GlasgowWorld reporters Lewis Anderson and Declan McConville make their Euro 2024 predictions including tournament winners/dark horses, favourite Euro memories and which player will shine brightest in Germany. We also rate Scotland's chances of progressing beyond the group-stages.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Glasgow World's Euro 2020 Prediction Show. Joined by my Glasgow
00:07World colleague Declan McConville to chat all things Euros ahead of Scotland's curtain
00:12raiser with Germany in just a couple of days' time. Declan, firstly, how are we feeling
00:18going into the Euros? A really exciting time.
00:21It is exciting and it feels really different. I had the opportunity to go out on Friday
00:26afternoon just before the Finland game to talk to some Scotland fans down at Houtanani
00:31down at St Enoch. We were saying that to them, obviously, we had just emerged from a pandemic.
00:36It was the delayed tournament, Euro 2020, and Scotland played two games at Hampden
00:42and one down in Wembley. It's the first tournament Scotland fans have had the opportunity to
00:46go abroad for. All those folk that travel home and away with the Tartan Army, I'm sure
00:50will be enjoying that. It's the first time they've properly been away since 1998 for
00:54a major tournament. It feels different. Obviously, you can pack more people into pubs this time
00:59around. I'm really looking forward to the tournament getting started.
01:03As you can quite clearly see, I'm totally impartial as to who I'll be supporting throughout
01:09the tournament. Fingers crossed. Steve Clarke and the boys can do us proud. Declan, we're
01:14going to get stuck straight into it then. We've got some quickfire questions to get
01:18through. The first one that I'm going to fire your way is your favourite Scotland player
01:24of all time? This is a difficult one because I think, as football fans, you have an idea
01:31of what a Scotland player is. That's your heroes of the past, your Dennis Lowe and Kenny
01:35Douglas. I think when you're talking about legendary status as a Scotland player, those
01:41two guys are right up there. In terms of my lifetime, Dan Fletcher was a big player for
01:46me when I started supporting Scotland. Manchester United are a team that I look out for results
01:51for and I always thought that Dan gave everything in a Scotland jersey. Possibly Dan Fletcher,
01:57Scott Brown was another one for me that I always used to enjoy watching in a Scotland
02:02top and James McFadden, obviously, most remember to write a stunning goal against France all
02:08those years ago. So there's three just for my generation. But as I say, I think if you
02:12ask somebody who's a wee bit older than me, names like Douglas and Lowe will roll off
02:17their tongue. Yes, I've got to agree with you there, Declan. I think, especially Kenny
02:21Douglas, some of the iconic moments along the way, his goal against Spain, in particular
02:26at Hampden Park. I think it was quite a wet night for memory. My dad was at the game and
02:32he has really good memories of that. In modern day, for me, the one player that stood out
02:37was Fadi just because, obviously, the modern era, growing up around watching Scotland teams
02:44in the early 2000s, Fadi was the first one to really produce a couple of iconic moments
02:50along the way. Everyone's going to remember that goal at the Parc de France for a long
02:56time to come. On to our favourite current Scotland player, Declan.
03:04This is difficult because there's so many and I think it's just a likeable group of
03:08players in there. I'm probably going to go Super John McGinn, just for what he gives
03:14the team with goals and everything else in between. He's so important to the way Scotland
03:20plays. He's versatile, he can play off the striker, he can play in midfield. But again,
03:24I think Scotland beat Tormen, he's worth a shoot at that. He's one of these players that
03:27I think Steve Clarke would just need to give him the jersey and he'd play anywhere on the
03:30team. It's easy to forget Lewis, only a couple of years ago he had him playing
03:34in a back three. We've then seen him move into midfield and then with the amount of
03:38goals that he's scored to qualify for this tournament, there's probably an argument to
03:43say that he could possibly be playing up top with the lack of options that we've got.
03:47John McGinn or Scott might top him, but just to touch on what we were saying there,
03:52it's a real shame for guys like Fadi and Dan Fletcher that they never get the chance to
03:57compete in these tournaments. I think a lot of the group just now, you can just sense how
04:01fortunate they feel just to be part of this again in such a short space of time from the last one.
