England vs Scotland: Auld Enemy World Cup qualifier analysed by TalkSport’s Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour plus SunSport’s Paul Jiggins

THE Auld Enemies are preparing for a Battle of Britain World Cup qualifier at Wembley on Friday,

So SunSport’s Paul Jiggins joined the King of Sports Breakfast Radio, ex-Scotland star Alan Brazil, and his talkSPORT co-presenter former England midfielder Ray Parlour to get their thoughts:

PAUL JIGGINS: Am I right in thinking neither of you have had the best of luck as far as England v Scotland games at Wembley go?

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ALAN BRAZIL: You can say that again. Jock Stein left me out of his team for the Home International in 1983 because I wouldn’t give him a bit of a bet I had on a horse in the Derby on the Wednesday afternoon, before the game that night.

PJ: You’re kidding.

AB: No, straight up. I’d put £100 each-way on Teenoso months earlier and when Jock found out he wanted a slice of it. First he wanted me to give him 20-1 of it, then 16s and 12s. When I refused he looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Have you ever played at Wembley, son?’

I never thought he’d drop me — especially as I’d scored my first goal for Scotland in our 2-0 win in Wales in the previous match — but I was wrong. After Lester Piggott made me about five grand richer I was brought down to earth when Jock read out the team and said there would be one change — Charlie Nicholas for Brazil! I went on as a sub in the second half but England were already 2-0 up.

RAY PARLOUR: At least you got a decent amount of game time, Al. Kevin Keegan sent me on for Paul Scholes in the Euro 2000 play-off deep into stoppage time.

It was the one when Don Hutchison scored in Scotland’s 1-0 win but we still went through thanks to our 2-0 win at Hampden in the first leg. What was the point? I must have only been on the pitch for 30 seconds.

PJ: It wasn’t Keegan’s strangest decision at Wembley, though, was it?

RP: No. I played in the last game at the old Wembley when Keegan quit after we lost 1-0 to Germany.

He just walked into the dressing room afterwards, said ‘I’m resigning’ and that was it. The next game I scored a perfectly good goal against Finland but the ref said it hadn’t crossed the line and waved play on.

I didn’t have a lot of luck as far as England was concerned. It was difficult to get into the team because I had the likes of David Beckham and Scholes in front of me. I won 10 caps which was not many really. Had I played for Scotland I’d probably have got 50!

AB: Well, I won 13 caps and I had Kenny Dalglish, Joe Jordan and Andy Gray in front of me. If I was playing now I’d have 60!

RP: You could probably still play for them now!

PJ: So, chaps, what are your earliest memories of this fixture?

AB: When I was growing up in Glasgow I used to live near Hampden. My first experience of Scotland- England games were on the terraces singing rude songs about Jimmy Hill.

RP: I remember seeing TV pictures of the Tartan Army invading the pitch at Wembley and hanging from the crossbar. What year was that, Al?

AB: That was 1977 when we won 2-1.  Gordon McQueen says when the teams walked out that day you could smell just one thing — whisky!

PJ: What about Euro 96 when England won 2-0 with Gazza’s goal?

AB: Yeah, but Scotland were the better team in the first half. Things might have been different had David Seaman not saved Gary McAllister’s penalty when England were 1-0 up.

RP: But that’s when you need your big players to step up and Gazza’s goal that made it 2-0, with the Dentist-Chair celebration after, is probably my favourite England-Scotland moment.

PJ: What even better than your substitute appearance?

AB: That was so short it wasn’t even a moment!

PJ: So Al, Gazza’s goal was probably not your highlight, so what is your favourite England-Scotland moment?

AB: When we battered you at Wembley in 1967, just nine months after you had won the World Cup.

PJ: Battered? Scotland won 3-2.

AB: Aye but it should have been more.  As that was England’s first defeat after the World Cup, Scotland rightly took over the mantle of world champions! That was a great team.

PJ: Al, you played with Scotland manager Gordon Strachan. How do you see his current situation?

AB: He was the biggest moaner in the team because he always wanted the ball.

He is under pressure but I’m pleased he’s not walked away. You can rest assured he will have the boys fired up for this. I am just concerned if we lose, it could be his last game.

RP: Who is there to take over?

AB: Nobody. So let’s hope we can win and kick-start our campaign.

PJ: Did you both enjoying playing for your countries?

RP: I loved it. I used to like meeting up with the boys from the all the other clubs. Everyone got on really well. A lot was made of cliques in the camp and Manchester United players not mixing but the only reason they sat on their own table was because there were so many of them!

So they’d all sit together. In hindsight, maybe they should have been split up.

But it never affected the mood in the camp while I was there.

AB: We had the same trouble in my time with Scotland. We used to have three tables at dinner — one for the coaches, one for the players who played in Scotland and the other for the Anglo-Scots.

I don’t know if the Scottish-based players resented the money and the exposure we got down in England. But it was a bit them and us.

PJ: At least you didn’t have Eileen Drewery to deal with, eh Ray?

RP: Ha ha, you’re not wrong.

AB: Remind us what happened?

RP: I was away with England and had a little niggle on my calf. I went to see physio Gary Lewin, who was also my physio at Arsenal and then the boss Glenn Hoddle walked in.

He asked me what was wrong so I explained and that I was going for a scan. He told me, ‘Before you go for the scan go to Room 36 and see a woman called Eileen Drewery.’

So I went up and she told me to sit on a chair and I thought, ‘Surely I should be laying on the bed because the problem is in my leg?’

But I sat on the chair and the next thing she walks behind me and places both hands on my head. It was a bit strange so I just joked, ‘While you’re there I’ll have a short back and sides.’

She laughed and I thought no more of it. I didn’t say anything to anyone about it but a few days later it was in all the papers, with mocked up pictures of me with Eileen Drewery’s hands on my head. I remember thinking, ‘This ain’t good publicity.’

Hoddle never picked me again, even though I was Arsenal’s player of the year. I don’t know if it was due to that or if he just didn’t fancy me as a player.

PJ: What do you make of the current England team?

RP: They have loads of potential, players like Ross Barkley, Dele Alli and Marcus Rashford. We just need someone who can get the best out of them. It will be interesting to see how they play in this because all the pressure is on them not Scotland.

AB: We are not going to outplay England, we don’t have the ability they’ve got. We need to match them physically, upset them, win the second balls and hope they have an off day. We need to stop them from playing, ensure the home crowd get on their backs and sneak a goal.

PJ: So where will you both be watching the match?

AB: We’re both lucky enough to be going to the game. We’ll be in Club Wembley — so they had  better make sure they get some extra beer in.