Stevie Crawford has been on the wrong side of a play-off defeat – and he’s hoping Scotland can avoid a fate similar to his tonight.
The Dunfermline boss will be watching on this evening as Steve Clarke takes Scotland to Serbia, contesting a Euro 2020 play-off for a place at next summer’s tournament.
Crawford made 25 appearances in navy blue as a player and featured in the Euro 2004 play-off against Holland in November 2003. The Pars manager hopes Clarke and his team can go all the way.
“It has been a long time but there is an excitement,” said Crawford. “The run that the Scottish squad have put together at the moment has them very much together. Steve Clarke had a terrific spell at Kilmarnock and he seems to have brought that now to the national squad which is really really pleasing.
“Like everyone else in the country I will be supporting the national team. It is great that we are getting the chance to talk about it with it being 1998 when we last qualified for a major finals.
“Steve Clarke has done a magnificent job with his coaching staff and players to get ourselves into this position. He will have the full support of all the Dunfermline team hoping that they can progress and play in the finals of a major tournament again.
“There will not be a manager working at a Scottish team that wouldn’t want Scotland to qualify for a major tournament. It is so difficult because smaller nations have improved unbelievably in the last 25 years.
“It is not just a case of what we have not been doing as a country. Other teams have developed and caught up so it is far more difficult now to progress in tournaments. If you look at results since Steve Clarke went in he has definitely turned the mentality of a group that is now looking forward and fingers crossed we qualify for this campaign.”
The Dunfermline boss played in the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign under the guidance of Bertie Vogts, featuring seven times. Scotland finished second in the group and faced Holland for a place at the Euro tournament in Portugal.
Despite a memorable win over the Dutch at Hampden, a 6-0 hammering was to come away from home in the second leg. Crawford has commented on what went wrong in Amsterdam.
“Obviously James McFadden scoring the winner at Hampden and the elation from that,” said Crawford. “Holland were a wounded animal and when I look back at the team, never mind the starting eleven.
“That squad that the Dutch had, it was a fantastic achievement to win the first game but because it as a two leg play off to go out in the manner that we did was tough to take.
“The one thing that I did not do at the time, and as a player sometimes you don’t. You get caught up in the moment and you don’t actually enjoy it in the way that you should. It was not a nice experience for Holland to beat us the way they did.
“When you look back at the game, some of the goals that night and some of their attacking play was ridiculous. They had boys who were really going for the jugular. Scotland will face that but they will have togetherness, their drive and their commitment. Steve Clarke will have them well organised and hopefully that gets us across the finishing line.”