The importance of The Scottish Communities League Cup was brought home to unsuspecting delegates at a UEFA conference in Serbia last March when they were treated to a rendition of ‘Paper Roses’, a song which had been a hit for Marie Osmond nearly 40 years ago.
The Scottish Football Association's former International Youth Youth Team Coach, Ross Mathie, who helped carry out the First Round Draw for this season’s Scottish Communities League Cup alongside Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, was doing the singing to make up for missing out on watching the side he used to play for and can now admit to supporting, Kilmarnock, lift the trophy by defeating Celtic 1-0 in the Cup Final at Hampsen back in March.
Mathie ended over three decades of service to the SFA at the turn of the year and that move allowed him to dig out his blue and white Killie scarf and return to supporting the club that was his first senior club as a player.
As well as the Rugby Park side that Mathie joined from Cambuslang Rangers, he played for Dumbarton, Berwick Rangers, Falkirk and Shotts Bon Accord but Kilmarnock have remained his team and he was delighted when Kenny Shiels’ side reached the Hampden showpiece Cup Final by seeing off Ayr United 1-0 back in January.
That joy was quickly tempered and Mathie realised that the 18th March Cup Final date clashed with a long standing UEFA appointment and the 65-year-old said: “After leaving the SFA, I was able to get my scarf out and resume supporting Kilmarnock after a break of over 30 years.
“Not only can I wear my scarf but I can also pass comment on a referee’s performance!” joked Mathie before adding, “However, after attending the Semi-Final and watching Kilmarnock win over their local rivals, I realised it would clash with presenting a Technical Report to UEFA about a tournament in Serbia.”
Mathie added: “I gave my ticket for the Cup Final away but I can assure you that text messages were being sent throughout, phone calls were being made and my laptop was busy on a minute by minute basis.
“When Dieter van Tornhout scored the goal, I had to have a chorus of Kilmarnock’s favourite song and the Serbians were pretty perplexed with what was going on as ‘Paper Roses’ was sung.”
Having overcome his disappointment, Mathie was delighted to be asked help pick out the pairings in the First Round of this season’s competition which included the 30 member clubs from the SFL last season (minus Ross County) plus the SFL's newest member club, Rangers.
Mathie said: “This is the first time I have been involved in a Draw for The Scottish Communities League Cup although I did do one for the Scottish Cup a few years ago. Kilmarnock are not in the draw yet, which is good, as they were in the Scottish Cup one and I don’t think I gave them too good a tie.”
One of the attractions of doing the Draw for Mathie was to check in on the progress a number of players he knew as youngsters are now making as Managers in the SFL as he explained: “I knew a lot of the Managers who have clubs in this Draw when they were just young teenagers and in their formative years as footballers.
“They came though the international youth system when Andy Roxburgh was in charge and I was coaching and some of them were my players when I was the Head of Youth.”
Mathie added: “Jim McInally, who is at Peterhead, was a regular and Gordon Durie, who is now in his first managerial post at East Fife, is another. In fact, Gordon’s son Scott was a player I had in a few squads as well and I knew it was time to leave my job before someone came along and said my grandfather played for you in a youth team!
“Dundee’s Barry Smith was a youth internationalist as well and I remember Paul Hartley joining us from his first team, Hamilton Accies, for a tournament in Norway. Berwick’s Ian Little was another player that was in and around youth squads as was Paul Sheerin, who is now at Arbroath, so it is great to see them still involved in the game.”
Livingston’s Director of Football, John Collins, was also involved with Scotland however, it is his absence Mathie remembers more than his presence as he explained: “John played for us in 1987 in the European Championship and we qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship Finals that were being held in Chile.
“We had Alan Main in goal and other players such as Brian Welsh, Scott Nisbet, Billy McKinlay, Paul Wright and Scott Crabbe but come the October, when the Finals were being held, John was in the first team at Hibs aged 19 and he could not be released to take part.”
Mathie added: “There were a couple of other players who could not get away either but we still did well and reached the Quarter Finals. We drew 1-1 at that stage with a West Germany side ironically managed by Bertie Vogts before losing in a penalty shoot-out.
“John was instrumental in us getting there and I have wondered sometimes if we could have progressed had we had guys like him available to us. However, you are here to help the development of players and if they are playing in a first team environment, there is not a lot you can say.”
Undertaking the Draw for the First Round of this season's Scottish Communities League Cup was an opportunity for Mathie to use the competition as a bookmark for the start and the end of his involvement in senior football.
He explained: “The League Cup was never that great a competition for me as a player but it did get my senior career off to a good start. Back in August, 1969, I made my debut as a Kilmarnock player and I scored both goals in a 2-0 win in the old style League Cup sections against Partick Thistle at Firhill.
“I never had a good run in the competition. However, I did enjoy better runs in the Scottish Cup although I did have the misfortune to lose in two Semi-Finals. The first one came at the end of my first season when Aberdeen beat us 1-0 at Muirton Park with a goal from Derek McKay.”
Derek McKay would then go on to score twice in the Cup Final as Aberdeen defeated Celtic 3-1 with the Dons' player subsequently being known as ‘cup tie McKay' but it was another player who would go on to establish himself as one of the greatest players that this country has produced that put paid to Mathie’s hopes of a Cup Final place two years later.
Mathie said: “We lost that Semi-Final to Celtic 3-1 and a certain Kenny Dalglish scored twice in that one.”
Despite his lack of success in this competition after his initial two goal debut, Mathie was delighted to be involved in the First Round Draw saying: “It was great to be involved in carrying out the Draw but what was even better was seeing the amount of children playing football at Ochilview whilst it was going on.
“The Government deserve great credit for their backing of The Scottish Communities League Cup and they chose the perfect venue as Stenhousemuir have shown everyone that they are a great advert for a community based club.”
Despite his retirement, Mathie still can’t shake football out of his life as he explained: “I have done a couple of things with UEFA since I left the SFA but I do like to still take games in. Old habits die hard and I was on holiday recently and came across a team carrying out a training session so I thought I would go in and take a look much to my wife’s annoyance.”
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