The Scotsman Football Show from Germany

The Scotsman

Chief football correspondent Alan Pattullo joins Mark Atkinson from a rowdy Munich to discuss Scotland's Euro 2024 opener against Germany.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this very special edition of the Scotsman football show. It's the day

00:08we've all been waiting for, the Euro 2024 opener involving Scotland and Germany. And

00:14Alan Pattullo is in Munich for us to cover what's sure to be an incredible night for

00:20Scottish football. Alan, it sounds quite noisy where you are in Munich.

00:26Yeah, absolutely. I finally managed to find a spot in central Munich which is reasonably

00:32quiet but as you can hear there's still hundreds of Scotland fans behind me singing various

00:39An Army Favourite songs. It's just incredible scenes here actually. I managed to make it

00:47to a party last night that was put on by a charity event where the Great and the Good

00:54were there, Alex Ferguson, Alan McCoyst, Alex McLeish, which was for the Street Soccer

01:00charity. It was an incredible night but I was thinking, I was bumping into lots of people

01:08from even near where I am, Scottish farmers, Angus farmers who were all gathered there.

01:14I was wondering, there's not much work being done in Scottish fields today. Scottish agriculture

01:21is having a day off today I think because everyone seemed to be at this party last night

01:24and various other spots in Munich. I think somebody said something like 3% of the Scottish

01:30population has come over to Munich and I can believe it, I assure you. But yeah, obviously

01:37only 9,500 or so have got tickets for the actual game, precious tickets. They are the

01:46very lucky ones. Even the ones that aren't getting in to see the game I think are going

01:50to have a real ball here and obviously as the hours count down towards kick-off.

01:56Does it feel, Alan, like there's many fans that have years of pent-up frustration and

02:02wait finally coming out here in Munich?

02:05Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. Matt just bumped into a friend and his eight-year-old

02:11son I think. He's brought him out here. I'm not quite sure what the school is probably

02:18thinking about that. But yeah, just obviously people are thinking, well this might not happen

02:22again. Those who perhaps went to 1998 and were at that Morocco game in Saint Etienne

02:29like I was in 1998, if somebody said to me then that this wouldn't happen again, that

02:34Scotland wouldn't play a major finals game abroad until 2024, well I think they were

02:40mad. It's funny, isn't it? It kind of feels a bit like we were dismissing three years

02:46ago Euro 2020, which felt like a big thing at the time, obviously qualifying for a first

02:52major finals for so long. But I think we can all look back on that and think it wasn't

02:56quite the top version of a major finals that we all like and love. This one certainly feels

03:04like a souped-up major finals with all the trimmings.

03:09Good, good. Well look, let's talk about the football very briefly. A huge night for Steve

03:15Clarke and his players. You were down there at the Munich Arena last night talking to

03:20the manager and Andy Robertson, the captain. What's your feeling about tonight's match

03:28on the field of play? Once the game starts, once all the noise ends, what chance do you

03:35give this Scotland team?

03:39Like everyone else I find who I talk to throughout the game, I find myself swithering and switching

03:46between confidence and perhaps pessimism. It's such a big occasion, you do wonder what

03:52might happen if Scotland could freeze, they could spend 20 minutes trying to get into

03:59the game and that could be 20 minutes too long. Germany could have struck twice by then

04:02or something. You don't know what might happen and what the mentality of the Scotland players

04:09is going to be. But hearing Andy Robertson last night, he really looks like he's experienced

04:17these big occasions many times before. He's even experienced winning in the Allianz and

04:22before with Liverpool. It's not going to phase Andy Robertson, for example. Perhaps some

04:28other players who aren't so used to this kind of experience might need a good first touch

04:36just playing themselves into the game. That's always a factor. Steve Clarke, as Steve Clarke

04:44always is, is quite calm, measured. He walked into the press conference last night and there

04:50must have been 400 reporters in the room, packed auditorium. You could tell that that slightly

04:58took him aback. You can tell it's a big game with all these reporters here. But he didn't

05:04give much away. He didn't put on a show for these reporters who perhaps aren't used to Steve Clarke.

05:09He was just very, very straight back, straight to the point. I think one of the main lines from

05:15what he said last night was, we respect everyone but we fear no one. It really was quite a

05:24ballsy and bullish statement of intent from Steve Clarke. In that way, I really think Steve has done

05:33all he can to prepare the team. They'll know what's in front of them and know the eyes of Europe

05:40are on them and what a big occasion it is. Now it's just down to them. I suppose for us,

05:48the most interesting point is going to be 90 minutes before kick-off when the team comes out

05:52and we can finally discuss what's in front of us, what players have been picked for this job.

06:01Most of us are fairly confident nine or ten of the players.

06:04It's going to be a point where we're all wondering about.

06:07Yes, the team will be fascinating. Look, the waiting is almost over. I think we've done

06:12well on this short video not to be photobombed by a member of the Tasman army. So we're going to

06:18leave it there for now and let you crack on and travel over to the stadium. Thanks for joining us,

06:23Alan. We'll have loads from Alan written and in video as the tournament progresses. But from

06:29myself and Alan, that's a very noisy and busy Munich, it's bye for now.

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