Record reporter Ryan Carroll relives Euro 2024 in Germany and our World Cup party preparations get underway.
What a time to be a Scotland fan. After years of hurt, David Marshall’s penalty heroics finally got that monkey off our back as we saw off Serbia to qualify for Euro 2020 during the pandemic.
A whole generation of fans – myself included – who had waited 22 years for us to qualify for a major tournament finally got to watch our national team play football on the biggest stage.
It felt bittersweet, despite games being played at Hampden Park, only a handful of fans were able to witness the moment in person due to coronavirus restrictions.
Those who missed out were sent into raptures in October 2023, though, as qualification for the next European Championships – our second on the trot, nonetheless – was confirmed.
An estimated 200,000 fans flooded into the host country of Germany and with Covid restrictions a distant memory we couldn’t have received a warmer welcome.
It was the trip of a lifetime that no Tartan Army fan will forget – and my job as as a die-hard Scotland supporting Record reporter, was to tell their story.
Jubilant Scots partied on a booze cruise tour down the Rhine in Cologne, and when the time came to move on to Stuttgart supporters flooded into the city centre draped in saltires in a sea colour and noise.At the time I believe I reported it to be ‘the party of a lifetime’ – but little was I to know that just over a year later the whole country would be boogying once again as our boys qualified for our first World Cup in 28 years.
Thousands of hotels have already been snapped up after supporters planned out their route – and the North East Tartan Army group have organised boat parties in Boston and Miami, with the 500 spaces selling out within days.
Only time will tell if this trip can top our German adventure – but after nearly three decades, we are about to finally be let loose on football’s biggest stage. Scotland knows how to bring a party and it’s not going to be one to be missed.