The Scotsman

Gordon: ‘To get my 50th cap in such a vital game would be huge for me...’

● Scotland keeper nears milestone with his eyes firmly fixed on reaching his first World Cup finals

- By LINDSAY HERRON

It’s official – Gordon Strachan now has a better success rate than Craig Brown but Scotland legend Colin Hendry insists Strachan is far from superior because he has yet to lead the country to a major tournament.

Strachan has moved into fifth place based on wins and draws divided by games played but Hendry reckons Brown, pictured right, might just be the best of all time given his record of leading Scotland to two major tournament­s and coming so close to a third.

However, he desperatel­y hopes that Strachan can take the next step and qualify for the 2018 World Cup so that he can lose the title as the last man to skipper the side on the big stage.

Hendry, who played for Strachan at Coventry City, said: “It may be statistica­lly accurate to say that Gordon has gone ahead of Craig but it just shows you that statistics don’t paint an accurate picture.

“Craig took us to two major tournament­s back to back and was so close to making it three in a row when we narrowly lost out to England in the Euro 2000 play-offs.

“There is a good argument to say that he has been the best Scotland manager we’ve had, so Gordon has got some work to do to emulate his achievemen­ts but I hope he can.

“Don’t get me wrong, Craig had his critics because we played in a certain way that some people didn’t like. We were set out in way that we were hard to beat, but also with the ability to create and take chances.

“If we took a chance to go ahead in a game then we were going to make sure that the opposition didn’t get back into it.

“Keeping clean sheets was our platform but you obviously have to go and win games to qualify for tournament­s and that’s what we did by getting to Euro 96 and World Cup 98.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that Craig’s achievemen­ts were not given as much credit as they deserved at the time.

“But if you look at it now, his record is looking better and better.

“The team back then had players competing at the highest level. We had players at the top of the English Premier League and some who had won it. Paul Lambert who had just played in a Champions League final, John Collins who was in Monaco and Rangers and Celtic players were playing in Europe every season.

“We just don’t have that right now. How many are playing every week in the Premier League?

“I couldn’t even tell you who our highest-ranked player is – maybe Andy Robertson at Liverpool but he’s not a regular.”

Hendry is still fiercely passionate about his country and reckons that Strachan can deliver by beating Slovakia on Thursday and then Slovenia on Sunday.

He said: “It’s black and white for us.

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