Euro 2024 will see 'Scotland on steroids' as moment of hidden Steve Clarke magic has us baying for Germany - Keith Jackson

If you haven’t seen it yet then do yourself a favour and have a binge on Captains of the World on Netflix. And then you can thank me later.

For the uninitiated, it’s a spellbinding, fly on the wall, peek behind the curtains reflection on last December’s World Cup Finals. An access all areas documentation of Lionel Messi’s final ascent to football’s other world. Granted, there’s a whiff of FIFA’s greediness in the background and of Gianni Infantino’s grubby little fingers, which does mean there’s a bit of nose holding required throughout.

But then wasn’t that always the case where Infantino’s morally bankrupt Qatari cash grab was concerned? So ignore the smell and be mesmerised by the drama as well as the magic of the storytelling and filmmaking. And if this adrenaline rush doesn’t get the juices flowing at the thought of what might lie ahead for Scotland in Germany this summer then it’s very possible that’s because you do not possess a soul.

Yes, we may have had a little taste of tournament football three years ago when Steve Clarke ended more than two decades in the wilderness by qualifying for the previous Euros. But - with the benefit of hindsight - let’s call those European Championships out for what they really were. The whole Covid infected competition created a total abomination of a finals. In truth, although all of Scotland was grateful just to be a part of it, there was nothing remotely close to feeling real about the experience. Not for Clarke. Not for his players. And most certainly not for the supporters who were locked out in their tens of thousands all in the name of social distancing.

It was always going to be a shambles of a tournament from the moment UEFA decided to split it up and share it around