04:08Just touching on McTominay, he did turn the English down as well, remember? So
04:12that will instantly capture the love of the Scotland fans. I think two very prominent
04:18shouts there, it's McGinn and McTominay are clearly the two fan favourites. The one player
04:23I would like to mention that unfortunately got dropped from the squad was Craig Gordon,
04:27a tremendous servant to Scotland over several years. Disappointed that he won't get an
04:34opportunity to be part of a Scotland squad at a major tournament, but a man for the big
04:40occasion, more often than not, produced the goods for the national team. So Craig, I think, very
04:47much merits a shout in that bracket. Moving on, Declan, your favourite Scotland manager of all time?
04:54It would be very easy for me and you to say Steve Clarke, because, you know, born in 2000 Scotland,
05:01hadn't qualified for a major tournament, so I'd probably need to see Steve Clarke. But
05:05I said I enjoyed going to watch Scotland under Gordon Snaken. I thought he was a good manager and
05:10very narrowly missed out. But my first, you know, going to Scotland games at first,
05:16my first Scotland game was under Craig Levine, but probably the less said about that, the
05:20better, just with the results and whatnot at the time. But listen, as I say, you know, going along,
05:25can I start to regularly go to Scotland games, it was wee Gordon, but I probably just need to
05:30say Steve Clarke, because he's given me probably the best moments going to support Scotland and
05:34he's qualified for two tournaments. So I'm going to need to say Steve Clarke. But I think overall,
05:39back to what we were saying earlier, for me, it's jokes, Dean. I don't think there's any better
05:44person or manager that's managed Scotland and they're a really good team at the time.
05:50And just unfortunate, obviously, lost his life while managing Scotland and, you know, a real
05:58loss for the country at that point in time. And that Scotland team probably could have done
06:01something in that tournament. Obviously, Sir Alex Ferguson took over at the time for it. But to me,
06:06I think the best of all time is big joke. But in terms of qualifying him for my generation,
06:12I'm going to say Steve Clarke. Yeah, I totally echo those sentiments, Declan. I think obviously
06:18Scotland under Joxton, that was a time that we were very fortunate, blessed with some top,
06:23top players. We had a real kind of birth of talent there. And there was a lot of big name
06:28players that didn't make squads in major tournaments. And obviously, we were used to
06:32qualifying regularly back in those days. So yeah, hard to disagree with that. But in terms of
06:37obviously the modern day, Steve Clarke, tremendous job he's done with the national team. And long may
06:42that continue. Declan, your favourite Scotland memory of all time? We touched on this just
06:50before we were coming on air. Mine is a wee bit bizarre, but, you know, we were not always blessed
06:55with good Scotland teams and always good results at Hampden. So my first game at Hampden was
07:00Scotland 0, Serbia 0, 2011 or something. And it took from then till 2017, Lewis, for me to see us
07:09win that mix where, you know, draws against Poland, beat at home to Germany. Two games that
07:17were really unlucky actually. Mixed with, you know, I remember a night that started snowing in
07:23March, we got beat with Wales at Hampden. I think Gareth Bale scored in the night, draws against
07:28America and whatever else. So one of my standout memories is Scotland 1, Slovakia 0. I'm giving
07:34Chris Martin a goal, I think it was a Martin Scuttle OGE, but that was a good memory. But
07:38obviously in recent times, it needs to be beating Spain 2-0 at Hampden. That was extraordinary that
07:43night. And that's a night, football terms, that all live long in the memory for me.
