Vogts’ Scotland record deserves more respect

Rab Douglas won the vast majority of his 19 Scotland caps under Berti Vogts.

And he believes the German’s record deserves more respect than it got at the time.

“One of the biggest things for me was playing for Scotland,” Douglas said. “That’s what you dream of doing as a kid and nobody can take that off you.

“I felt sorry for Berti because everybody seemed happy to nail him after the Faroes game (a 2-2 draw in a 2002 European Championship qualifier).

“But his competitive record was better than some of the other managers who have followed him and we’d take a place in the play-offs these days, which we got back then.

“Craig Brown kept the old guard going and Berti had to start from scratch.

“We’re long overdue getting to the finals of a tournament. This World Cup qualifying campaign is massive for Scotland.

“Hopefully Strachan can work some magic and find us a couple of centre-halves!”

Reaching the finals of a European Championship or World Cup was beyond Douglas (and every Scotland player since 1998) but he does have a European club final on his CV.

In 2003 Martin O’Neill took Celtic to the Uefa Cup showpiece in Seville, when they lost out in extra-time by the odd goal to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.

“The run to the Uefa Cup final created memories that will last a lifetime,” Douglas said.

“I got a bit of stick about what happened in Seville but on the night I think we just fell a bit short.

“Porto went on to win the Champions League the following year and obviously Mourinho was their manager.

“Some of the games on the way to the final were amazing – like keeping a clean-sheet against Liverpool at Anfield and turning Blackburn Rovers over after Graeme Souness had been saying things about us in the build-up.”