Kieran Tierney & Scott McTominay are by no means the first players both eligible & good enough to play for England, who chose to represent Scotland. This is the first in a series focusing on previous players who gave up the realistic option of playing for England, to play for Scotland instead. We start with Scotland 1974 World Cup GK, David Harvey.
Getting started at Leeds
David Harvey was born in Leeds in 1948 to a Kilmarnock supporting father from Ayrshire. Harvey was at Leeds throughout their Don Revie managed glory era. They won 6 major trophies in 7 seasons in the late 60s & early 70s. Welshman, Gary Sprake, though, was initially #1 with the younger Harvey as understudy.
That however didn’t stop Harvey playing in big games in Sprake’s absence. Leeds won the Intercities Fairs Cup (eventually becoming the Europa League after 2 re-brands), in 1968 & 1971. Harvey played 4 games in each of those 2 UEFA competition campaigns.
Sprake played over 500 Leeds games as a reliable, trophy winning GK. Sprake, however, (& quite impressively given the high number of games he played), made 2 high profile errors for the Elland Road side.
The 2nd of those errors was in the 1970 FA Cup Final 2-2 draw with Chelsea. Hence, Revie dropped Sprake for the replay in favour of Harvey. 28 million people watched on TV a notorious game. The referee put only 1 name into his book despite a succession of dangerous challenges. Leeds’ Eddie Gray was among the many on the receiving end of rough treatment.
David Harvey first team regular
Sprake was injured for the April 1972 FA Cup semifinal against Birmingham City. Harvey at that moment became Leeds’ first choice GK. Despite Liverpool’s re-emergence, Leeds were still England’s team to beat. A month later Harvey won in the FA Cup Final, 1-0 versus Arsenal.
Harvey played in 2 cup final defeats in 1973. First was the FA Cup final upset by 2nd division Sunderland, when Ian Porterfield (future Aberdeen boss), scored the only goal. The game, though, is best remembered for a wondrous double-save by the Wearsiders’ Jim Montgomery.
11 days later Harvey played losing 1-0 to Milan in Thessaloniki, in the European Cup Winners Cup final. Such was the perceived level of bias by the referee, the Greek fans threw missiles at the victors during their lap of honour. The ref was subsequently banned for life for match fixing, although not for this particular game.
Described as, “consistent and reliable; never appearing to be under undue pressure”, Harvey was “outstanding” as Leeds won the 1973-74 league title after starting the campaign 29 games unbeaten. It was little surprise that as an excellent GK & playing in one of the very best sides in Europe, Harvey established himself as Scotland #1 at this point.
David Harvey for Scotland
During the 1960s rules meant Harvey was ineligible for anyone other than the country of his birth. That changed with what has informally become known as the 1970 rule change.
It seems unclear from what date that rule change actually took effect. What is clear, though, is that the rule was in place by October 1971. Specifically, Arsenal’s 1971 double winning Bob Wilson, debuted for Scotland that month in the Hampden 2-1 win over Portugal. Wilson’s selection was all Harvey needed as proof that he could fulfil his desire to represent Scotland. All the more so given that Wilson was a GK like Harvey.
Harvey debuted for Tommy Docherty’s Scotland in the November 1972 World Cup qualifier, 2-0 win versus Denmark. Harvey credited Leeds & Scotland captain, Billy Bremner, as having repeatedly lobbied Docherty on Harvey’s behalf. Docherty’s preferred Scotland GK though, was Aberdeen’s Bobby Clark. Harvey, thus, didn’t cement his place as Scotland #1 until a year later, early in Leeds’ 1973-74 league title winning season. By that time Willie Ormond was Scotland boss.
1974 World Cup
David Harvey kept goal in the 1974, pre-World Cup 2-0 win versus England. Further, he played in all 3 Scotland games at the 1974 World Cup Finals. He had a good tournament playing well & conceding only once, drawing 1-1 versus Yugoslavia, after keeping clean sheets against Zaire (2-0) & Brazil (0-0).
The Scots, though, eliminated at the group stage, picked up the dubious distinction of being the first team in World Cup history to be eliminated without losing a game. Even the eventual winners in 1974, West Germany, lost once in the tournament, specifically in the only game ever played between East & West Germany.
It is often misreported that Harvey was awarded best GK at the 1974 World Cup. However, in reality the FIFA GK of the tournament was West Germany’s Sepp Maier. Harvey playing only in the group stage had only 3 games in which to showcase his talents. Maier playing all the way to the final, had 7 such games in which to impress.
While the Scots gave a good account of themselves on the pitch, behind the scenes there had been squabbling over player payments. Harvey, though, said of such squabbles:
“I wasnae interested in it, cause I would have paid money, to have been there.”
In the same TV show a clearly emotional David Harvey later added of Scotland at that World Cup:
“It was one hell of a good team. Very proud to have been involved. Just proud.”
Harvey’s award
However, an award Harvey did win (and the likely source of the misreporting mentioned in the previous section), was GK in the 1974 World Soccer XI. The award was made each December based on consistency for the calendar year for club & country, rather than solely based on e.g., a World Cup.
With David Harvey in that World Soccer XI, were 3 of the West German World Cup winners (Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner & Gerd Müller). Another player selected was Sandro Mazzola of Inter, known to Celtic fans for opening the scoring when Celtic won the 1967 European Cup Final. Harvey was the only player from any UK club to make the Xi that year.
