page_title: 1985 Wales v Scotland football match
section_title: Recollections
hierarchical_section_title: 1985 Wales v Scotland football match / Aftermath / Recollections
caption_attribution_description: English: Jock Stein Memorial plaque for the Scottish football manager, Jock Stein. Formerly located at Ninian Park, it is now in the new gateway to Cardiff City Football Stadium. http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk
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: In the years since Jock Stein's death, some, including Alex Ferguson, have said that they noticed changes in him in the days and weeks prior to the game against Wales. Gordon Strachan found it difficult to understand precisely what Stein was saying during his team-talk. However, Strachan came to accept that the final decision Stein made, to replace him with Davie Cooper, was the correct one given Cooper's subsequent impact on the game.
  On the 20th anniversary of Stein's death, Cardiff City unveiled a plaque commemorating the night at Ninian Park, located in the away dugout:
  In respectful memory of Jock Stein who sadly left football forever while managing Scotland at Ninian Park on 10 September 1985. From football fans all over the world on the 20th anniversary.
  In 2009, the memorial was removed from the stadium when it was demolished and transferred to the "Ninian Park Gates" at the new Cardiff City Stadium. In 2010, to mark the 25th anniversary, the original plaque was removed and taken to the Celtic museum at Parkhead in Glasgow, and was replaced at the Cardiff City Stadium by a replica bearing the same inscription.
caption: Memorial plaque to Jock Stein – initially mounted at Ninian Park, it was removed and taken to Parkhead in 2010.[60]
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