Not worlds apart
Picture, England aren’t that far ahead of us
think England are that far ahead of Scotland.
“As good as Croatia have been, too, don’t forget they came into this tournament via the play-offs, having finished behind Iceland in the qualifiers.
“I say all this as someone who wished England well in the World Cup.
“I am a patriotic Scot, so of course I want us to hammer them whenever we meet. “However, it would be churlish not to want them to do well against countries from other parts of the world. “We are near neighbours, after all, and our club games have always been entwined.
“Just think of all the great achievements Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law had south of the border. “You look at them, and why wouldn’t you want England’s national team to do okay?
“And while I didn’t think they played as well as some people seem to think they did, off the park they have been very impressive, with Gareth Southgate being extremely thoughtful and reasonable and his players showing no arrogance at all.”
Next up for both Scotland and England is Euro 2020, and Brown is bullish about the chances of Alex Mcleish’s side succeeding where their predecessors have failed.
“I believe we are going to do it this time, I really do,” he said. “There are some excellent young players who are really starting to come into their own.
“I am talking about the likes of Robertson, Tierney, Callum Mcgregor, Scott Mckenna and John Mcginn.
signs
of “You throw in others such as Stuart Armstrong, Kenny Mclean and James Forrest, and that is a great crop. “I know from being Scotland manager that you need to have the right quality of players.
“These things go in cycles, and we were blessed. “We had Kevin Gallacher and Colin Hendry – English Premier League winners with Blackburn Rovers – Paul Lambert, a Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund, and Gary Mcallister, a terrific talent. “Gordon Strachan didn’t get as strong a pool to work with, but Alex Mcleish will be getting a group approaching as good as I had. “He is very much the man to take advantage!”