07:49Yeah, for me, it was, I regularly started going to Scotland games from about 2005 onwards. So
07:55some of my earliest memories were from that campaign where we were drawn against Italy,
08:02France and Ukraine. I think I'm right in thinking France were the World Cup holders,
08:08best team in the world at that stage. And for me, it was the Gary Caldwell header from the corner
08:16against France that night, that day, glorious sunshine. And no, it was an evening game,
08:22sorry. And that was just a totally euphoric moment. I thought to myself, here we go,
08:28Scotland are on the way to qualifying regularly again for major tournaments. Unfortunately,
08:34it didn't turn out that way. We all know what happened in that game against Italy
08:38in the final one of the groups. So that has to be a standout moment. And also in 2010,
08:44when Scotland managed to defeat the Spanish at Hampden Park. That was another kind of standout
08:52memory for me. So let's get into the nitty gritty of the tournament then, Declan. Firstly,
08:59opening game on Friday night, Scotland against host nation Germany. We've got obviously the
09:03opening ceremony before it's going to be a really special occasion. What is your prediction for the
09:09match itself? Again, you know, I think it's heart says one thing, mind says the other. It's going
09:15to be really difficult. You know, but I think a lot of football people say that it's the best game
09:21that you would want as a player to be in the opener of the tournament. It just depends what
09:25Scotland side turn up loose. I think it's been really, really difficult coming into this prep
09:29wise. I know we're not in a great run of form that goes out the window going into a tournament.
09:35You were at the game like me on Friday night. I thought Scotland were fine until the changes
09:39were made and we weren't against a decent enough finish team. But I know people will be looking at
09:44the previous results. Listen, it could go one way or another. You could end up walking away with a
09:49draw, which would be tremendous. And, you know, that would be a real step in the right direction.
09:55But I think, you know, the majority of people are expecting Germany to give us a doing. I don't
10:00mind if we get beaten Friday night, but just as long as it's respectable and we give our all. But
10:05I think to me, the important games are against Hungary and Switzerland. But I'll say a draw.
10:11I'll go one each. It's hard to disagree with that. Obviously, it's going to be a huge task
10:16for Scotland against the host nation. But you never know. We know, obviously, the Germans are
10:20going to be up for the occasion. But sometimes, you know, being the host nation of a tournament,
10:25we've seen in previous years that not every team can cope with that pressure. So Scotland have a
10:31big opportunity here to kickstart the group on a positive note. And again, likewise, I'm going for
10:37a draw in this game. I'm going 1-1 and I think John McGinn will be the man to score for Scotland
10:44late in the game. Do you also think, Lewis, that sometimes teams like Germany and others,
10:51the big guns, they sometimes warm up a wee bit for these tournaments? It's not maybe until the
10:56second or third game that you really start to see them motor? Yeah, I think that's very fair to say,
11:00Declan. I think the numerous top nations over the years have kind of proven that. Germany...
11:05Argentina had a World Cup two years ago. Yeah, exactly.
11:08You know, Saudi Arabia, I think, is the opener. And the Germany in particular are notoriously
11:12slow starters, if you look past the previous record. So a big opportunity here for Scotland,
11:19hopefully, between now and the start of the game, that we can steer clear of injuries.
11:24Obviously, we had that wee fright yesterday with Andy Robertson and Shankland coming out of
11:28training. But we're told that both of them are okay. So a draw for me, a draw for Declan.
11:34Moving on to the overall picture of Group A, Scotland, where are you predicting them to
11:40finish? Can you see us creating history by becoming this first Scotland team to make out
11:45of a group stage? I know there's a lot of English folk that are saying, you know, the tournament
11:49have made it easy for us to try and get through, because obviously, four teams, four third place
11:54teams are going to get to go through. It gives us a really good opportunity to go and do that.
