The difficult stuff is out of the way – now we can really aim for Russia
SAYS CRAIG BROWN
CRAIG BROWN freely admits he is the eternal optimist.
Yet as he looks ahead to the resumption of Scotland’s World Cup campaign in just three weeks’ time, he insists it is his head not his heart talking when he says he still fancies the country to qualify for Russia in 2018.
Gordon Strachan’s side have a friendly against Canada at Easter Road on March 22 before tackling Slovenia in a vital tie at Hampden Park four days later.
The last man to guide Scotland to a major Finals is upbeat, and sees no downside to fact Strachan has not had his players together for nearly four months.
“Since the disappointment against England at Wembley in November, we have had a chance to re- group and re- energise over what has effectively been, in international terms, a winter break,” said Brown.
“Now we have to be ready to go again for the second half of the campaign, which I am sure we will be
“I know there is quite a bit of work to do (with four games gone, Scotland lie fifth out of six), but it is still all there for us.
“When I was a manager myself, I always said the worst situation is the one when you find yourself starting to throw away a winning lead.
“From a psychological perspective, it is much better to be hunting down the leaders where you can come with a late run to win it at the death.
“For me, that is the position Scotland can get to.
“The difficult away games are out of the way, and now we are looking at a much more straightforward run-in.
“Of the six games we have left, four of them – Slovenia, England, Malta and Slovakia – are at Hampden Park, which is a huge advantage for us.
“No country likes coming to play us in Glasgow. That has always been the case, and it still holds true today.
“The computer has given us this run-in. But when I was in charge – back when you had to negotiate for the fixtures with the other countries in your group – that is exactly the kind of schedule you would have been fighting for.
“Get the hard ones out of the way first, and then do what you need to at the end.”
What hasn’t changed, Brown believes, is the necessity for international managers to box clever when it comes to their dealings with club bosses for friendly fixtures, a situation Gordon Strachan will face for the visit of Canada to Easter Road.
“It can be very tricky from a political point of view, with a lot of things to consider,” he said.
“You want to have a good working relationship with your club managers and, if anything is going to put a strain on that, it is getting their players injured in a friendly.
“So, if the Leeds manager only wanted Gary McAllister to play 45 minutes in a friendly at the very most, then that is all I tried give him.
“I had a very simple system. If they made that kind of request for a friendly, I would say: ‘Sure, I will try and do that’.
“If they came back with the same message ahead of a competitive match, they would be told to get lost in no uncertain terms!
“I can’t speak for Gordon Strachan. He is an extremely capable manager who will have his own thoughts.
“But if it was me, I would be looking to have one phase of the game in which my best 11 for Slovenia were all on the pitch together at the same time.
“Maybe the first half- hour, maybe the last. But a wee spell in which they could get a run- out together ahead of the big one.”
There are plenty of the Tartan Army clamouring for on- form Anglo stars – such as Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney and wing pair Matt Phillips of West Brom and Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser – to be given a run out versus the Canadians.
Brown, for his part, cautions against throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
“I wouldn’t be expecting any big overhaul of the side,” he said.
“Everyone knows the pool of players available to us is very limited.
“In that regard Gordon Strachan and Mark McGhee deserve great credit for unearthing Ikechi Anya and Matt Ritchie, two players we didn’t know much about at all.
“It may well be there is another one out there, but I don’t see this
No country likes coming to play us in Glasgow. That has always been the case
as a time for experimenting, more of consolidation.
“The players we have, the ones we already know, are up for this job, I am sure of it.
“We just need to believe and get behind them to turn the dream into a reality.”
For both games, Strachan will be assisted by Mark McGhee, recently sacked by Motherwell, and Tony Docherty, an ex- SFA employee and currently No. 2 to Derek McInnes at Aberdeen, following another shake-up in his backroom staff.
That followed Andy Watson’s decision to quit to take up a lucrative post in Oman as technical director of the Al-Habsi Football School.
Given he himself had only returned to the Scotland ranks in July after replacing Stuart McCall, who had left for Bradford City, the recruitment of Docherty is being seen as bringing in a safe pair of hands.
“I think Tony is going to do really well there and I am confident he can play his part in getting us to Russia” said Brown.
“He is a guy I know really well, having first brought him into the SFA as a community coach, and he is an outstanding individual.
“More recently, of course, I have followed his work at Aberdeen very closely, where he is a terrific foil for Derek.
“If I was asked to describe him, I would say he is someone who is very intelligent and highly articulate.
“I am sure he is someone who will be able to quickly grasp exactly what it is Gordon Strachan and Mark McGhee want him to do.
“Likewise, that he will be able to transfer that message to the players in a very effective way.
“He will have a role to play because the Slovenia match is an extremely important one for the country.”
The country expects . . .