Some inclusions in the World XI that World Soccer published annually, were seen as a surprise. Harvey’s inclusion in 1974 was viewed by many as unexpected. Maier notably that year not only won the World Cup, but also won the European Cup & the Bundesliga. Even being in the conversation, though, remains an indication of the tremendous form Harvey was in at that time. Harvey was the only player in the XI in 1974 who played for a UK based club that year.
The World Soccer XI was published annually between 1960 & 1992, excluding 5 years in that time when the XI wasn’t published. The XI was also resurrected briefly in 2012. Harvey was the 3rd & last of 3 Scots to ever be included in any of the XIs. The others were Jim Baxter (1963) and Denis Law (1964). They were 3 of the only 17 players to ever be included while playing for a UK based club. Some players made more than one appearance in the team each year. E.g., most notably Beckenbauer was selected for 11 straight years from 1966 onwards.
Playing for England wasn’t for David Harvey
Established as a Leeds first team regular & under international consideration, Harvey considered playing internationally for anyone other than Scotland unthinkable. If Harvey had wanted to play for the land of his birth, it was in this period when he could have been selected. While Harvey was a star performer for Leeds at the top of the league, a game took place at Wembley in October 1973 that still lives in the conscience of the England Men’s National Team.
Largely through having lost 2-0 in Chorzów, England played Poland needing a win to top their group & qualify for the 1974 World Cup. With 55 mins gone, Jan Domarski was teed up to shoot first time from a yard inside the box. It should’ve been a routine save. However, Peter Shilton in goals allowed the ball to slip under his body, putting Poland 1-0 up. The game ended 1-1 & England were out, costing England boss, Alf Ramsey, his job.
Harvey, committed to Scotland, was unavailable for subsequent caretaker England boss, Joe Mercer. Mercer kept Shilton in the team.
Revie becomes England boss
In the Summer of 1974 after that league winning campaign with Leeds, Revie was viewed by many as the obvious candidate for the England hot seat. Revie duly accepted the job & succeeded Mercer.
Don Revie was a football boss Alex Ferguson style, of the very strongest convictions & with no time for those who failed to meet the lofty standards he expected. As Harvey’s ex-manager at Leeds, Revie knew Harvey well; tried, tested & trusted.
Like with Mercer though, Harvey was unavailable to Revie. Revie began his career as England boss not with Shilton in goals but with Ray Clemence (who later in 1976 let a weak Kenny Dalglish shot slip through his legs at Hampden). Credit, though, to Shilton; he recovered from that error against Poland, to collect 125 England caps. Unlike that evening at Wembley, shot-stopping was seen as his primary attribute. Clemence similarly put his error behind him & had a good international career, earning 61 full caps.
End of playing for Scotland
On 5 February 1975, Harvey collected his 13th full cap, playing in the away 1-1 Euros qualifier against Spain (Harvey’s Leeds teammate, Joe Jordan, opened the scoring). Harvey played in all 4 Leeds games leading to a European Cup quarterfinal against Anderlecht. Before that quarterfinal, though, was an FA Cup quarterfinal against Derby County to also look forward to. Rated as among the best GKs on the planet at the time, things were going well for Harvey. Then suddenly things went badly wrong for him.
On Sunday 16th February & 2 days before the Derby game, Harvey & teammate, Frank Gray, were passengers in the car of another teammate, Gordon McQueen. From the ensuing crash, Gray & McQueen had minor injuries. The car was a write off. Harvey had a badly broken ankle, causing him to miss the rest of the season, including the run to the European Cup Final defeat by defending champions, Bayern Munich. Harvey rather than being bitter, was grateful to be alive.
While Harvey gained a further 3 caps in the next 2 years, his place as de facto Scotland #1 was gone. He wasn’t helped by Leeds’ being unable to maintain the elevated heights they had under Revie. That said, in the 5 post-Revie seasons that Harvey remained Leeds’ first choice GK (1974-79), Leeds had English top division finishes of 5th (twice), 9th (twice) & 10th once. It thus seems curious that Harvey’s Scotland career ended when it did. In 16 SMNT caps, Harvey recorded 8 wins, 4 draws & 4 losses.
Relocating to Scotland
In 1980 he moved to Canada playing for Vancouver Whitecaps. There, he was fortunate to survive a 2nd life-threatening car accident. Harvey then returned to Leeds in 1982 by which time in his absence, they’d been relegated out of the top tier. He is a Leeds United club legend with over 440 senior first team competitive appearances to his name. Also, he played a game for Partick Thistle and several games for Bradford City & Morton. He also featured for Drogheda & in non-league football for Whitby Town (as player-manager) & Harrogate Town.
After football retirement, he followed in the footsteps of his opposite number from the 1970 FA Cup final. Chelsea’s Peter Bonetti as well as playing a few late career games in Scotland (specifically for Dundee United), worked as a postman on a Scottish island (specifically on the Isle of Mull). Harvey worked as a postman in Knaresborough, enjoying the work environment as similar to a football dressing room. A man who loves Scotland, he then relocated to the island of Sanday in the Orkneys for 25 years. He continued his work there as a postman.
After retiring as a postman, and with 19 grandchildren at the time living in a variety of places between Fife & Belgium (but mostly in England), David Harvey was reported leaving Sanday. Hence from 2020 for greater accessibility to his grandkids, he subsequently lived at Lochmaben, 4 miles from Lockerbie, the most southerly station still in Scotland on the West Coast Main Line. He was also reported often being at Greenlaw near Duns, holidaying in a static caravan.
