St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson believes the prospect of playing their way into Steve Clarke’s Euro 2020 squad will motivate Scottish Premiership footballers over the next few months, just as it did for him when the 1998 World Cup was the carrot.
Injury took Davidson out of Craig Brown’s thinking when he was finalising his squad back then and the left-back had to wait until later that year to get his first cap.
But the Perth boss, who went on to play 19 times for his country, can still remember how powerful an incentive selection for a championship proved to be.
And he is convinced that will be the case again in Scotland’s domestic top flight this time around.
“Scotland qualifying will have a really positive impact on the Premiership,” said Davidson.
“Steve has made it clear he’s willing to pick players from our league because he knows the quality that we have here.
“You obviously have the players from Celtic and Rangers, but you have Andy Considine from Aberdeen and the two lads from Motherwell at the back.
“So that gives everyone at every club the incentive because they know the management are watching the league and will pick the players in form.”
He added: “When we qualified in 1998 it was the same. Craig Brown picked players from Scottish football and that season everyone was trying their hardest to get a place in the squad.
“The whole league gets a lift and there’s no doubt there will be one or two players who will play their way into contention for it.
“Every player in Scotland will be thinking to themselves that if they can improve, hit peak form and show what they’re capable of then there’s a chance for them.
“That’s a great thing and can only help the league.
“I remember what it was like. I thought I could get into the squad and it did drive you on.
“Unfortunately I injured my hamstring – which was unusual in my career as it turned out – and missed out when the squad was named.”
Craig Brown’s squad was like a club squad.
Getting things right off the pitch has been key to Clarke getting things right on it, according to Davidson.
“Craig Brown’s squad was like a club squad,” he said. “We always used to say that. And I can see the same with the group Steve has brought together.
“They are all playing for each other and you could see from the celebrations how much it meant to them.
“There will be so many players who watched that from back home desperate to represent their country and be involved next summer.
“It’s a massive incentive and I’m sure every manager will be telling their players that.”
As for so many others involved in Scottish professional football, last Thursday night’s Belgrade drama brought out the fan in Davidson.
“I watched the game at home with the family and we were all jumping around the living room when David Marshall saved the penalty,” he said.
“I was delighted for Steve, his staff and the players because it’s been shown how difficult it is to do.
“They deserved to win in the 90 minutes because they were superb and I think that coming back from the blow of losing a late equaliser to go through shows it’s a new Scotland.
“I played in 1999 when we were knocked out by England after winning at Wembley and always remember after that game thinking that we’d get another chance next year.
“Nobody knew back then it would take 23 years for it to come around again. Because we’d qualified so regularly before you thought it would happen again soon.
“In the end, I was part of the generation who never made it to a major finals.
“That’s why Thursday was so massive.”
Davidson has beaten England in a one-off game as a player and drawn with them as a coach. He knows that the middle fixture of Scotland’s Euro finals group games will be an experience of a lifetime for Clarke’s squad.
“I played at Wembley and was part of Gordon Strachan’s backroom team when we played at Hampden,” he said.
“They were both occasions which will live with me for the rest of my life because that’s the pinnacle for a Scotland player.
“Ask any Scottish player and they’ll tell you that playing against England at a major championship is what you want to do because it’s the game that means most.
“The Wembley win was bittersweet because we won the game but still went out, while at Hampden a few years ago it was a real gut-wrenching one to lose the late equaliser.
“Hopefully next June we can go one better than that and beat them.”
