Gordon McQueen: Internationals not such an honour anymore

Monday, 07 June 2010 12:56

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In another The Away End exclusive, we meet Middlesbrough first team scout and former St.Mirren, Leeds, Manchester United and Scotland defender Gordon McQueen

By Sean Graham

How did it feel when Don Revie wanted you to replace the legend that was Jack Charlton at Leeds United?

Well it was less difficult believe it or not because I was stepping into a team with fantastic players, number 4 Bremner, number 5 McQueen, number 6 Hunter, it just wasn’t as difficult as I was going into an established side with experienced internationals and that is what made the job an awful lot easier.

Yeah it is daunting when you think that it is big Jack that you are taking over from and going into a side like Leeds who where the best side in England at the time, but it helps when you are going in with terrific players around about you.

Did it help that Leeds already had Scots in their side?

There where a whole array of Scots down there at the time-Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer, David Harvey, and Joe Jordan, Frank Gray-there was an incredible amount of Scots there.

There was a  time at the  football club that there were 17 Scots including all the reserves and youths because Don Revie used to like Scottish players, so the settling in period was very easy for me coming from Scotland to England at the time, it was home from home.

From what I have read and heard about Don Revie, he was a special manager.

There is absolutely no doubt about that, there is a cliché about running through a brick wall for a manager and I don’t think there was a player at Leeds United that wouldn’t have run through a brick wall for Don Revie, they felt so strong about him.

All the families loved him the wives, the Mums, the Dad’s and the players were all brought up with him from an early age, very few of those players were signed.

They were all there as youngsters, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner there were a few Gilles, Clark and Jones I think they signed but a lot of them were there for an awful long while and the ones he did sign stayed for a long while, players just didn’t want to leave Leeds United while Don Revie was manager.

After Don left to take over as England manager, you had Brian Clough as your manager at Leeds, what was he like to work under?

Well it was like night and day! Brian Clough had been one of Leeds biggest critics when he was at Derby County and he came in and made the mistake of coming in like a bull in a China shop, trying to change too much too quick and a lot of people were set in their ways (Don Revie ways) and he wanted to do things his way.

Every day you picked up a newspaper you read that he was wanting to get rid of this player and that player and bringing in this player and that player so it was a very unsettling time but of course it reflected on the results which were absolutely dreadful and a lot of the senior players just could not stomach him, although I had no problems with him.

What did you make of Damned United film?

I went to the premiere of the film and it was ok, I just think that it is particularly difficult making good sporting films in particular football ones, has there ever been a real belter? I am not so sure and I didn’t think it came in to the category.

What about your move from Leeds to Manchester United, you and big Joe Jordan going to Old Trafford, how did that go down?

That didn’t go down too well! Both me and big Joe were popular players at the time but some of the older players were starting to drift away from the club and it was maybe a rebuilding time, and I had just signed a new contract.

They said that they were going to buy the best players and low and behold a couple of months after they had said that to me they went and sold Joe which I could not believe over the sake of buttons, a very small amount of money and I just could not believe it, so I realised then that the club was not as ambitious as what it used to be and I decided that enough was enough, and I was going to leave and I was going to go to an ambitious club.

You know when you go to Man Utd that they are an ambitious club, they are always going to be ambitious but it didn’t go down well with the Leeds fans.

How were Dave Sexton and Ron Atkinson to play under?

They were smashing, they were terrific to play for.

It was a great club to play for Manchester United. Leeds were a big club at the time but when you go to Manchester United you realise what a big club is all about - that really is a big club.

It was great to play under Dave Sexton he was a terrific man, Ron was always quite flamboyant but he was great to work with as well, I had a happy time at Manchester United although Liverpool where the bees knees at the time and in terms of success we were well behind Liverpool.

What was it like to play in an FA Cup final?

The FA Cup in those days was big! That was a big, big trophy but nowadays obviously Europe and the Champions League and all that stuff seems to have taken over now and also it is all about survival in the Premiership because they have created a monster, but in those days the FA Cup was a fantastic tournament and it was really exciting to get there and brilliant to win it, I have been involved in a few Cup Finals but it is nice to win them.

Throughout your career you have played for great club sides but how does it feel to pull on the dark blue of Scotland?

Playing for Scotland was always a highlight of your career certainly in my time but I am not so sure if that is the case now.

I went up to play for Scotland or report for Scotland squads when there was no way that I should have been reporting because you had bad knocks or this or that but that did not come into it because you were desperate to play for your country, it was just a big thrill or privilege in those days, you only got paid a pittance for playing for your country but that did not even come into it but it seems to be changed days now.

What was it like playing in a winning side at Wembley in 1977?

