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Authors: Patrick Barclay
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association, for they had met towards the end of Ferguson’s spell at Queen’s Park, when Roxburgh joined the youth team, and continued to meet for half a century because Roxburgh, after parting company with the Scottish FA, became a coordinator of elite coaches for Uefa, organising informal conferences at which the cream of the profession – the likes of Ferguson, Marcello Lippi, Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho – could exchange views.
At Falkirk, though, their relationship became strained – certainly on Ferguson’s side – through a bizarre episode seen by millions on national television. It was in 1970, shortly after the club had been promoted, that they were invited to take part in a BBC programme called Quiz Ball .
For those too young to remember it – those old enough certainly will – it was a competition between teams of four from various English and Scottish football clubs in which they scored ‘goals’ through making ‘passes’. A pass was completed by the successful answering of a question. The more difficult the question, the longer the ‘ball’ travelled and when it reached the opponents’ ‘line’ a ‘goal’ was scored. Each match made a half-hour programme. The excitement inherent in the format (and no sarcasm is intended here) was enhanced by interest in what these footballers, whom we had hitherto only seen rushing around on the field, were like in real life and, in particular, how clever they were.
Falkirk’s team comprised Roxburgh, who was combining studies to be a PE teacher with his playing career; his classmate and team-mate Bobby Ford, a midfield player; Ferguson; and Chic Murray, a revered Scottish comedian who owed his place to the obligation to include a celebrity supporter. Murray was later to play Bill Shankly in the musical You’ll Never Walk Alone and a headmaster in the football-themed film Gregory’s Girl , the latter shortly before his death in 1985 at the age of sixty-five.
Ferguson, though, was the star performer of Falkirk’s Quiz Ball team. By virtue of beating Huddersfield Town through a Ferguson ‘goal’, they qualified for the semi-finals, in which they met Everton, whose celebrity fan was the disc jockey Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart, and whose manager, Harry Catterick, took part along with the former grammar-school boys Joe Royle and Brian Labone. Ferguson also ‘scored’ against them but Labone got two and so Everton were leading when the final question of the evening was put to Roxburgh.
‘Which jockey,’ asked David Coleman, ‘rode the winning horse in last year’s Grand National?’
Ferguson knew but, as he tried to whisper what would have been an equalising answer to Roxburgh, the younger man panicked and guessed: ‘Lester Piggott.’ Ferguson was irate – incredulous that anyone could imagine the best known flat-race jockey winning the most famous steeplechase. And not for the first time, nor for the last, he left Roxburgh in little doubt about it. The fans caught on and, trotting out for the next home match, Roxburgh was greeted with chants of ‘Lester Piggott’.
It was cruel luck, according to Bobby Ford, that he got the question. ‘Neither Andy nor I took any interest in racing,’ he said, ‘while a group in our dressing room, with Fergie very much one of them, followed the horses every day. They used to set aside money for it. Every week we’d get our wages in little brown envelopes with the amounts written on the outside – basic, bonuses, total – and they would get blank envelopes from the secretary, put a proportion of the money in, reseal them and write the new amounts on. Then they’d give them to their wives. You’d hear their girls at the annual dance “Oh, he’s so good, gives me his wage packet every week, unopened, bonuses and the lot . . .” If only they’d known.’
Ferguson apart, the Falkirk party did not let Roxburgh’s gaffe ruin the adventure and were further cheered by an invitation from Murray to
At Falkirk, though, their relationship became strained – certainly on Ferguson’s side – through a bizarre episode seen by millions on national television. It was in 1970, shortly after the club had been promoted, that they were invited to take part in a BBC programme called Quiz Ball .
For those too young to remember it – those old enough certainly will – it was a competition between teams of four from various English and Scottish football clubs in which they scored ‘goals’ through making ‘passes’. A pass was completed by the successful answering of a question. The more difficult the question, the longer the ‘ball’ travelled and when it reached the opponents’ ‘line’ a ‘goal’ was scored. Each match made a half-hour programme. The excitement inherent in the format (and no sarcasm is intended here) was enhanced by interest in what these footballers, whom we had hitherto only seen rushing around on the field, were like in real life and, in particular, how clever they were.
Falkirk’s team comprised Roxburgh, who was combining studies to be a PE teacher with his playing career; his classmate and team-mate Bobby Ford, a midfield player; Ferguson; and Chic Murray, a revered Scottish comedian who owed his place to the obligation to include a celebrity supporter. Murray was later to play Bill Shankly in the musical You’ll Never Walk Alone and a headmaster in the football-themed film Gregory’s Girl , the latter shortly before his death in 1985 at the age of sixty-five.
Ferguson, though, was the star performer of Falkirk’s Quiz Ball team. By virtue of beating Huddersfield Town through a Ferguson ‘goal’, they qualified for the semi-finals, in which they met Everton, whose celebrity fan was the disc jockey Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart, and whose manager, Harry Catterick, took part along with the former grammar-school boys Joe Royle and Brian Labone. Ferguson also ‘scored’ against them but Labone got two and so Everton were leading when the final question of the evening was put to Roxburgh.
‘Which jockey,’ asked David Coleman, ‘rode the winning horse in last year’s Grand National?’
Ferguson knew but, as he tried to whisper what would have been an equalising answer to Roxburgh, the younger man panicked and guessed: ‘Lester Piggott.’ Ferguson was irate – incredulous that anyone could imagine the best known flat-race jockey winning the most famous steeplechase. And not for the first time, nor for the last, he left Roxburgh in little doubt about it. The fans caught on and, trotting out for the next home match, Roxburgh was greeted with chants of ‘Lester Piggott’.
It was cruel luck, according to Bobby Ford, that he got the question. ‘Neither Andy nor I took any interest in racing,’ he said, ‘while a group in our dressing room, with Fergie very much one of them, followed the horses every day. They used to set aside money for it. Every week we’d get our wages in little brown envelopes with the amounts written on the outside – basic, bonuses, total – and they would get blank envelopes from the secretary, put a proportion of the money in, reseal them and write the new amounts on. Then they’d give them to their wives. You’d hear their girls at the annual dance “Oh, he’s so good, gives me his wage packet every week, unopened, bonuses and the lot . . .” If only they’d known.’
Ferguson apart, the Falkirk party did not let Roxburgh’s gaffe ruin the adventure and were further cheered by an invitation from Murray to
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