A police woman hijacked by the Tartan Army at Trafalgar Square 25 years ago has been reunited with the cheeky Scots fans from the famous picture.
Sharon McCrossan, 55, was among the police tasked with keeping an eye on revellers before the 1996 Euros match at Wembley, which the Scots lost 2-0 to the Paul Gascoigne-inspired hosts.
But she got more than she bargained for when the fans realised she was from north of the Border.
Stevie Brydon and his pals from the Jedburgh Tartan Army, Steve Henderson and Greg Young, swapped hats with Sharon and she even got a kiss from the gang.
Now Sharon has tracked down Stevie Brydon on Facebook after their meeting made front page news.
The pair will cheer on Scotland as they take on the Auld Enemy in tomorrow night’s crunch Group D clash.
Sharon said: “I can remember it like yesterday, exactly what we were doing.
“The atmosphere prior to the game was absolutely electric. I was part of the territorial support group, which is like the riot police.
“We were not dressed as riot police to monitor the fans.”
Sharon, who was living in London in 1996 but has moved back to Scotland since retiring from the force, added: “Because I am Scottish and living down south at the time I was wearing a Scottish piping badge.
“Stevie came over and asked if I was Scottish and that was it. They stole my hat and one of them put a Scotland hat on me and kissed me.
“A flag was wrapped around me, I was surrounded by his pals and fans. It was fun more than anything. It was great. Suddenly I was surrounded by press photographers and I was splashed over the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.
“Stevie and his pals ended up in the fountain and went off to do whatever they had to do only for me never to find them again until 25 years later. I didn’t expect to see any of these boys again.”
Sharon now works for a hospitality events firm.
She said: “When I retired from the police, I moved back up to Carluke in Lanarkshire.
"One of the girls at an event at Musselburgh Racecourse saw my post with a photograph of me in Trafalgar Square with the boys which made the papers and told me, ‘I know all of these eejits’.
“She put me in touch and I spoke to them on Sunday. They were friends from in and around Jedburgh that happened to go to the Euros in 1996. We are meeting up again on Friday to watch the match.
“It just seems a fabulous opportunity to reminisce about the first encounter 25 years ago and cheer on Scotland.”
After Scotland’s defeat at the hands of the Czechs on Monday, they will set out to pick up their first points of the campaign.
Sharon said: “Like the rest of the nation we’re hoping for a result we can all cheer about.
“I’ll always support Scotland and want them to win. Even if it’s just 1-0 to Scotland. I think the match will be special.”
She said: “I’m very excited about meeting Stevie. I don’t know his background or anything like that.
“We’ll watch the game and hopefully Scotland can get a result that will make us both very happy.”
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