Scottish & Chelsea Football Legend Eddie McCreadie
Eddie-U-Cation.
The Chelsea team of the late 1960’s certainly couldn’t have been accused of lacking style. In fact, the Pensioners really mirrored the swinging sixties style that made London the cool capital of the world back then, and the team played with more flare than a pair of hipster trousers from Carnaby Street.
The names in the side roll off the tongue for anyone who has loved the beautiful game and can remember them playing - Osgood, Cooke, Tambling, Webb to name but a few, and of course, the defensive colossus that was Eddie McCreadie.
Born over the border in 1940, it was the keen eye of Tommy Doc who spotted his potential whilst watching an East Stirlingshire game and scouting a completely different player, taking him to the Bridge in 1962. He would go on to make over 400 appearances for The Blues, picking up his first silverware in 1965 in the form of The League Cup, gaining a runner up medal in the FA Cup in 1967 before finally lifting the famous trophy in 1970 following a replay at Old Trafford v Leeds United - arguably one of the most bone crunching Finals ever to grace the famous old competition. My fillings still come loose watching the highlights to this day!!
Eddie won 23 Caps for his country- scant reward for the quality and class of player he undoubtedly was. One of the caps was the infamous game against World Cup Winners England at Wembley Stadium on April 15th 1967, a game that saw the Auld Enemy end up triumphant 3-2 winners and, in the aftermath of the game declare themselves “The New World Champions”. That was possibly a little ambitious, but there can be no doubting it was a wonderful victory over a team that was at the top of its game.
Now, at Graham Budd we often say that to us, the history is everything, and in our forthcoming Scottish sale we have a rare piece of it up for auction, and that is the very No.3 Umbro Scotland shirt worn by Eddie McCreadie on the Wembley pitch that very day. It was swapped with the legendary Sir Geoff Hurst post-match and we are delighted to bring it back to Glasgow to find a new home.
It should interest Chelsea as well as Scotland fans - of that there is little doubt! I have to say that being able to look closely at it, handle it and genuinely enjoy it for what it is, it’s a wonderful thing from a time when it seemed that anything was possible, and Scotland gave it to England in their own back yard!
The shirt has an estimate of £7,000-£10,000, and its worth every penny to own anything from that game, so please have a look at the catalogue - its' now online with some other real treasures to enjoy as well.
We look forward to seeing you in Glasgow very shortly!