Watch the England match? I’d rather have a night at the soap opera
Nottingham Forest icon won’t buy Three Lions hype as he backs Colombia to silence cocky fans
KENNY BURNS would have happily settled for a night on the cobbles if it meant England’s World Cup hopes hit the skids. The Nottingham Forest legend, a twotime European Cup winner, has lived in England his entire adult life but old rivalries still run deep. At the age of 64 he will become an honorary member of the Colombian fan club tonight and said: “When you’re born a Scotsman, you’re always a Scotsman.” His local golf club is festooned with bunting and the cross of g.ralston@dailyrecord.co.uk St George and tonight will be packed with punters cheering Gareth Southgate’s side towards the quarter-finals.
But Burns will settle for watching the action from Moscow on the telly in his front room.
He said: “If the match wasn’t on ITV I’d have watched Emmerdale and Coronation Street instead. There would probably be more excitement than a night out in the Rovers Return anyway.
“Do I want England to win? Not at all – I hope they go out in the next round to the Colombians.
“People love an underdog – and I’ll go for the underdog on this occasion. It’s more to do with the way they gloat about everything. Down here they think they’ve won the World Cup already. So they beat Panama – come off it, they ‘re more renowned for making hats.
“England fans are arrogant that way but they’ll have a helluva game against the Colombians. There are no poor teams at this level.
“I once played as part of a Scotland set-up that went into a World Cup thinking Peru and Iran were nothing but muppets.”
Even the bookies appear to be fearful of Southgate taking his team all the way in 2018. The Auld Enemy are as short as 6-1 to win
the title for the first time since we all know when, 12 months before they lost their crown – unofficially – to a Scotland side inspired by Denis Law and Jim Baxter.
Burns, a league winner under Brian Clough and a former English Player of the Year, reckons the draw favours further progress if they can see off the South Americans.
England would play Sweden or Switzerland in the last eight and, if they progress from there, would face Russia or Croatia in the semis.
They could go as far as they have in the tournament since Italia 90.
But Burns said: “England could get to the quarter-finals or maybe the semis but I don’t believe they’re good enough to win it. Colombia will be no pushovers but there are countries in the competition better than England – Croatia have brilliant experience at this level and Brazil are also looking slick. England don’t have enough strength in depth to go all the way.
“They don’t really bother me. I give them a bit of stick but I don’t religiously watch their games, although if I’ve heard they’ve lost I always catch the highlights.
“I’m not falling for the talk about Southgate either. Players have come through themselves. What’s he really done in toplevel management? A blind man could manage England.”
Some of Burns’s annoyance could be born of frustration at Scotland’s failure to make an impact at World Cup level since France 98.
The Scots qualified for six out of seven World Cups from 1974 until 1998 but on each occasion failed to make it from the group stage.
Burns said: “I grew a foot in height whenever I pulled on a Scotland shirt or walked out for my country at Hampden.
“But Argentina in 78 was like a bad episode of Hi-de-Hi. It was an absolute joke. We arrived in Cordoba on two buses, one for players and the others for officials.
“Locals turned up to welcome us waving Scotland flags but the clutch went on one of the buses and the other towed it up the hill.
“Our training facilities were a s*** hole, the pitch looked as if it was used for bike scrambles, we knew nothing about our opposition, including Teofilo Cubillas, because we hadn’t done our homework. Everything was done on the cheap.”