MUNICH is a city close to Bryan Gunn’s heart. As a member of the Aberdeen squad that secured a goalless draw there on the way to winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983, he returned to Norwich City ten years later and became the first – and only – Scottish goalkeeper to win in the Bavarian capital. .
He returns at the age of 60 with his wife and family to watch son Angus keep goal for Scotland in this week’s opening match of Euro 2024. By the end of a nail-biting 90 minutes against hosts Germany, he hopes to welcome a newcomer at an elite and exclusive club.
“I am still the only British goalkeeper to beat Bayern in Munich,” he told Mail Sport. ‘Norwich were 2-1 up in the final minutes of the match when I made my best ever save.
‘Adolfo Valencia had a diving header from six to seven yards out and I saved it with my diaphragm. If you want to say b******s, that might be more accurate.
“We ended up defending for our lives and those are great memories. We are now forever in the history books as the only British club to win at the Olympic Stadium, as Bayern have now obviously moved to the Allianz Arena.
‘Maybe I’ll return sentimentally to the old place to take some pictures. I still play on charity golf days and get introduced as Bryan Gunn from Norwich and Scotland and that’s a night everyone wants to talk about. Munich has been good to me.’
Bryan Gunn takes on German legend Lothar Mattheus in their 1993 UEFA Cup match
Gunn (above right) was part of Aberdeen’s victorious 1983 Cup-Winners’ Cup team in Gothenburg
Bryan earned six caps for Scotland, while Angus represented England at every level up to Under-21
He will fly there on Wednesday with wife Susan, daughter Melissa, his granddaughter and Angus’ girlfriend Jay. His other daughter Mimi will fly 10,000 miles rather than miss the biggest competition of her brother’s career to date.
‘Mimi actually left for Australia in January and I said, ‘See you next year.’ She said, “No, see you in Germany, I don’t miss that.” That’s why we’re having a family reunion at Munich Airport on June 12.
‘I have a full folder upstairs with hotels and timetables. Angus booked us a hotel in Munich and I booked hotels in Cologne and Stuttgart. It’s a military operation.’
Norwich-born Angus, 28, played for the England Under-21 team in Gareth Southgate’s first game in charge. He was called up to the first team for a friendly against Brazil after Jack Butland withdrew with a broken thumb.
The catalyst for a switch in allegiance was a crushing double leg break for Craig Gordon on Christmas Eve 2022, but he never really broke through.
“There were many reports that Angus had rejected Scotland,” his father recalled.
Angus has firmly established himself as Scotland’s number one goalkeeper this season
Bryan went to Italia 90 as third choice goalkeeper behind Jim Leighton and Andy Goram
‘What nonsense. He never turned anything down. He still had opportunities to play for England and was in England squads – and that opportunity had not disappeared.
“The change came when Craig was injured in December 2022.
‘We were in Norwich and were at Angus’ house for a pre-Christmas drinks. Kenny McLean was there with his wife. Big Grant Hanley was there with his wife and children. Everyone was devastated when they heard the news of Craig’s injury during the game that Christmas Eve.
‘So we were sitting there and Kenny and the boys started saying, ‘We’ve got to get the big man in.’ I said, “Well, have a few more drinks and then get into him.” There were definitely seeds planted that night.”
Tony Spearing, Steve Clarke’s regular scout, started the ball rolling with an appeal to Bryan. Gunn senior urged his old international teammate to pop the question for himself, and Clarke visited Norwich before the end of January.
“Angus tells the story that he probably wanted to say ‘yes’ right away,” he says. ‘He even called him the next day and said, ‘Yes, I’d love to do it.’ Then came his debut in March 2023 against Cyprus.
Bryan Gunn insists he has tried everything to convince his son to represent Scotland
‘Apart from the birth of the children – we lost my first daughter Francesca when she was young – my proudest moment was seeing Angus play for Scotland. My 83-year-old mother Jessie was there for a real family celebration.
Angus’ sister sent him the words to Flower of Scotland and he said: “Shut up, I know the words by heart…”.
‘People forget that Angus had me in his ear when I was growing up, watching Scotland games on the telly and shouting during the games. I have family photos of him wearing Scotland kits when he was young.
“So it was always fermenting there. I did my best when he was born and named him Angus Fraser James Gunn, and I did my part. Stevie popped the question and the rest was history.”
Clarke and Gunn senior turned from boys to men during a rearguard action in the seething cauldron of Mexico’s Azteca Stadium in June 1983. In front of a raucous crowd of 86,582 home fans, they found themselves in a Scottish youth team that was already champions of Europe, beating the hosts in their final group match at the FIFA World Cup thanks to a goal from Scotland’s current manager.
Both men would win six senior caps each, with their international careers ending the same evening after a 3–1 defeat to the Netherlands in May 1994.
Gunn came into the reckoning for Scotland after Craig Gordon’s double leg fracture
While Clarke describes his omission from Italia ’90 as the bitterest disappointment of his career, Gunn would travel to Italy as a substitute for Jim Leighton and Andy Goram.
“That was the summer I made my debut against Egypt in the build-up to Pittodrie, ironically,” says Gunn. “All my family came from Thurso and Invergordon. My landlady from Aberdeen was there too.
‘I don’t like to talk about the match as much, because we lost 3-1.
“I was gutted because I felt this was an opportunity. Maybe not to play in the World Cup. But at least to impress people.
‘Me and Maurice Malpas had a mix-up with the first goal.
‘I gave Gordon Durie a stick when I had to play a Rangers game recently because he passed the ball back to me from the halfway line. That was back in the days when you could pick up passbacks and I come out to pick it up when Hossam Hassan sneaks in, taps it and it goes into the net. He ended up in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary because I double-fisted him and he was taken away on a stretcher.
‘On the third I can still see big Alex McLeish looking at me and thinking, ‘Should have saved that, big man.’
Gunn is a Norwich legend and had a spell as manager in 2009, assisted by Tommy Wright
While some of Scotland’s first XI remains unclear, the identity of the number one goalkeeper is clear
Despite Gunn senior’s six caps, 400 club appearances and many individual awards, it was not written in the stars that Angus would become a goalkeeper. When he was a composed midfielder for Loddon Grasshoppers, the local amateur team, his father thought he had the next Patrick Vieira on his hands.
‘He was tall and elegant on the ball and he was put on trial as a field player at the Norwich Academy. But development manager Colin Watts said: “I don’t think he’s going to make it as a footballer. He’s too tall, a bit slow… why don’t we put him in goals?”
The move has paid off. Despite Gunn continuing to play outfield for his school team, Manchester City paid a significant fee to sign him to their academy at the age of 15.
“Physically he has all the qualities,” says his father. ‘Mentally he is very good at overcoming bad things quickly. Letting in a goal is the worst thing that can happen to you as a goalkeeper, but you have to react quickly and persevere.’
He hopes all the training, teaching and hard work will pay off on June 14.