Ask any Raith Rovers' fans what day Jock Brown uttered the words, "Unthinkable, surely, for the skipper to miss” and they will tell you that it was on 27th November, 1994.
Ask them what happens next and they will tell you, ‘The Skipper does miss and Rovers win the Cup.”
The questions centre around Celtic captain Paul McStay, who 16 years ago tomorrow, hit a penalty that was saved by Raith Rovers' goalkeeper Scott Thomson and The Coca-Cola Cup was on its way to a First Division Kirkcaldy side on the back of a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win after a thrilling 2-2 draw at Ibrox Stadium.
SFL.TV now has the match highlights available to be seen on their Classic TV Channel and to mark the launch, Manager Jimmy Nicholl and midfielder Colin Cameron took time away from their training preparations to discuss events when the aptly named ‘Let Me Be Your Fantasy’ by Baby D was number one in charts.
Nicholl and Cameron will no doubt glance at their watches at approximately 6.00pm on tomorrow evening and think, it was just about now that Scott Thomson beat out that penalty.
Nicholl said: “What a journey I had at Raith Rovers. I went all the way from having only a handful of full-time players to two Stands being built with a League Cup win and UEFA Cup games against Bayern Munich in-between.
“When I started there, the team was predominately part-time and we washed our own gear and we turned that around. Being at Cowdenbeath now reminds me a lot of my early days at Raith in terms of the split of players but also having an exciting bunch of young players to work with.”
The 73 times capped Northern Ireland defender added: “I had a great feeling during my time at Raith Rovers where young players and older players mixed really well.
"I am not saying anything like the success we had will be repeated at Cowdenbeath but I remember the steps we took there and I can talk people through what we did for a fairly strong position.”
Nicholl’s career at Stark’s Park had also begun on 27th November, with the win over Celtic marking his fourth anniversary at the club, and his near five and a half year term ranks as the best part from a career that apart from international football and two World Cup Finals, also involved playing for Manchester United, Sunderland, Rangers and in Canada with Toronto Blizzard.
The 53-year-old said: “My spell at Raith was the ultimate highlight but it was not just about beating Celtic. We won promotion to the Premier Division twice and when we won The Coca-Cola Cup, we were in the First Division having been relegated six months before. We bounced back winning that trophy and then also gaining promotion by winning the Championship later in the season.
“They were great, great times and may never happen again, well people will say it will never happen again but you never know. I bet you John McGlynn does not see things that way.”
Success for Rovers and his own Cowdenbeath side will be measured differently this season with Nicholl commenting: “Raith will be looking to get back to the top division, whereas staying in this League will be success for us.
"Danny Lennon did a great job here in taking them through two divisions but we need to keep talking to the players and making them believe that they can stay in this division.
"We performed well against Dunfermline in the last game and will look to do the same next time.”
The Coca-Cola Cup Final against Celtic ranks first equal with Nicholl in terms of the best game he enjoyed during his 36 plus years in football with the former right back saying: “The two greatest games I have been involved in are the Raith Rovers and Celtic contest along with the Northern Ireland and Spain game in Valencia in the World Cup in 1982 that we won 1-0. In both games, we were massive underdogs and these results show you how fantastic the game of football can be.”
Nicholl’s right hand man on and off the park at Cowdenbeath is former Scotland player Cameron, who was a key figure in the golden period at Kirkcaldy in the middle of the last decade.
As a local boy, he was delighted to be playing his part with Cameron saying: “Sixteen years ago seems a very long time but as a born and bred Kirkcaldy boy, I have very fond memories of that day.
"I signed for them as an 'S' Form signing and stayed for just under six seasons so I had the Cup Final, two games against Bayern Munich as well as two promotions.”
Cameron went to Ibrox that day confident that his side would win saying: “As soon as young Brian Potter came on for Scott Thomson in the Semi-Final and played a blinder in goals, saving a penalty in the shoot-out, I thought we were in with a great chance.
"As soon as we were through, I knew there was no point in fearing Celtic as we had played some good teams to get through and we were not just going there to make up the numbers.”
Although the Cup Final was not at Hampden, it did not devalue the occasion with Cameron saying: “The atmosphere at Ibrox that day was incredible and the funny thing is that I have won two Cup Finals in Scotland and neither was played at Hampden, as Heart of Midlothian won the Scottish Cup at Parkhead.”
“Ibrox was packed for the Celtic game and both sets of fans helped ensure that there was a great atmosphere. It will be great for more people to get a look at the game on sfl.tv.”
Cameron has one regret from his time as a Rovers player explaining: “I still wish the First Leg of our match with Bayern Munich had been at Stark’s Park and not Easter Road. I know that more people got to see it and the club made more money but I feel that players and fans missed out a wee bit.
"Bayern Munich at Stark’s Park would have been fantastic and would have probably given us more of an edge in the tie.”
The 28 times capped silky midfielder left his home town team for Heart of Midlothian in March 1996 before playing in England for Wolverhamptom Wanderers, Millwall, Coventry City and MK Dons. He then headed back over the Border in the summer of 2008 when he joined Dundee for two seasons.
A move back to Fife happened this summer and Cameron is beginning to see football through different eyes as the Blue Brazil’s player/assistant boss explained, “It has been a fantastic experience so far and I now see things from a different angle – the Manager and coaches angle as opposed to the player's angle.
“Jimmy asks me what I think and we will discuss things before he makes the final decision and it is great to be learning from him.
"He is as bubbly and enthusiastic as I remember him at Raith and the banter along with his story telling remains first class.
"He has a great memory for the tiniest detail although he has put on a couple of pounds since the Stark’s Park days!
“His enthusiasm remains and the players and I can only learn from him.”
Cameron said, “We have made a satisfactory start in the League and have something to build on as we go through our campaign.
"We never got going in our cup tie against Peterhead last Saturday and that was disappointing.
"Our reserve side went out and beat Clyde 5-1 on Monday and the energy they showed was fantastic.
“We have worked hard on a couple of things during training on Tuesday and Thursday night to get back to what we were doing at the start of the season. We may have lost the element of surprise but we need to get back to putting in the really hard graft we were doing then.”
Games against Fife rivals Dunfermline Athletic pitted Cameron against Jackie McNamara and a lasting friendship has grown out of fierce rivalry between the pair that now total 75 years in age between them.
Cameron explained, “Jackie was a player I played against a lot when he was at Dunfermline and I was at Raith Rovers. Neither of us would give an inch and the rivalry was intense.
“Jackie and I ended up team-mates at Wolves and Scotland and get on really well with each other now. Your rivalry changes as you get older but we got stuck right into each other a few times in those all Fife games.”
To view highlights of the 1994 Coca-Cola Cup Final, please click on the following link:-
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