As a kid growing up you want to play for your country-you do that, you want to play against England-you do that, you want to play against England and beat them-you do that, you want to play against England at Wembley and beat them-you do that.

You want to do all these things plus score a goal and you do that as well!

It is certainly the moment that most Scottish people or even football fans from all over talk to me about and that was 33 years ago now and so many people talk to me about it even now that it is not true.

Did you know what was happening out on the pitch as you entered the dressing room?

We came in and we started doing interviews down at the bottom of the tunnel after the game ,we couldn’t do a lap of honour as we had actually won the Home International trophy and we could not go round Wembley with it as there was pictures coming through and stories coming through that the fans had actually invaded the pitch, and it was being dug up and the crossbar was getting broken, so we were away and we couldn’t get waving to the fans which was a pity but I think the fans were trying to get on the pitch to get down the tunnel to wave to us!

You played with some great players in your Scotland days also, who stuck out for you?

When you think of Jimmy Johnstone, Denis Law and the more modern day ones like Kenny Dalglish, big Joe and Danny McGrain these guys where some of the greatest players ever to play for Scotland and they were team mates and even friends those guys which was even nicer.

What about the recent lack of qualification to major tournaments over the years Gordon, does that hurt to see the country not doing so well?

It does hurt, remember I have lived in England most of my adult life so it is a lot worse for a Scotsman living in England because they are quick to give you a bit of stick as we are double quick to give them it as well.

It just seems the norm now; I think the celebrations will be wild the next time we qualify for a major tournament as it seems to be that long since we have done it.

You are looking for a kinder draw first of all so that Craig Levein gets off to a great start.

Looking back on your career what are your highlights?

Captaining Scotland at 22 was always a great honour for me, beating England at Wembley is a game that a lot of people talk about and scoring at Wembley for Scotland and scoring at Wembley for Man United in a Cup Final. And, playing for two great clubs such as Leeds United and Man United with fantastic players in both of them, they are highlights not a specific moment.

There has been some which are nicer than others but as I say playing for your country against England, scoring against England and beating them that takes a bit of beating for any Scottish player.

Even with Gordon Strachan's slow start to his Boro career, he possibly had less stick than he did during his time at Celtic?

You know that Celtic and Rangers are high profile jobs, one step out of line, one bad decision or one bad substitution and the press are down on you like a ton of bricks but that is not so much the case down here.

Middlesbrough are well down the pecking order down here in terms of the publicity that they create.

Does Gordon feel that a few Scots were needed to beef up his Boro side?

Well, there are actually quite a lot of Scottish players involved in the Championship but just not so much in the Premier League and I think Gordon feels that the ones who have come down from Scotland to play in the Championship has acquitted themselves pretty well so he has no fear of bringing in Scottish players, and it is obviously players that he knows the players that we have got from Celtic, he knows them inside out and he is pretty confident that they will be able to do a job for us.

What about the two in particular that you brought in from Celtic that maybe most of the Celtic fans would not have wanted to see go, Scott McDonald and Barry Robson?

I think Scott McDonald and Barry Robson were two of the bigger ones –McDonald in particular is a goal scorer and you only had to watch Celtic in their match against Kilmarnock to see how much they missed him but everybody needs a goal scorer, we have been desperate for one, they are very hard to come by so we are obviously well pleased to get Scott.

Do you think that Scott McDonald and Lee Miller can bring goals and a cutting edge to Boro in the future?

Goals have been a big problem for us this year and our consistency; we have just not been creating enough or scoring enough goals.

The league is not a great league; a good team would win it by quite a number of points.

There is no doubt in my mind about that but you need to be able to score goals and we have not been able to do that and that is what we are trying to rectify right now.
It was always going to be a difficult job for Gordon, I know when he came I think we had just beaten Derby under Gareth Southgate and where 4th in the league but that never painted a picture of the real state of the club I didn’t feel.

What about young talent coming through at the club over the years?

We have always had players coming through; any money that this club has made over the last few years is with players coming through the academy for example
Downing, Chris Brunt, James Morrison, Lee Cattermole they were all academy players and of course Adam Johnston and there are a few more and it will take time and it is not maybe the right time to throw them in to the side right now but there are certainly a few more coming through the pipeline just now and we expect to see a few of them in the first team in a the next year or so.

You mentioned Adam Johnston there, was that a blow losing him in the January transfer window?

Yes it was! But what do you do? It is a predicament for the club, we have lost a huge amount of money going for the Premier League to the Championship, his contract was up in the summer so you get compensation for him which is nothing like the fee we got for him or you might not get any compensation for him if he went abroad, so when you get an offer from a club like Manchester City and the boy wanted to go anyway, there is nothing you can do about it although it is a big blow for the club.