Scots commentator plans round of golf in case England beat Spain in Euro final

Scotland’s greatest living football commentator says he has a round of golf planned in case England beat Spain in the Euro 24 final.

Archie Macpherson, 89, had admitted that England have been so jammy in their Euros matches they could “bring football home”. Asked whether he will be supporting England when the final kicks off in Berlin on Sunday, he said: “I admire the English players and I have a hunch they’re going to win this.

“Although my own tendency is towards Spain because they’ve played the best football in the tournament, I have a sneaking feeling England might do it. I suspect I might be like my idol Denis Law. On the day England won the World Cup, he was on the golf course not paying any attention. I’ll be up in Crail and I’m a member of the golf course so that’s a distinct possibility.”

England manager Gareth Southgate brought on a late substitute in Ollie Watkins who scored a 90th minute winner against Netherlands in Wednesday’s semi-final. It means England could win their first major trophy in almost 60 years. It would be their first major trophy without home advantage.

Many Scots agree with Archie and shudder at the prospect of their neighbours becoming European Champions for the first time. Across the country, many Scots are hoping that Spain win. Former Scotland international Pat Nevin denied he is anti-English by wanting Spain to win.

Nevin, 60, said: “I’ll be backing the team I always back in these situations. I back what I think is the best team, the most entertaining team and the team I enjoy watching most.

“My team is Scotland. But when my team is no longer in it, that’s where I look to Spain because they’ve been the best team. They’ve been great fun to watch. They’ve got fantastic young players, but also the way they play football equates to the way I like to try to play myself but also like watching.

“It’s not an anti-English thing at all. I’ve spent a lot of my life living in England and I work in England quite a lot and I just can’t bring myself to hate England or English people. I just don’t feel that at all. I think there’s a lot of Scots that feel that way. They like entertaining football as well.”

He added: “It’s very interesting looking at various family members. The majority of them want Spain to win and it has got nothing to do with pure football. We accept that. It’s part of the fun of it.

“We know the argument. They’ll never shut up about it. I try to rise above it to some degree but I cannot argue with anyone who says I cannot cope with that anymore. Anytime I worked down south and played for Scotland, the worst day of any year was if England beat Scotland and I had to go into work the next day. I hated that.”

Josh McCulloch, 26, manager of Glasgow-based Spanish restaurant Brutti Compadres said: “My family have Spanish heritage and I feel like most of Scotland will be supporting Spain.”

Singer Pat Kane said: “Mostly backing England in the final. Always feels politically important to me that expressions of English identity are plural and diverse. However, Spain will pitilessly disassemble them.”

But SNP leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn received a backlash on social media after he quipped: “Rodri. You were right. The grass was too long at Hampden. We accept that now. It won’t happen again. Just don’t let us down. Yours, Scotland.”

George Jamieson replied: “That’s the kind of tweet I’d expect from a cybernat bigot, not a member of the UK parliament. You never cease to be an embarrassment to Scotland.”

But another backed Flynn up, tweeting: “Isn’t it the English who say the Germans have no sense of humour?”

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