12:00I think second's achievable in the group, Lewis. You only need to look at Portugal a couple of
12:04years ago, and I think it was, you know, two draws or whatever that ended up taking them
12:08on to win the competition. I'm not saying Scotland's going to win the competition,
12:12but I think you've got a really good chance. I don't think, I think Switzerland and Hungary
12:16are two kind of tournament teams is the best way I could describe them. They're always,
12:20there are thereabouts in recent years have been both decent enough sides. You know,
12:26take guys like Xhaka, maybe Somar and a couple of guys out, Szyboczla that's at Hungary. There's not
12:33too many household names between those two sides compared to some of the other groups that Scotland
12:37could have been put in. So I think it's achievable. It's a major tournament and the players,
12:42lessons have been learned. I think the Scotland side is much better than the last time that we
12:46watched them at a major tournament. Totally different, as I say, just because of the
12:51circumstances of COVID, playing games at Hamden. A lot more caps and experience as well. A lot more
12:59caps and experience and big wins as well, you know, major scalps. Obviously the one that you
13:04point to is Spain at home, but listen, you can't take anything away from going over to Norway,
13:10setting down the bar with a loss and coming back and winning it from Kenny McLean. So
13:14I just feel as if, you know, we've qualified for this tournament with two games to spare.
13:19The players will have been itching ever since the whistle went against Croatia
13:24three years ago to get back to the stage that they're back there. They want to show
13:27have a good account of themselves and why not. Are you pretty much on the same page of that,
13:32that you maybe think that Hungary and Switzerland are certainly beatable?
13:37Yeah, yeah, I think that's very much the case. I think obviously we can take friendlies at face
13:42value, but obviously the Hungarians were beaten by the Republic of Ireland, who are certainly no
13:46great shakes at this moment in time, in a friendly the other night. I know that Hungary probably
13:50rested some key players around that. I know in the media has been a lot of chat around this
13:55Hungarian team potentially being one of their best since the 60s. Again, they'll have to go and
14:01back that up, though that's a big obviously team to kind of live up to. And then the Swiss, who
14:08I can't remember the last time Swiss didn't qualify for a major tournament, a tremendous
14:12record at major tournaments, not necessarily progressing too far into them. However, they
14:17have that knack of getting there, which is the most important thing. So it's going to be tough.
14:23I think that's a really important point that you raised there in terms of the four out of the six
14:28groups. You know, if you finish third, you have the potential to go through. And I think that's
14:33what Scotland could end up. And I think we could finish third and win it as one of the best third
14:39plays. I would rather we didn't do that. Just taking a flip there, though, Lewis, do you think
14:44what have you actually made of the preparation in terms of friendlies? We know that the England
14:48game was already prepared for the 150th anniversary celebrations. But then I think maybe some
14:54Scotland fans are looking at France and Holland and maybe asking the question. We've obviously
14:58heard Steve Clarke say he wanted to test the team at that level. You agree with me that we
15:03think they're a better side since we last played at the tournament. Do you think it was a right
15:07call to play teams of that standard before this? This is a difficult one. It's a really difficult
15:13one, Declan, just purely on the basis of, you know, we have played some of the top nations.
15:17Steve Clarke's been fairly vocal about that because obviously we are in promotion through
15:21the Nations League. We're now in the top tier of that. So we are going to be playing some of the
15:26best countries in the world, in Europe, sorry, later this year. So I understand why you did it.
15:33However, you look back at Scotland's record in friendlies, I think that's now, was it three wins
15:38in about 22, 21 friendlies or something? It's pretty embarrassing. And we had those games still
15:44to go to Spain to play and we still had Norway at Hamden, which I thought were still going to be
15:48two good tests. Yeah, the biggest disappointment for me, Declan, has been the games that you'd
15:53look on paper that we should definitely be winning. I mean, the Northern Ireland game in
15:57March was hugely disappointing on the back of a very good performance for 85 minutes against the
16:03Dutch over in Amsterdam. You know, we played really well there until that kind of late collapse,
16:08which is majorly disappointing. And then produced a really shoddy showing in front of our own fans
16:16against Northern Ireland. You're then hoping, you're looking at the two games against Gibraltar
16:19and Finland. The Gibraltar way in particular, I'm not sure what you'd realistically get out of that.
16:25To be honest with you. That looked like the players were still in holiday mode, I think,
16:28you know, and it was just, it's a difficult one to get yourself up for too.
