Scotland v Armenia

HAMPDEN PARK / WEDNESDAY, 8 JUNE 2022 SCOTLAND v ARMENIA / 32
Sadly, Porterfield was by that time gravely
ill with colon cancer and had been forced
to return to England for treatment for
several months prior to the game.
“I want to be with my team and
to try to fight against such strong
opponents despite everything,”
Porterfield said prior to the game.
He did make it, flying to Yerevan two
days before the match to lead his men
to an incredible result. Jones remembers
his stirring address on the field of play
prior to the match that became an iconic
moment in Armenian footballing history.
“It was the day before the Portugal game,
we’d just finished our training session for
the day at the stadium,” Jones said.
“All the media were there and everyone
could see that Ian was struggling. He
had a colostomy bag and god knows
what else. He could barely stand.
“Then he got everybody together in the
middle of the pitch and he said ‘link hands’.
He got everybody with hands up in the air
and he said, ‘This. This is for us. Together.’”
Sadly, Porterfield would pass away just
three weeks after the match, as his team
were preparing for a friendly against
Cyprus, which they subsequently lost 3-1.
But from their sorrow, a steely resolve
would emerge to not allow the foundations
that Porterfield had put in place to be
eroded, and to build upon them in order
to allow the Armenian team to flourish.
Jones took caretaker charge and emulated
his late boss’s pre-match on-field address
to inspire the nation ahead of their next
competitive fixture, a home game against
Serbia a month after Porterfield’s passing.
He said: “I got them all out on the pitch
before kick-off, we got together in a circle
and we raised our hands together and
we said, ‘This is for us.’ The stadium went
absolutely berserk. Everyone in that ground
was completely together, behind us and
in memory of Ian. It was incredible. We
drew 0-0 but it should have been 10-0.”
Jones was however overlooked for the top
job on a permanent basis, with the Armenian
Federation opting to place a Dane, Jan
Poulsen, in charge. His was an unremarkable
tenure though, and not until Vardan
Minasyan - a former assistant manager
- was handed the reins in 2009 that the
promise of Porterfield’s work was realised.