Reunion for France 98 has Hendry demanding finals return
Braveheart Colin Hendry will lead out his France 98 team- mates for a 20th anniversary dinner this Sunday with a heavy heart that Scotland won’t be in Russia.
The former Blackburn and Rangers hero is attending a special La Reunion night with his old Scotland boss Craig Brown and ex-players including Jim Leighton, Tom Boyd, John Collins and Gordon Durie.
But the last man to skipper our national team at a major finals is gutted that no Scot has managed to fol low in his footsteps for 20 years.
Hendry, 52, won the Premier League with Blackburn and a Treble with Rangers but reckons captaining Scotland for the France 98 opener against world champs Brazil in Paris was the best moment of his career.
He said: “It’s crazy to think it has been 20 years. If I’m being honest, it’s sad. I feel so sad Scotland haven’t qualified since.
“People recognise me for various reasons – Blackburn winning the league, winning the Treble with Rangers and then there’s Euro 96 with the Gazza goal and France 98.
“But that game against Brazil at France 98 was the best moment of my career. The only thing that could have made it better was if we’d got a point. That wouldn’t have been unjust.”
Hendry remembers travelling to watch Scotland play Brazil at Spain 82 ... never imagining he’d lead out the national side against the South Americans 16 years later in the tournament opener.
He said: “The World Cup is such a spectacle. My family had put money away and I went out to Spain 82 with my mum, dad brother and sister.
“We got a bus out to Seville with the Plough Inn in Keith.
“We went to all three games and to see Scotland play Brazil was a dream come true.
“I was about 16 at the time and playing for Islavale junior team was one of the massive plusesuses of playing for Scotland. He wasas key to the whole thing.
“If it hadn’t been for himim we wouldn’t have done as well. ell.
“He was a great man-manager anager and loved his tactics – hee was just good at what he did. He did a great job.
“Alex did well the firstt time round and him and Walter Smith got us as close as we coulduld in 2007 in what was a tough group.
“I’m confident he will doo well but there’s a lot of thingss that have not gone for us. A lot of countries have caught upp with us or are no longer the whipping pping boys they once were.
“Look at Greece. We beatt them in qualifiers in my time andd that was a reasonably easy gameme yet they’ve gone on to win the Euros in 2004.
“But if Alex can get us soo close in a group that had the World Cup finalists Italy and France rance plus quarter finalists Ukraine aine in it then hopefully we can finally break our qualifying ing duck. I don’t want to be the last player to captain Scotland land at a World Cup any longer – 20 years is bad enough.”
For La Reunion gala dinner ner tickets go to www.thelongestestforty.com/la-reunion