Craig Brown and Berti Vogts have both suffered pain and embarrassment with Scotland in the Faroe Islands.
But Callum Davidson, who was part of one of the nation’s ignominious draws against the European football minnows, believes the circumstances for Steve Clarke and his team are much more favourable.
Not only will the Scots be full of confidence on Tuesday night after their thrilling Hampden Park comeback against Austria, they won’t find Torshavn to be the unique challenge it was back in ’99 when Brown’s boys could only manage a 1-1 result in a European Championship qualifier.
Or indeed when it was 2-2 three years later under his German successor.
“I don’t remember much about the game but it’s the kind of result you don’t forget easily,” said St Johnstone manager Davidson.
“What I do recall is we played them in June so it was 24-hour daylight and that meant it was really difficult to get a sleep.
“And then there was the grass on the roofs of the houses for insulation. So all in all it was a bit of a strange trip.
“It was at the old (Toftir) stadium, with the pitch right up in the rocks. It was just like they’d excavated a bit out of the cliff and put a pitch in there.
“So that was a really difficult venue to go to and Scotland will be glad they have a new (Torsvollur) stadium now.
“That will help Scotland because we have found these kind of games quite tricky over the years.
“I think the big difference between now and then is the game has changed a bit so we can really use the creative players we’ve got at the moment.
“We have midfielders who like to attack and we’re decent down the flanks, so Steve has options there to change his system.
“It will still be tough. Every game is until you get the first goal and that will be crucial.
“Scotland will need to get themselves ahead and then you can relax, play your game and hopefully come away with the result.”
A hiding to nothing
The team Davidson was a young member of earned a one-goal lead through Allan Johnston before Matt Elliott was red-carded for a punch and the hosts snatched an injury-time equaliser.
“In a lot of ways you are on a hiding to nothing as a Scotland player in these games,” he added.
“You are expected to win quite easily but there is also a lot of pressure because of how important it is.
“Teams like the Faroes know how to play these occasions and they’ve beaten Moldova, so they’ll set out to frustrate Scotland as much as they can.”
Pittodrie shadow
Davidson faced the Faroes twice – a 2-1 win in October, 1998 being the other occasion.
“When we played at Pittodrie, one of their players stood next to me for the whole game,” he recalled.
“He actually said to me at the start: ‘I’m sorry, but I have been told to stick beside you’ and he just ran everywhere I did.
“When I went up the park he followed me and when I went back he just jogged alongside me as well!
“It was quite surreal but we got the win that day.”
