switzerland at Villa Park in Euro ’96.

But again, it wasn’t enough. Scotland were eliminated due to goals scored, with the Netherlands progressing alongside England despite losing 4-1 to the hosts at Wembley.

It was in that tournament where McCoist came up against his then Rangers teammate Paul Gascoigne.

It’s fair to say that Walter Smith and Archie Knox often had their hands full trying to keep McCoist and Gazza’s antics in check.

“I was fortunate to play under some of the best managers Scotland has ever produced,” says McCoist. “You take little fragments from all of them, but Walter is clearly the biggest influence on me.

‘He became like a second father to me and also the best friend. Some of my best memories in football were with Walter and Archie Knox.

“I’ve often heard it said that they were a good double act, like a good cop and a bad cop. I’m not so sure about that.

They were both very adept at being the bad cop when they wanted to be, but maybe not so much the good cop!

‘It was probably Archie who put me in my place when my behavior went astray, which often happened. But I love him. I must have driven him and Walter crazy sometimes, but we had some laughs along the way.

‘With Euro ’96 it was a fantastic tournament to be involved in as it had only just been in England.

‘We were quietly confident. When we drew 0-0 against the Netherlands in the first match, that confidence grew. With England next, we told the staff at our hotel that we were going to beat them.

‘There was some noise around the England team at the time.

They had drawn 1-1 with Switzerland in their opening match and my old friend Gascoigne was still on as many front pages as back pages.

‘The English press was still unhappy about his infamous ‘dental chair’ incident and the resulting photographs, although to this day he still insists he only came for a filling…

‘But that was the match where it got away from us. Gascoigne’s aim was genius, pure genius. There are no two ways about it.

‘I scored in the last match when we beat Switzerland 1-0. The rumor started to filter through that England scored goal after goal in the match against the Netherlands.

‘It was the strangest feeling to hear the Tartan Army cheering all these goals for England because at that moment we were going through it. But the Netherlands got Patrick Kluivert’s late goal and that was it. What an absolute suckerpunch that was. We were looking for goals scored. Cheeky.’

On the release of his new book, McCoist added: ‘I think I have a little bit of work to do before I get around to a full-blown autobiography.

‘I thoroughly enjoy what I am currently doing with my work on radio and TV. I can travel the world to see the best this game has to offer.

‘It’s a privilege to be able to do that and I’d still like to think I have a few big tournaments in me before I start a full autobiography.

‘So the idea behind this book was to try and maybe offer a little bit more of a light-hearted look at things.

“Don’t get me wrong, there are some more serious issues in there too, like when I talk about Walter and things like that.

‘But first and foremost the book is really just about being light-hearted and trying to make people laugh a little about some things.

‘I’ve been privileged to experience a lot in my career, both for club and country, so hopefully something can come of that.

“Every time I’m on the road, people will always ask me, ‘What was Walter like?’ ‘How was Gazza?’ “How was Laudrup?” “How was Lord Alex?” “What was Davie Cooper like?”

“They want to get a sense of what the people behind the scenes were like, so hopefully the book will give them an idea of ​​what some of these guys were like.

‘To put it this way: the book will not be in the same section of the library as Dostoyevsky and the like! It’s a little lighter and hopefully more humorous than that.’

Dear Scotland: On the Road with the Tartan Army by Ally McCoist is published on October 24 (Hodder & Stoughton, £22).