It’s the most comfortable fall back since Silentnight introduced their king-sized orthopaedic matresses.
Should Scotland not qualify for Euro 2020 by the conventional route, fear not. There’s always the Nations League playoffs.
Steve Clarke’s side lie third in Group I right now, behind leaders Belgium, second-placed Russia and those Alex McLeish redundancy grim reapers, Kazakhstan.
Scotland can get right back in the mix for qualifying by the usual method, though, with a win over Russia at Hampden on Friday night before then taking on Roberto Martinez’s superstars on Monday.
Of course, we can still end 22 years of major qualifying hurt by traditional means. Clarke has already sounded that particular horn. But if the worst comes to the worst and we don’t, thankfully UEFA devised another route.
That’s because McLeish left us with a great playoff chance after topping Group 1 of a Nations League section also featuring Israel and Albania.
Back then, it looked like we would face Finland in the semi-final. But the Finns are performing heroics again and look a good bet to qualify outright.
They’re second in the group just behind Italy, who they face on Sunday. Unless they are guilty of a spectacular collapse – they are five points ahead of third-placed Bosnia and Herzegovina after all – then they won’t be Scotland’s opponents.
UEFA rules state: "The Euro play-off berths of any UEFA Nations League group winners who qualify via the European qualifiers will go to the next best-ranked team in their league."
And that – as things stand – is Bulgaria. That’s the Bulgarians who lie at the foot of Group A, England’s table, and behind Kosovo and Montenegro.
In a further boost, it will be a one-legged clash with the eastern Europeans at Hampden.
Should Clarke’s side progress then it would be a showdown against the winners of the other semi-final, which is currently either Serbia or Norway.
This would also be a one-off match – and again it could be at Hampden, although potentially the game may be played at a neutral venue.
