WEARING number two although playing in midfield, he was in the right place at the right time to snuff out the danger.

Stuart McCall and Gordon Strachan would later work alongside each other in the Scotland national team’s coaching set-up.

But on that occasion, McCall denied his future boss with a crucial header off the line.

The hair may have been a tad more ginger in those days than “strawberry blond”, but the determination was the same he would show on countless occasions in claret and amber or the Rangers blue.

Any City fans browsing their TV channels to alleviate the boredom from self-isolation might have caught the action on Sunday night.

The much-heralded “Battle of Britain” from 1992, Leeds against McCall’s Rangers, was one of the blasts from the past on offer on BT Sport as the broadcasters try to fill the yawning gaps in the schedule.

The absence of any live sport has got the TV companies frantically thumbing through their archives for content to keep the subscribers amused.

Such half-hours of escapism, like that dramatic night at Elland Road when Scotland’s champions turfed out a title-winning Leeds side, help us all to temporarily shelve the fear and uncertainty that is currently gripping the world.

These are troubling times, the like of which many of us have never experienced in our lifetime. Any opportunity to cast your mind back and focus on more positive moments should be seized upon.

With mental health to the fore like never before, particularly with people told to keep their distance from others, memories of happier sporting experiences have their role to play.

Sport, they say, is the most important of the unimportant things in life. Never more so than right now.

McCall certainly had his telly tuned to the highlights from 28 years ago - and believes that programmes like that will be crucial in maintaining the mental well-being of an increasingly house-bound nation.

“It’s obviously difficult for sports people who are actually participating when there is nothing going on," said the Bantams chief. "But sport plays a huge part in the lives of so many.

“Whether you’re playing, coaching or just watching it, sport is so important to so many people.

“Hence, to try to make people feel a little bit happier, there’s probably nothing better at this moment in time when you are isolating than sticking in a DVD and rewatching the Wolves game for myself or when we beat Liverpool.

“Obviously more recently you’ve got the amazing game against Chelsea. Watching those back has got to help you feel good even if it’s just for a little while."

McCall got a call over the weekend from a Scottish newspaper to quiz him about his football past. It provided an amusing break - even if his answers were a little woolly in places.

McCall laughed: "Journalists obviously need to fill their pages at the moment so he got in touch to ask me these 15 questions about my career.

"I thought I'll probably do well to get three right. I can’t remember last week, let alone what happened all those years ago!

“But when you go back, it was nice to reminisce on the good times I've had at Bradford, Scotland, Rangers, Motherwell, whatever. It did make me smile and I enjoyed doing it.

“Likewise, for people to go back and look at some of their favourite moments in sport will give them a lift.

"Match of the Day was very good with (Alan) Shearer, (Ian) Wright and (Gary) Lineker talking about their best captains.

"Then BT are showing happy events from years gone by. I think the TV companies have got a huge responsibility to play in all this.

“Every day is quite scary, people are frightened with what they see or read.

“You’re told, ‘don’t go here or there and don’t go in groups’. Obviously they’ve shut the pubs and clubs and restaurants.

“We’ve all got a responsibility for each other and for our families. We must look after one another with everything that’s going on.

"Your mental health is so important and you want to be able to get out, be in the fresh air and be walking.

"But a lot of the time is going to be spent indoors and that's where you can make yourself feel a bit happier by watching something really positive from the past."

And for those not old enough to remember, Rangers defied Leeds with a defensive masterclass and fine goals from Mark Hateley and Ally McCoist to send them packing 4-2 on aggregate. The number two did not need any reminding on that score.

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