Scotland's run to World Cup 1986 is remembered less for the football than for the chaos around it. Jock Stein died after the 1-1 draw with Wales, Alex Ferguson took over for the play-off, and the squad that reached Mexico was already carrying stories of late changes, bruised egos and nights that ran long.
That is why the Rod Stewart Scottish thread still draws attention. In the build-up, players were said to be drinking mudslingers with Stewart, hanging out of stretch limos on Sunset Boulevard and turning up on Grandstand drunk, while others were reportedly heckling John McEnroe at the Australian Open in Melbourne. It was the kind of campaign where three future national team bosses were on bibs and cones duty, and the player-managers of two of Britain's biggest clubs were in the same squad.
The off-field noise sat beside a tense football picture. Scotland had set up the play-off tie in Cardiff, then lost Stein in the immediate aftermath of that draw. Ferguson still guided them to a 2-0 aggregate win after a goalless meeting in Australia, but selection soon became a story of its own. Alan Hansen, despite winning the English double with Liverpool, missed the final 22, with Willie Miller and Alex McLeish preferred as the Pittodrie partnership.
Then Kenny Dalglish withdrew within days with a knee problem. He was 35 and preparing for a fourth finals, and Steve Archibald took his place as the squad moved to Santa Fe in New Mexico for a two-week altitude camp. Some around the squad never stopped wondering whether Hansen's omission and Dalglish's exit were linked; Willie Miller later said he did not know if conversations were had, but added, 'I don't think Alan had been playing much,' and 'I don't know if conversations were had but it's a long way to go if you're not starting.'
Craig Brown recalled that Ferguson gave the players the night off on the condition they did not go to a party at Rod Stewart's house. Eamonn Bannon remembered scoring twice in a friendly against LA Heat, then having a reunion with his brother during the Los Angeles trip. He said a select group were allowed to show face at Stewart's home and were 'a little worse for wear the next day,' a neat summary of a squad that could handle the pitch, the parties and the pressure all at once. What remains unresolved is not the drinking or the jokes, but how much of that summer's selection drama was football judgment and how much was fallout from everything happening around it.
