This year – as I’m sure you’ve noticed – has been completely turned on his head.
Pretty much nothing from March 2020 onwards has been anything approaching business as usual.
Obviously a global pandemic unlike anything seen for 100 years has stopped us all in our tracks.
But there’s been all sorts of other weird and wonderful things going on that took me, at least, aback – future Sir Marcus Rashford became a national hero, Piers Morgan started making agreeable points on TV and Glen Kamara had a shot on goal for Rangers (and scored).
In the past week there’s also been an abundance of good news out there which seems remarkable considering how bleak the world has been for a good while now. I’m talking about potential vaccines and an election result across the pond.
So, with all that in mind, why can’t Scotland qualify for a major tournament for the first time this century?
Just imagine the party next summer post-Covid with our national team in the Euros…
The Tartan Army have been a big miss at tournaments for 22 years now.
Having gone to the World Cup in Germany 14 years ago, there were plenty of fans from all over the world making that clear.
And I do feel like we are well set up to do it tomorrow night in Belgrade.
Serbia have some top players, plenty of international nous and home advantage.
However, we’ve some not bad players ourselves – our starting XI will no doubt represent the likes of Liverpool, Man U and Arsenal.
And Steve Clarke has slowly moulded the side into the type of team I was hoping for when he was appointed.
I’ll admit I wasn’t saying that after we squeezed past the Czech B team a couple of months ago.
But we’re unbeaten since then, the players really seem to be playing for the jersey and enjoying being together at international camps once more.
The usual glut of call-offs before matches hasn’t happened this time around which tells you players are willing to put up with a wee niggle to play for Scotland.
I also can’t remember the last time we got beat – and I’m quite happy to keep that ignorance in place by not looking it up.
Serbia’s form is also patchy to say the least. Post-coronavirus they’ve only won one game.
Admittedly it was the big one, their semi-final, and by all accounts they battered a very good Norway team.
However, they’ve also lost to Russia, Hungary and drawn with Turkey twice.
Scotland under Clarke seem to revel in being a horrible side to play against.
Being someone who enjoys watching Atletico Madrid for their sheer doggedness and the glee they seem to take in upsetting everyone around, I’ll take that any day.
I fancy us grabbing an early goal and parking all the buses we can find for 90 minutes.
Or penalties will do. . .
After Friday night’s draw with Alloa, it felt like Dundee were in a real sticky spell.
Dropping points against Raith and then the Wasps, allowing Hearts and the rest at the top of the Championship to build up a bit of a gap.
Then the Dark Blues turned up last night against Cove Rangers and looked very, very decent against the League One leaders.
The Aberdeen outfit have been very impressive this season and gave Hibs a really tough day earlier in the season.
They might have been down to nine men but Dundee were the better side by a fair
distance even before the cards started flying.
It was a really positive night overall for James McPake and his team, though they could’ve done with making life easier for themselves.
Charlie Adam hitting the post from the spot was a huge surprise, even if he made up for it later.
They’ve a bit of work still to do in the league to get back to winning ways but things aren’t so bad as they seemed.
Nine points usually gets you through in the Betfred Cup group stages while they go into Sunday’s clash at Hibs in decent form.
Despite the disappointment of a pair of draws against Raith and Alloa, McPake’s men have now only lost one match since January.
That’s one defeat in 13 matches.
Doesn’t sound so bad putting it like that . . .
It’s not pretty and it’s not exciting but Dundee United are getting the job done right now.
And it’s probably for the best they are getting this boring consolidation part of their long-term plan out of the way when there’s nobody in the stands to watch it and complain.
The initial season back in the top flight should always be about staying up first and foremost and it looks like Micky Mellon’s men will achieve that fairly comfortably.
They need to add some attacking flair but, if teams can’t score against you, you’ll be OK.
Sitting fifth in the Premiership is a very decent position to be in.
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