16:31Yeah, yeah. And that was obviously reflected, I think most Scotland fans kind of saving their
16:36pennies for Germany as well. There wasn't a huge Tartan army following over there,
16:40which is understandable. And then you go into the Finland game and even then,
16:43tinged with disappointment, you know, having worked hard to obviously pick up, you know,
16:49the two goal lead in the second half after a fairly drab opening 45 minutes. And you think
16:55to there, obviously Steve Clarke decides to bring the changes and Finland come back into the game.
17:01I must say the Finns always looked at a threat on the counter-attack. I think that's what
17:06they're good at, but it was disappointing. I would have liked to have gone into the Euros,
17:12put it this way, on the back of three friendly wins, but that's not the case. However,
17:17hopefully now we can just kind of shelf them and focus on the tournament now. And hopefully
17:22it doesn't have a kind of major bearing on where we are. So moving on from there,
17:29we'll ask Declan who you think will be player of the tournament.
17:35To me, Lewis, I think the hurt for Kylian Mbappe will still be there from, you know,
17:39less than two years ago, because with that unique situation of having a World Cup,
17:44you know, in December, late November, December time, it's still fresh, that World Cup. It doesn't
17:49seem too long ago and just the way it played out for him. We obviously get the fairy tale that I
17:53think majority of football fans wanted to see Lionel Messi pick up the trophy. You had then
17:59the flip of that of what is still a young player, who's one of the world's best,
18:05feel that disappointment of not picking it up. We know he's now going to Real Madrid.
18:11It could be some summer for him, couldn't it? So I just can't see past Kylian Mbappe for me. And I
18:16think France are a top team, we'll come on to talk about them. But for me, mate, it's Mbappe,
18:21because I think after the hurt of getting to a World Cup final and missing out, I think you'll
18:24want to make amends for that. Perhaps a left field selection for me, Declan. I'm going for
18:31youngster Florian Wurz, the young German attacker who, every time I see him, goes from strength to
18:38strength. A top, top talent, one of the best in Europe, in my view, at this moment in time.
18:44Obviously, we've spoken about the weight of expectation on what is a relatively young
18:49German team. I know they still have the influence of your Thomas Muller and your
18:54Rüdiger and the team, but I still think Germany are very much a work in progress,
18:59and a player like Wurz, one of the top talents in Europe at the moment, certainly going to be
19:05involved in this German national team for a long time to come. I think he could be in for a really
19:11big tournament. Moving on from there, which country do you feel, Declan, is your dark horse?
19:20This might sound strange, but I'm going to say just due to the fact that they didn't
19:24obviously qualify for the last World Cup. Of course, they're the holders, so people would
19:31say right away that they're not a dark horse. They're just on the conversation that people are
19:34having just now with who they think can win this tournament. We know that here,
19:39England are the favourites due to the way that the betting market works. You've got a lot of
19:42people obviously doing so. If they're putting money in England to win the tournament, naturally
19:47you're going to have France and Germany in the conversation. Italy's not getting mentioned in
19:52that conversation, and that's why I think they're a bit of a dark horse in this. They're a completely
19:56different team from the side that won it three years ago, so I'm going to go for the Italians
20:02as my dark horse. But again, Scotland could possibly be a bit of a dark horse as well.
20:06They've got a good chance of getting out of the group. If you have a decent draw, you could be
20:12possibly hitting the quarter-finals. I know that's us getting ahead of ourselves a wee bit, but
20:18there's nothing to say that Scotland's team can't get to the quarter-finals. They're a decent
20:22enough side, and as I say, I think they're far more experienced and in a better place than the
20:27weather last time. So I think in terms of possibly winning the tournament, I'll say Italy, but
20:32I'm going to say Scotland's a wee bit of a dark horse too. I'm going for the Netherlands, Declan,
20:38I think. A big disappointment for them, a big blow, but I think under Ronald Koeman,
20:48they're slowly starting to become the Dutch side that we know that they're more than capable of.
20:53They've had a sticky few years, obviously missed out on qualification for 2016, I think it was.
