The Scotsman Bulletin Thursday October 12 2023 #Euros

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin for Thursday. I'm Alan Young, I'm

00:12 Deputy Head of Sports for the Scotsman. I'm joined today from our sports desk by Matt

00:16 Elder. Hi Matt.

00:17 Morning Alan.

00:18 Let's have a look at the front page first, then we'll speak to Matt. We read today on

00:26 this, an old story that has resurfaced, if you remember this, the Covid WhatsApp furore.

00:36 So the messages between Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson were released to the UK Covid

00:43 Inquiry this week and within them there's a very interesting reference to daily meetings

00:50 they were having in Downing Street and the suggestion by Dominic Cummings that they should

00:55 exclude members of the devolved administrations, of course including the Scottish Government

01:01 and at that time Nicola Sturgeon. It is causing a fair old stoogey and Conor Matchett's story

01:07 leads the paper today and is on the website at scotsman.com. We picture there Israeli

01:13 troops firing into Gaza. And at the top of the page we preview tonight's big game in

01:22 Spain as Scotland go for Euros glory. So Matt, this is a huge night for Scotland. Maybe just

01:35 go through what they need to do to qualify.

01:38 Yeah, potentially a historic night in Seville where Scotland need just a point. I say just

01:45 a point, it is a way to Spain. Easier said than done. But yeah, they need a point from

01:49 tonight's match, a draw and that will be enough to guarantee their place in Euro 2024 in Germany

01:55 next summer. A defeat might be enough as well if Norway fail to win in Cyprus tonight. So

02:03 we could be looking for a favour from the separates if we can't get it done ourselves.

02:08 If neither of those two eventualities come up tonight then we'll be moving on to Sunday

02:13 over in Oslo where we'll be hoping that Norway fail to beat Spain. And if that becomes the

02:19 case then Scotland will be at Euro 2024. So a few different scenarios this week at play.

02:24 There's some complicated arithmetic but the simple fact is if Scotland get a point tonight

02:29 we'll move on to 16 points and only one of Spain and Norway can overtake them in the

02:34 top two. So Scotland will be guaranteed their place.

02:37 A huge ask. We've got Alan Patillo out there for us. You've been speaking to him. What's

02:44 the mood like?

02:47 Surprisingly confident given the size of the task away to Spain. This is a powerhouse football

02:53 nation as we all know. They won the Nations League last summer. They recovered quite well

02:58 from their defeat to Scotland at Hampden in March. It was obviously a momentous night

03:04 there but they have recovered. They've actually won their last two games 7-1 and 6-0 against

03:11 Georgia and Cyprus. So they'll be going in with confidence. But Scotland, incredibly,

03:16 are going for a 12th straight win in qualification. A historic run that Steve Clarke's side are

03:22 on so don't rule us out. There is a blow obviously losing Kieran Tierney. He's so crucial to

03:27 what Scotland do. So Steve Clarke has a dilemma over how to cope with that absence as he changes

03:32 tactics from the back to floor. We'll find all that out later. But it promises to be

03:37 an exciting night. Hopefully Scotland can do themselves justice and at least keep us

03:42 interested right up until the end.

03:44 I really liked Kenny Dalglish's comments yesterday. He doesn't care if it's a rubbish performance.

03:50 If Scotland manage to get a result somehow, would you expect Steve Clarke to set up with

03:55 a very defensive team? Maybe not quite a Craig Levine playing with that striker but especially

04:02 with the absence of Tierney?

04:04 Steve Clarke's been quite clear that he won't be looking to do that. His thoughts are that

04:10 we need to go there and cause Spain trouble. We need to give them something to think about

04:14 in defence. If Spain are just thinking about attacking all night long, that's a long 90

04:18 minutes for Scotland to try and see out. So Scotland will be going there with a plan to

04:22 actually try and win the game, according to Steve Clarke. At least that's what he's seen

04:26 in public anyway. So he's leading us to believe that we'll be going there to win the match

04:31 and keep an amazing run going. Then who needs a draw if you win?

04:38 Just remind us of the timings and how we can watch it tonight.

04:42 The game is 7.45 kick-off UK time. That's 8.45 over in Spain. It's on the Via Play Sports

04:48 subscription channel. So that's where you'll catch that one.

04:53 But obviously all the important stuff is at scotsman.com during the game and afterwards

04:59 where we'll have full reaction and analysis and fingers crossed celebrations. Please keep

05:05 an eye on scotsman.com throughout the day for all the very latest news. There's huge

05:09 breaking news from within the SNP this morning as Dr Lisa Cameron MP defects from the SNP

05:17 to the Tories. We are getting our heads around that at the moment. So please keep checking

05:25 for the latest. And if you're out and about today as ever please do pick up a copy of

05:29 the paper from me. And from that it's bye for now.

05:33 [Music]

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