MUNICH is a city close to Bryan Gunn’s heart. A member of the Aberdeen squad who secured a goalless draw there on the way to lifting the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983, he returned a decade later with Norwich City and became the first — and only — Scottish goalkeeper to win in the Bavarian capital.
He returns at the age of 60 with his wife and family to watch son Angus keep goal for Scotland in the opening game of Euro 2024 this week. By the end of a nervy 90 minutes against hosts Germany, he hopes to welcome a new entrant to an elite and exclusive club.
‘I’m still the only British goalkeeper who has won against Bayern in Munich,’ he tells Mail Sport. ‘Norwich were 2-1 up heading into the final minutes of the game when I made my best-ever save.
‘Adolfo Valencia had a diving header from six or seven yards out and I saved it with my midriff. If you want to say b******s, that might be more accurate.
‘We finished up defending for our lives and those are great memories. We are forever in the history books now as the only British club to have won in the Olympic Stadium because Bayern have now moved to the Allianz Arena, of course.
‘I might make a sentimental return to the old place to get a few pictures. I still play in charity golf days and get introduced as Bryan Gunn of Norwich and Scotland and that’s a night everyone wants to talk about. Munich has been good to me.’
Bryan Gunn squares up to German legend Lothar Mattheus in their UEFA Cup clash in 1993
Gunn (top right) was part of Aberdeen’s victorious 1983 Cup-Winners’ Cup team in Gothenburg
Bryan earned six Scotland caps while Angus represented England at every level up to Under-21
He’ll fly there on Wednesday with wife Susan, daughter Melissa, his granddaughter, and Angus’ girlfriend Jade. His other daughter Mimi will fly 10,000 miles rather than miss out on the biggest game of her brother’s career so far.
‘Mimi actually left to go to Australia in January and I said: “See you next year”. She said: “No, see you in Germany, I’m not missing that”. So we will have a family reunion at Munich Airport on June 12.
‘I have a full folder upstairs with hotels and timetables. Angus booked us a hotel in Munich and I’ve booked hotels in Cologne and Stuttgart. It’s a military operation.’
Born in Norwich, 28-year-old Angus played for England’s Under-21s team in Gareth Southgate’s first game in charge. He was called up to the senior squad for a friendly against Brazil after Jack Butland withdrew with a broken thumb.
Skirting around the edges of the Three Lions set-up but never quite breaking through, the catalyst for a switch of allegiance was a shattering double leg break for Craig Gordon on Christmas Eve 2022.
‘There were lots of reports saying Angus had turned down Scotland,’ recalls his father.
Angus has firmly established himself as Scotland’s first-choice goalkeeper in this campaign
Bryan went to Italia 90 as third-choice goalkeeper behind Jim Leighton and Andy Goram
‘What a load of rubbish. He never turned down anything. He still had opportunities to play for England and was in England squads — and that opportunity hadn’t gone away.
‘The change came when Craig got injured in December 2022.
‘We were down in Norwich and we were round at Angus’s for a pre-Christmas drinks party. Kenny McLean was there with his wife. Big Grant Hanley was there with his wife and kids. Everyone was devastated to hear the news of Craig’s injury in the game that Christmas Eve.
‘So we’re sitting there and Kenny and the boys started saying: “We need to get the big man in”. I said: “Well, have a few more drinks and then get into him”. There were definitely seeds planted that night.’
Steve Clarke’s long-term scout Tony Spearing set the ball rolling with a call to Bryan. Gunn senior urged his old international team-mate to ask the question for himself, and Clarke visited Norwich before the end of January.
‘Angus tells the story that he probably wanted to say “yes” straight away,’ he says. ‘He actually called him up the next day and said: “Yeah, I’d love to do it”. Then came his debut in March 2023 against Cyprus.
Bryan Gunn insists he tried everything to persuade his son to represent Scotland
‘Aside from the children being born — we lost my first daughter Francesca when she was young — seeing Angus playing for Scotland made me most proud. My 83-year-old mother Jessie was there for a real family gathering.
Angus’s sister sent him the words to Flower of Scotland and he said: “Shut up, I know the words off by heart…”.
‘People forget that Angus had me in his ear growing up, watching Scotland matches on the telly and shouting at the games. I have family pictures of him with Scotland kits on when he was young.
‘So it was always in there, fermenting. I did my best when he was born, calling him Angus Fraser James Gunn and I’ve done my bit. Stevie asked the question and the rest was history.’
Clarke and Gunn senior turned from boys to men during a rearguard action in the seething cauldron of Mexico’s Azteca Stadium in June 1983. Before a raucous crowd of 86,582 home fans, they were in a Scotland youth side who were already champions of Europe and beat the hosts in their final group game in the FIFA world championships thanks to a goal from the current Scotland manager.
Both men would win six senior caps each, their international careers ending the same night after a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in May 1994.
Gunn came into the reckoning for Scotland following Craig Gordon’s double leg-break
Where Clarke describes his omission from Italia ’90 as the bitterest disappointment of his career, Gunn would travel to Italy as understudy to Jim Leighton and Andy Goram.
‘That was the summer I made my debut against Egypt in the build-up which, ironically, was at Pittodrie,’ says Gunn. ‘All my family were down from Thurso and Invergordon. My landlady from Aberdeen was there too.
‘I’m less keen on talking about the game, because we lost 3-1.
‘I was gutted because I felt that was an opportunity. Not to play in the World Cup, maybe. But to impress people at least.
‘Me and Maurice Malpas had a mix-up for the first goal.
‘I gave Gordon Durie stick when I was up for a Rangers game recently because he passed the ball back to me from the halfway line. That was in the days when you could pick up passbacks and I’m coming out to pick it up when Hossam Hassan nicks in, flicks it and it ends up in the net. He ended up in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary because I double-fisted him and he got stretchered off.
‘The third one, I can still see big Alex McLeish looking at me thinking: “Should have saved that, big man”.’
Gunn is a Norwich legend and had a spell as manager in 2009, assisted by Tommy Wright
While some of the Scotland first XI remains unclear, the identity of the No1 goalkeeper is clear
Despite Gunn senior’s half-dozen caps, 400 club appearances and clutch of individual awards, it wasn’t written in the stars that Angus would be a goalkeeper. When he was a composed midfielder for Loddon Grasshoppers, the local amateur team, his father thought he had the next Patrick Vieira on his hands.
‘He was tall and elegant on the ball and he went on trial at Norwich academy as an outfield player. But Colin Watts, who was in charge of development, said: “I don’t think he’s going to make it as a footballer. He’s too tall, a bit slow… why don’t we put him in goals?”’
The move paid off. Despite Gunn continuing to play outfield for his school team, Manchester City paid a significant fee to snap him up for their academy at 15.
‘Physically, he has all the attributes,’ says his father. ‘Mentally, he is very good at overcoming bad things very quickly. Letting in a goal is the worst thing ever as a keeper but you have to react quickly and get on with it.’
He is hoping that all of the training, teaching and hard work pays off on June 14.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Mail Online
