Alex McLeish

THE Tartan Army have been counting down to the European Championships since that famous night in Serbia as Scotland booked their place at the finals.

Now there are fewer than 100 days to go until the first ball is due to be kicked and the excitement and sense of anticipation will only grow over weeks and months as the domestic season draws to a close and all attentions return to the national side once again.

That feel-good factor that will sweep the nation is something that Steve Clarke will be keen to tap in to I’m sure. Scotland fans will celebrate being there, but once they get down to business they will want to compete rather than just take part.

Time will tell if the supporters will be back inside stadiums by then and there would be no better sight than seeing Hampden rocking for the matches with the Czech Republic and Croatia.

Let’s hope that happens, because the world will be glad to see the Tartan Army again after such a long absence from major finals.

I do think the Czech Republic are on the up. That’s certainly been proven by their teams in Europe this year, as Celtic found out when they lost 4-1 home and away to Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Rangers have Slavia Prague now as they look to progress to the quarter-finals and the Czechs have some players that are very good technically and that operate at a high level.

I know that Scotland beat them at Hampden, and we beat their thirdtier team in Prague, but you see some of their results in Europe and at international level and they seem to be on the up.

Hopefully we are too, and it is about having our best team available. Steve definitely needs to have his best players, there’s no doubt about that and the boys who have got us here over the last couple of years will be asked to go again and make themselves even bigger heroes.

We’re looking hard to beat again. We crave that centre-forward goal scorer, but guys like John McGinn are chipping in now and Steve does have options in midfield especially.

Gordon Strachan worked with John McGinn before I worked with him, but he was still in a process of working towards the heady heights he is at just now, where he is playing in the strongest league in the world.

We have five or six players at that level now, such as big Scott McTominay. He didn’t have all the answers when he came in, but he is looking a real player now and he has had an encouraging season with Manchester United.

We do need that hero striker we have had throughout the years with Kenny Dalglish, big Joe Jordan, Stevie Archibald, even Mark McGhee. I remember McGhee’s goal against England and what we would give to see someone score against the Auld Enemy at Wembley.

You won’t get many from outwith the Tartan Army tipping Scotland to qualify from Group D but you know that Steve’s side will give it their best shot. If Hampden is behind them, what a difference that would make.

The Italy game in the last days of my first spell in charge is one which stands out for me in terms of the occasion and the atmosphere. I really felt we could have beaten them.

We started off terribly slowly, they scored in the opening minutes from a throw-in, so we weren’t fully concentrated at that important moment in the game. After that, and particularly in the second half, I felt we battered them.

Barry Ferguson had a really good game against Andrea Pirlo, and so much so that I was watching Pirlo and thinking ‘That poor guy must be coming to the end of his career’. He ended up playing for about another 10 years!

That night was one where the supporters really got behind us and it would be terrific if these players were able to experience that and have the Tartan Army roaring them on. Time will tell how many, if any, fans will be at Hampden