page_title: 1985 Wales v Scotland football match
section_title: Scotland
hierarchical_section_title: 1985 Wales v Scotland football match / Aftermath / Scotland
caption_attribution_description: English: Alex Ferguson
context_page_description: On 10 September 1985, the Welsh and Scottish national teams played each other during the qualifying stages of the 1986 FIFA World Cup at Ninian Park, the home of Cardiff City. The game was both teams' final match of the qualifying tournament, and both were still able to gain a place at the finals in Mexico; Wales needed to win the game, while Scotland knew that a draw would be enough.
  The game was played against the backdrop of escalating football hooliganism; English clubs had been banned from European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster over three months prior, and fears were being raised, notably by Scotland's manager Jock Stein, that the British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, was seeking to lead a "crackdown" on football supporters generally, and that trouble at the highly charged game at Ninian Park would give them an excuse to extend this from just England to the other Home Nations.
context_section_description: Two weeks after Scotland had secured the point they needed against Wales, Spain played their final qualifier at home to Iceland, winning the game 2–1 to top the group and qualify automatically for the World Cup, leaving Scotland in second to go into the play-off.
  Final Group 7 table
  Following Stein's death, his assistant Alex Ferguson agreed to take charge of the national team. Initially, this was intended to be a one-off for the friendly that was planned for the free date on 16 October. However, the lack of time available in the lead up to the play-off meant finding a permanent replacement would prove difficult, and so Ferguson was officially appointed on 1 October at least until after the World Cup. While waiting to find out who they would play, Ferguson's first game in charge saw the team take on East Germany in a friendly at Hampden Park on 16 October. Their opponents were finally confirmed on 3 November, when Australia beat New Zealand to take an unassailable lead at the top of the four team Oceania group. Scotland came through the two-legged tie thanks to a 2–0 home win in Glasgow and a 0–0 draw in Melbourne, which saw them become the 24th and final team to qualify for the World Cup Finals in Mexico.
  World Cup qualification – UEFA–OFC play-off
  Scotland win 2–0 on aggregate
  Ferguson remained in charge through the remainder of the 1985–86 season and into their World Cup campaign, which saw them eliminated in the group stage, gaining only a single point, before stepping down at the end of June 1986, to be replaced by the SFA's Director of Coaching Andy Roxburgh. Ferguson's record saw him in charge for a total of ten games, of which five were competitive games and five (including the 1986 Rous Cup match) were friendlies. Of those, the team won three, lost three and drew four.
  * Scotland score first
caption: The difficulty of finding a permanent replacement for Stein in the time available led to Alex Ferguson being appointed as the national team manager until at least the end of the World Cup.[50]
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