Archie Gemmill
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| Archie Gemmill | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Archibald Gemmill | |
| Date of birth | March 24, 1947 | |
| Place of birth | Paisley, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Midfielder (Retired) | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Scotland under-19 (manager) | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1964-1967 1967-1970 1970-1977 1977-1979 1979-1982 1982 1982 1982-1984 |
St Mirren Preston North End Derby County Nottingham Forest Birmingham City Jacksonville Tea Men Wigan Athletic Derby County |
65 (9) 99 (13) 261 (17) 58 (4) 97 (12) 32 (2) 11 (0) 63 (8) |
| National team | ||
| 1971-1981 | Scotland | 43 (8) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Archibald "Archie" Gemmill (born March 24, 1947 in Paisley, Renfrewshire) is a Scottish former footballer, famous for his goal against the Netherlands in the 1978 World Cup. The goal is so famous that it overshadows an immensely successful career in which he won three English league titles at two clubs (two of them under Brian Clough) and led his national side. He was the first player to appear as a substitute in Scottish football history. Gemmill was often criticised for his spiky outspokenness.
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[edit] Club career
Gemmill’s early career at St Mirren was rent by a succession of injuries, not least a broken ankle in early 1966. He was sent on to replace Jim Clunie on August 13, 1966 in a Scottish League Cup tie at Shawfield to become the first tactical substitute in Scottish football history [1]. At the end of that season Gemmill was sold to Preston North End for £13,000, where he came to the attention of Derby County's manager, Brian Clough, in mid-1970. Gemmill had been considering signing for the reigning champions Everton but Clough saw him as a player who could pass well and had the type of energy that would drive an attack forward.
In typical style, Clough drove to Gemmill’s house and when the player refused to sign for unfashionable Derby (who had never won the League title) Clough told him that he was going to sleep outside in the car. "But," says Gemmill, "my wife invited him in and he stayed the night”. Clough, eventually, got his man (for £60,000) over fried eggs the following morning. Gemmill scored only three goals for the Rams that season but they were Football League champions the following year.
Gemmill was suspended for the controversial 1973 European Cup semi-final (where the Juventus forward Helmut Haller allegedly visited referee Gerhard Schulenberg during half-time at the Baseball Ground and Clough subsequently gave the press scrum his famous ‘cheating Italians’ speech). Gemmill became club captain in place of the injured Roy McFarland when the Rams won their second title in 1975, eventually making 324 League appearances for the club and scoring 25 goals.
Clough sought to take the nucleus of Derby's championship-winning side with him throughout his journeys in the 1970s. Along with John O’Hare and John McGovern, Gemmill was part of a midfield unit that was to achieve Clough’s dreams throughout England and Europe when he signed for Nottingham Forest in September 1977 for £25,000. At Forest, Gemmill was used as a passer of the ball, helping to put into place the dangerous counter-attacking plan that proved so effective.
He played 58 times for Forest in the league (scoring three goals), and was integral to the success of the club in the late 1970s, apart, that is, from the most important match of all, which led to an acrimonious split with his mentor. Clough decided to drop Gemmill from the European Cup final line-up in the Olympiastadion, Munich. Gemmill referred to the decision later: "I was devastated at the time. I was led to believe I'd be playing in the match... I was far from happy. I hated every minute of the 90 and I hated afterwards as well." Gemmill left the club by the start of the next season. [2]
Gemmill went on to play for Birmingham City, debuting on August 18, 1979 in a 4-3 defeat at home to Fulham, eventually playing in 97 League matches for the Blues, and scoring 12 goals.
In early 1982, Gemmill crossed the Atlantic to play for the Jacksonville Tea Men of the NASL. He only stayed for one season - playing 32 league games. In September 1982, he joined up with former team mate and club manager Larry Lloyd at Wigan Athletic making his debut on September 25, 1982 against Chesterfield but only stayed for 11 matches [3] before going back to Derby County as player-coach to become Peter Taylor’s first signing for the club in 1982, then returned to Forest to be a coach alongside Clough in 1984. [4]
His managerial career took him to Rotherham United F.C. in the mid 1990s, and he stayed at Millmoor for 2 seasons. He is currently coach of the Scottish under-19 squad.
[edit] International career
Gemmill played 43 times and scored 8 goals for Scotland.
He captained the national side on no less that 22 occasions.
Gemmill is now the head coach of Scotland's Under-20 National team, and is coaching them in the 2007 Under-20 World Cup in Canada.
[edit] Famous World Cup goal
Gemmill's most celebrated moment was his goal against the Netherlands in a Group D fixture at the 1978 World Cup.
On June 11, 1978, Scotland needed to win the game by three goals to advance. With his team leading 2-1 in the 68th minute, Gemmill ran around three Dutch defenders and scored a goal to give his countrymen hope.
The Scotsman reported: “In 68 minutes, however, Scotland went 3-1 up when Archie Gemmill scored one of the great goals of this World Cup so far. The little midfield player homed in on goal, played a magnificent one-two with Dalglish, then sprinted into the box and thumped a glorious goal past Jongbloed to revive all the hopes which had died the death this past fortnight.
”It was an extraordinary goal and an extraordinary moment. Suddenly Scotland were dreaming of glory again”. [5]
The goal has been translated into song [6], dance [7] as well as its mention in the movie Trainspotting, in which characters Tommy and Lizzie make love while watching a homemade porno film, only to see it has been replaced with a football tape called "100 Great Goals" which features Gemmill's strike: at the same time, Renton (Ewan McGregor), who had switched the tapes in their cases and borrowed Tommy and Lizzie's tape, says (after climaxing during sex with Dianne, whom he has just met), "I haven't felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978!"
Gemmill first saw footage of his famous goal on a club outing with Rotherham. He said of it: "I got absolutely slaughtered by the lads... to be fair I was a bit embarrassed by it."
Unfortunately for Scotland, three minutes later Johnny Rep scored for the Netherlands, and the game ended 3-2, denying Scotland a spot in the second round. Rep’s effort was deflected off Gemmill’s outstretched leg and flew past Alan Rough’s dive.
His son, Scot Gemmill, is also a former Scottish international.
[edit] References
- Gemmill. Archie, Both Sides of the Border, 296 pages (September 12, 2005), Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (ISBN 0-340-89570-5)
- John Hodge and Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting: Screenplay, Faber and Faber, 2000 (ISBN 0-571-20320-5)
- McLeish and Gemmill back Celtic Cup stv interviews, 22 June 2007. Brown unconvinced by home internationals return stv interview, 22 June 2007.
[edit] External links
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