Walter Smith's tartan troops may have taken their Euro 2008 qualifying group by storm, but even before their defeat to Ukraine in October, which rather diluted the delirium spawned by the famous victory over France four days earlier, the Scottish FA suspected the success couldn't last. Which is why they were already concocting a cunning plan - to expand the European Championship finals from 16 to 24 teams.
SFA chief executive David Taylor presented this plot to all other European federations in Geneva last Friday and was admirably honest about the thinking behind it: "We took the initiative because we know how hard it is to qualify from a group including the likes of France, Italy and Ukraine." And now Uefa big cheese Lennart Johannson says it's a serious runner.
"It's a very good idea and I'm in favour of it," revealed Johansson. "I've been thinking the same thing for a long time and I will gladly support it. It's a good thing, both in sporting and economic terms, if more countries have access to the tournament."
Johannson, of course, is campaigning for re-election as Uefa president. His main rival is Michel Platini, who is thought to have the backing of most of the continent's small fry because of his intention to loosen the big clubs' grip on the Champions League. So supporting the Scottish proposal is a handy way for the enormous Swede to curry favour with the tiddlers.
You could dismiss his support as cynical vote-grabbing. But there is also, apparently, another logic for backing the proposal - qualifying is much harder now than ever before. Or is it? It's true that since the disintegration of the USSR and Yugoslavia plus the admission of the likes of San Marino, Andorra and Israel, the number of countries competing for a place in the finals has soared to 53. As recently as Euro 88, by contrast, Uefa had only 31 members. But there were only eight berths in the finals in 1988 compared to 16 now, so the proportion of teams who reached the showcase event was, in fact, smaller than now.
Surely, though, it boils down to this: the purpose of qualifiers is to sort the best from the rest, not to admit almost half (24 of 53) the original entrants. Professional sports tournaments are supposed to be elitist. Yes, they also serve as joyous festivals where fans from different countries and cultures can mix and frolic for the greater good of humanity and business, but what underpins all that fun is the feeling of having earned it. Take Latvia in 2004, say, or Slovenia in 2000. If the party is open to anyone and everyone, then no one is special and the magic dies.
The brazen Scottish argument that teams who aren't good enough to qualify under the current system should be allowed in because, um, that would be nice, should be dismissed with the same blend of pity and scorn that would greet Darren Fletcher if he called for Fifa to make football a 20-a-side sport just so he could get into the Manchester United starting line-up. Because the result would be the same: messy mediocrity. The group stages of the European Championship finals, which are now excitingly tough because teams are closely matched, would be lopsided and boring. The effect of expansion would simply be to saddle the tournament with a needless intermediate qualifying round. So, in sporting terms, it would be despicable.
But Johansson is right to say it would work on economic terms, particularly as it would result in the tournament being co-hosted much more frequently. The proposal will next be discussed at a Uefa jamboree on January 26-27 2007. Don't bet against it eventually being adopted.
