Scotland DO have the players for major tournaments as former Hampden hero warns latest Euros flop will sting for years

Kevin Gallacher still can’t shake the regret of Scotland’s World Cup group stage flop against Morocco - despite 26 years having passed since that shocker in Saint-Etienne.

And the Hampden Hall of Famer fears that same bitter feeling is set to consume Steve Clarke and his players for the next few months at least after the latest early exit from a major tournament left the nation with an all too familiar sickly sensation. Gallacher - a veteran of two Euros and that World Cup in France - believes this was our best chance ever to make history and qualify for a knockout stage.

He insists we DO have the players capable of taking the next step. But the former Dundee United, Blackburn and Newcastle striker reckons a combination of stage fright and an overly-cautious approach has left the squad with a head full of ‘what ifs’. Gallacher was in the squads that finished Euro 92 with a 3-0 win over CIS and Euro 96 with a 1-0 victory over Switzerland. Two results that ultimately weren't enough to reach the knockout stages but still left the players with a sense of pride.

He also started the final group game at the 1998 World Cup in France that ended in disaster and cost the Scots a place in the last 16. Ironically Sunday’s defeat to Hungary that saw Scotland bow out with a whimper fell on the 26th anniversary of that 3-0 Morocco mauling that also saw Tartan Army cheers turn to tears.

And speaking to Record Sport, Gallacher said: “There’s always regrets when you get knocked out at the group stage. I still hold regrets from 1998 and that game against Morocco. We took it too easy. We thought Morocco were going to be an easy side. But they weren’t and we got battered.

"You have to live with that regret, take it on the chin and move on.