See you Jose
SCOTLAND A SPECIAL MENTOR Brown: Mourinho loves winding up the English .. he’d have played big part in McTominay picking us
CRAIG BROWN is convinced Scotland won the race for Scott McTominay because Jose Mourinho loves noising up the English.
The former national boss remembers bumping into the Special One queueing for burgers at a Brentford reserve game early in the Portuguese’s Chelsea reign.
He soon learned Mourinho has a deep-rooted affinity for Scotland, having earned his coaching badges in Largs. And Brown reckons the Man United manager will have played a key role in helping Alex McLeish pull off a masterstroke by persuading McTominay to pull on a dark blue jersey.
Brown said: “I read somewhere Sir Alex Ferguson was influential in McTominay’s decision. But the most influential guy will have been Jose Mourinho.
“Mourinho has a great affection for Scotland. He did his coaching badges at Largs and loved his time here. think you can be opposed to Alex coming back to Scotland. It’s a great appointment.
“When you look at the ones the SFA tried to get – Michael O’Neill and Walter Smith – then Alex is as good as we could have got for Scotland manager.
“Michael was a good candidate as he was a European specialist and took Shamrock Rovers into the Europa League group stage beating Partizan Belgrade, a huge club, along the way.
“Walter would have taken it and he may have brought Ally McCoist, Stuart McCall or Scot Gemmill to work with him and that would have been a formula.
“That’s not to say it would have been a better formula than Alex.
“I’m an out-and-out fan of Alex. He did the coaching badges at Largs and was outstanding.
“I’ve never known a player that played under him who has said, ‘That big b ***** d.’ Alex is a super guy and bust a gut for the national side.
“He played 77 times and was booked just once I believe.
“He came up for every corner yet never scored for Scotland. I used to chin him about that but Alex’s great line was that he was always the decoy for Kenny Dalglish.
“Alex has a brilliant sense of humour and a great way about him. He’s the nicest big guy you’ll hope to meet. Above all else the Scotland players will love him.” CRAIG BROWN was at Hampden to help promote the pioneering Football Memories Project as it was announced they are to receive Scottish government funding for their Football Memory Boxes initiative.
The partnership between Alzheimer Scotland and the Scottish Football Museum will create 50 memory boxes. Individuals or organisations wanting to donate £250 to sponsor a box in honour of a club or individual should visit www.sportheritagescotland. co.uk or call 0141 616 6112.