Archibald Gemmill (born 24 March 1947) is a Scottish former footballer. During his career, he won the European Cup and three English league titles, and captained his national side.
Gemmill scored the third Scotland goal in a 3–2 win against the Netherlands in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. It has been cited as one of the greatest goals in the history of the World Cup.
Club career
Early career
Gemmill was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire. His early career at St Mirren was ruined by a succession of injuries, not least a broken ankle in early 1966. He was sent on to replace Jim Clunie on 13 August 1966 in a Scottish League Cup tie at Shawfield to become the first tactical substitute in Scottish football history. Gemmill was sold for £13,000 to Preston North End.
Derby County
He came to the attention of Peter Taylor, Derby County's assistant manager. Taylor then told Derby manager, Brian Clough, about Gemmill who had been considering signing for the reigning champions Everton. Clough saw him as a player who could pass well and had the type of energy that would drive an attack forward. Clough drove to Gemmill's house. When the player refused to sign for Derby (who had never won the league title), Clough told him that he was going to sleep outside in the car. "But my wife invited him in and he stayed the night," Gemmill said. Clough, eventually, got his man for £60,000 over fried eggs the following morning.
Gemmill scored only three goals for the Rams that season, but they became Football League champions the following year. He was suspended for the second leg of the 1973 European Cup semi-final due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but he became club captain in place of the injured Roy McFarland when the Rams won their second title in 1975. He made 324 appearances in total for the club and scored 25 goals. He left Derby after playing five times for them early in the 1977/78 season.
Nottingham Forest
Gemmill joined Nottingham Forest for £25,000 in September 1977 He was integral to the success of the club in the late 1970s, but was dropped for the 1979 European Cup final. Gemmill referred to the decision later: Scotland needed to win the game by three goals to qualify for the next stage of the tournament, having had very poor results in their first two games. With his team leading 2–1 in the 68th minute, Gemmill scored a goal which was described by The Scotsman as follows: Three minutes later, Johnny Rep scored a second goal for the Netherlands, which was deflected off Gemmill's outstretched leg and flew past Alan Rough's dive. The game ended 3–2, denying Scotland a spot in the second round.
The goal is referenced in the film Trainspotting, in which characters Tommy and Lizzie decide to make love while watching a homemade porno film, only to see it has been replaced with a football tape called "100 Great Goals" which features Gemmill's strike. At the same time, Renton (Ewan McGregor), who had switched the tapes in their cases and borrowed Tommy and Lizzie's tape, says after climaxing during sex, "I haven't felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978!" Gemmill first saw Trainspotting on a club outing with Rotherham, and his reaction was: "I got absolutely slaughtered by the lads... to be fair I was a bit embarrassed by it."
After playing
Gemmill returned to Nottingham Forest to be a coach alongside Brian Clough in 1984. Later he managed Rotherham United for two seasons in the mid-1990s.
His son Scot Gemmill became a Scotland player in the 1990s. In 1970, Archie drove his pregnant wife back to Scotland to ensure that Scot would be born there. Archie became unhappy that Scot was selected for squads but was rarely used in games. and thereby qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.
Career statistics
International appearances
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="9"|Scotland
|1971||3||1
|-
|1972||4||0
|-
|1975||2||0
|-
|1976||6||1
|-
|1977||7||0
|-
|1978||10||4
|-
|1979||2||1
|-
|1980||7||1
|-
|1981||2||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!43!!8
|}
International goals
:Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first
{| class="wikitable"
! No. !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition !! Ref
|-
| align=center | 1. || 13 October 1971 || Hampden Park, Glasgow || || align=center | 2–1 || align=center | 2–1 || UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying ||
|-
| align=center| 2. || 8 May 1976 || Hampden Park, Glasgow || || align=center | 1–0 || align=center | 3–0 || 1975–76 British Home Championship ||
|-
| align=center| 3. || 22 February 1978 || Hampden Park, Glasgow || || align=center | 1–1 || align=center | 2–1 || Friendly match ||