WINNING FOR AUNTIE VERA
ANDY ROBERTSON helped Liverpool end 30 years without a league title and now he wants to end Scotland’s wait for qualifying for Europe – and there is a special motivation for him.
“At international level, Scotland are two play-off wins away from qualification for Euro 2020, which will actually take place in 2021 due to the coronavirus.
“The Scotland team has always been very important to my family as a whole, none more so than my auntie, Vera Murchie, who passed away at Christmas in 2013.
“The only times I have worn personalised boots – the play-off final with Hull, the Champions League final in Madrid and an international against Cyprus that I scored in – it has been in her memory.
“I have her date of birth, 27.05.56, on one boot and ‘Cheeky V’ on the other. A Cheeky Vimto was her favourite drink at family parties, she used to mix her own, and it’s something that I remember her by.
“When my mum, dad and Auntie Vera were growing up, Scotland qualified for every tournament, it was like Liverpool winning the league, and now it’s been far too long.
“This team has the potential to right that wrong.
“Our individual quality is there for all to see but now we have to show it as a team and deliver as a team.
“I have confidence that we will only get stronger and the sooner the better.
“Having just ended a 30-year wait with Liverpool, I now want to end a 22-year wait with Scotland.
“If that happens, I’ll be having a Cheeky Vimto in memory of my Auntie Vera.”