Scotland meet Spain tonight, in possibly the daftest Scots “friendly” excursion since 1993.
Then, a far more talented Scottish side – including the likes of John Collins, Andy Goram, Richard Gough and Stuart McCall in the same lineup (seems almost impossible to imagine now) – flew to the Iberian peninsula to play Portugal, and got gubbed 5-0. McCoist broke his leg that night, too.
The current crop of players know what’s likely to happen tonight. Spain’s a better side than that Portugal team was, and Scotland is infinitely worse. That realisation leads to this wonderfully depressing quote from Celtic’s Jackie McNamara. “I think it is a good idea to play them. It is important for us to get back to defending well…. Everybody knows the quality of Spain and expects us to get beaten four or five-nil, but if we get a positive result it will give us a lot of confidence.”
I wish I didn’t fear that “positive result” is a 3-0 defeat, with the Spaniards easing off in the second half and blooding a few youngsters. It’s on Five tonight, although I suspect I’ll watch Will and Grace instead.
Don’t forget that it’s introduced by John Barnes – a presenter so wooden he should have green hair.