21:02They'll be gunning to go far in this tournament, and I just think that having watched them in a
21:07couple of their warm-up games, they've been really, really impressive. They thrashed Canada
21:12the other night, pretty ruthless in front of goal. I think they've got some really top players in
21:18there, and I think they have a capability, with Virgil van Dijk at the back, obviously a really
21:24difficult team to break down. So I can see the Dutch going quite far in this tournament.
21:29I think also Croatia's always worth a shoot at these tournaments. They're just a good side.
21:33Luka Modrić is still in there, and everybody else that's around them.
21:37I don't think you can ever really write them off at Euros, do you?
21:41No, no, I think Croatia are a dangerous team, aren't they? There was a lot made a few years ago
21:45about this potentially being an ageing Croatian team. However, I feel like they've kind of managed
21:51to... That is, but they've just
21:51kind of seemed to have passed that, haven't they? Is Modrić 38 or something, 37?
21:55Yeah, yeah. And another team that I think is worth a slight mention here,
22:00Declan, you might not agree with me particularly, I don't think it's a really strong group that
22:03they're in, is Ukraine, who drew with Italy in a friendly the other day. We know Ukraine can be
22:10dangerous on their day. They have Belgium in their group. A lot's been made about this Belgian team,
22:15obviously missed their big chance to win a major tournament, potentially not being the force of
22:22old. I think Ukraine have a real chance of winning the group, and the way the format of the tournament
22:25works out, they could go quite deep into the tournament. And with the likes of Mikhailo Modrić,
22:30who we know is a really top-class player, I think Ukraine could be another nation who could
22:36potentially do quite well. It's just a shame. I think a lot of Scotland
22:40fans after the weekend would have hoped that Iceland were in the tournament, but not to be.
22:46Not to be, no. Declan, your favourite European Championship moment in your lifetime?
22:53I'm probably going to have to say the last Euros, because I think everybody knows,
23:00if you're a Scotland fan, the hype around what was England's tournament, they probably won
23:06obviously the final win at Wembley, and everything else, and just Italy to get it over the line.
23:12I actually became a really likeable Italian team. I thought a couple of years ago that
23:17the Portugal team, they were not great to watch. But of course, they're sparing 2012,
23:23which is a great side too. But I'll probably go for Italy three years ago. I can see you
23:29kind of smirking. You're probably going to say the same thing.
23:34Donnarumma's penalty save from Bakayo Saka's penalty will live long in the memory of many
23:41Scotland fans, I'm sure, who were watching from behind their couch when England reached the final.
23:47So yeah, that was certainly a standout moment for me. Declan, just finally then,
23:52your overall prediction as to who you believe will win Euro 2024?
23:57I have got them in the sweepstake. I am hopeful that they don't win their opening game,
24:03but I'm going to go for Germany. I'm basing that on the fact that they were all over France,
24:09and are friendly again. I know we can't look too much into that. I think they've got a good
24:13side. It's their home tournament. I'm going to go for Germany.
24:18I'm going to go for France, Declan. I just think, obviously, they know how to get the job done.
24:23I think it's important to state that some of the top nations at the moment are very much
24:28a work in progress. Again, the likes of Spain and stuff. We know it's a very young Spanish team.
24:32I don't see them necessarily progressing to as far in the tournament as many people would think.
24:39I just think France, they've got enough experience in their squad. They know how
24:42to get the job done. I am going for France. Just to finish off on an interesting note,
24:49if Scotland were to win the Euros, Declan, how would you mark the celebrations?
24:56I'd certainly put the profits of Tenants Lager up. I think many Glaswegians and Scots
25:04would too. Make it up what you will. A good few pints of Tenants would certainly be sunk if
25:09Scotland were to win the Euros, I think. I think a day off would also be fitting too.
25:16Public holiday, yes. I agree with that 100%. Well, that's us, folks. Wishing Steve Clarke
25:22and the Scotland squad all the best out in Germany. Fingers crossed. Do the nation proud,
25:26boys. We're all rooting for you.