WORLD CUPS WILL ALWAYS STIR EMOTION

I, like all football lovers, have gleaming memories of every World Cup since childhood seared into my mind. Crying down the side of the sofa aged six after Brazil sent Scotland home in 1990, Pavarotti’s Nessen Dorma stirring the pain, is probably my first. Ray Houghton’s goal for Ireland against Italy at USA 94 stands out as another. But by the time France 98 came round, when I was 14, football was my world. So Scotland playing against Brazil in the opening game of the tournament sent excitement levels to a whole new stratosphere. On the morning of the game the headmaster at my school in Edinburgh called an impromptu assembly. Under no circumstances, he told us, in the packed school hall, were any pupils to leave school early to watch the big game that afternoon. I’m sure you can guess how that worked out. When the bell rang for lunch a few hours later the doors swung open to cue a mass exodus. A few hours of detention wasn’t going to stop me or hundreds of others see John Collins, Colin Hendry and Paul Lambert on the same pitch as Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Cafu! We were valiant losers that day, of course, as has so often been the case. And although I have relished World Cups coming round every four years since, in truth they have all been dampened ever so slightly by the fact that Scotland weren’t there. I’ll cheer on England this year, as I always have, and hope that this dynamic, youthful team flourish on the biggest stage. But, just for the record, if they win it, I’m emigrating!