World Cup celebrations have only just begun in Scotland - Vladimir McTavish
Four days on and some folk are still partying. Has one small nation ever managed to maintain such a high level of collective euphoria for as long as Scotland has since the momentous achievement of Tuesday night?
Several days later and lots of us have still to come down off the ceiling. Thousands woke up on Wednesday morning unsure of what they’d seen, convinced that it might all have been a dream.
Personally, I only managed to regain the power of speech by midday on Wednesday. And I hadn’t even been drinking.
It certainly seems like Christmas has come early. And judging by how much some of us have been drinking this week, it looks like the festive season could continue all the way into next summer.
The country’s excitement is palpable. Not only did it dominate our TV screens on Tuesday, but on Wednesday teatime Reporting Scotland was extended to an hour-long programme to remind us all of what had happened the previous evening.
Which was public service broadcasting at its very best as I suspect millions only had very hazy memories of the previous evening’s action.
They were also getting into the act south of the border. Scotland’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup was the main headline on the Ten O’Clock News, taking priority over the Ukraine War, the Budget and the arctic weather.
And it did it again on the Tuesday lunchtime bulletin. However, I take this as a bit of a worrying portent. Any time the English media start taking an interest in Scottish football, things are likely to go pear-shaped at some point, probably during the tournament itself.
I remember them enthusiastically banging the drum for us in 1978, only for them to take even greater delight at the ensuing disaster in Argentina.
Even Keir Starmer took time to congratulate Scotland at Prime Minister’s Questions. Of course he did. He’s obviously seen how badly Labour are doing in the polls up here.
Anyway, the excitement carried on throughout the week, with talk about pubs being granted late licences until 2am. Plans are already underway for fan city centre zones where we can drink beer and watch the footie on balmy summer evenings.
And why not? It’s great news for the nation, great news for Scottish sport and great news for the brewing industry.
Let’s not underestimate the significance of the team’s achievement. While old lags like myself have memories stretching back to 1974 and can remember World Cup qualification as almost routine, nobody in their thirties or younger can ever remember Scotland getting to the world’s biggest sporting party.
And the team did it in such style too, from that third-minute Scott McTominay bicycle kick to Kenny McLean’s strike from half way in the eighth minute of stoppage time, we feasted on an hour and-a-half of pure nail-biting drama, a veritable emotional rollercoaster
Already we’re counting down the days, planning flights and itineraries, even though nobody knows where Scotland will be playing or who their likely opponents will be. After all, the World Cup doesn’t even kick off until the second week of June.
Can we really keep this excitement going for another seven months? You bet we can. Just watch us. We’ve only just started.