was the night before the Scottish Cup
semi-final and he let me have five
minutes! No players were on it – Jimmy
wasn’t that brave... [Laughs] What
a character he was. A brilliant man.
What did Richard Gough say when
he grabbed you as you celebrated
your 1998 Scottish Cup semi-final
goal against Celtic, at Celtic Park?
Keith Junior, via Instagram
He said, “You’re unbelievable, you,
you jammy so-and-so!” I think
I replied, “You’re the jammy one that
I’m playing centre-forward for your
team!” We were under the cosh in
that game and it was a real relief.What was the best Old Firm derby
that you played in?
Joe Quigley, via Facebook
It would have to be one of my first: the
1984 League Cup Final, when I scored
a hat-trick and we beat Celtic 3-2. It
went to extra time, and not because
I had scored, but because I gave awaya penalty! I managed to get the
winner. I played in a few Old Firm
games but that one had everything.What’s your favourite Gazza story?
Linda McDonald, Glasgow
It’s probably the time I made the
unbelievable mistake of allowing him
to arrange the fireworks at a party for
kids. He came back with six rockets,
and let me tell you, the next level of
rocket up would have needed pilots
to fly them! Honest to God...What’s the best prank you and Gazza
played on a team-mate at Rangers?
Goh Desmond, via Facebook
It was definitely when we hid fish in
Gordon Durie’s car. We put them in
there, and I was ready to put two fish
together in the same place, but Gazza
told me, “No, hide them in different
places, so when he finds the first fish,
he’ll think that’s it.” I just thought, ‘You
are an evil genius, Gazza!’ [FFT: Did he
ever offer you a mince pie? He once
told us about how he had scooped out
the mince and replaced it with cat poo
before offering them to friends.] To be
frank with you, I knew Gazza very well,
so the last thing on this planet that
I would be doing is taking any food or
drink from him. That stands to this day!What are your memories of Euro 96?
Was it gutting when Scotland went
out in the group stage? Do you wish
that you, not Gary McAllister, had
taken the penalty against England?
Ryan Prince, London
I have great memories of the Scottish
support at Wembley and Villa Park.
I scored against Switzerland in our last
game, while England were doing their
thing against the Dutch. Obviously,
Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham and
the boys there were tremendous. Of
course, the story goes that Big David
Seaman let the shot from Patrick
Kluivert go through his legs to make
it 4-1... but clearly we have very short
memories in Scotland. The fact of it is
that I should have scored another one
against Switzerland, never mind what
England were doing. Certainly, we
thought at 4-0 to England and 1-
to Scotland that we were OK to get
through, but unfortunately I couldn’t
convert a chance I should have taken.
Did we know what was going on at
Wembley during the game? Oh, we
knew. Absolutely. The crowd were
obviously aware – it’s easier to access
these days, with mobile phones, but
knowledge still got transferred and we
were very aware of what was going on.
And yes, I would love to have taken
that penalty against England...How disappointing was it not to be
selected in Scotland’s squad for
the 1998 World Cup finals?
Steven Moffatt, via Twitter
I was devastated. It was the worst
moment in my football career. I can
remember weeping – I was 35 years
old but I still wept. To this day, I still
think I should have gone to that
tournament, but myself and Stuart
McCall didn’t make it. That was hard
to take. I can still feel the pain. But
on the whole I had more good days
than bad ones in my career.YOU ASK
Clockwise from below
A rare shot of Gazza and
Ally smiling; “I wouldn’t
have swapped anything
for winning trophies at
Rangers”; Fitba’ in the
’80s: short fuses, shorter
shorts; Richard Gough
is 26 in this photographFourFourTwo July 2022 9