SCOTLAND No.3 Stuart McCall today issued a plea for calm ahead of the powderkeg Auld Enemy double-header in the World Cup qualifiers.

Police and security services face a real challenge after the fixture dates for Group F were announced yesterday with the Tartan Army swarming towards Wembley for a 7.45pm kick-off on a Friday night and the return match at Hampden Park scheduled for 5pm on a Saturday.

Gordon Strachan’s side play in London on November 11, 2016, with the second clash between the sides scheduled for June 10, 2017.

McCall witnessed the darker side of the fixture around the European Championship play-off match at Hampden in 1999 and hopes the more positive atmosphere that surrounded the friendlies between the sides in 2013 and 2014 will prevail.

“We just want the games to pass incident-free,” he said. “I remember coming to that play-off game and it wasn’t nice.

“Myself and a few of the ex-Rangers lads travelled to the game in a limo after meeting at a place down near the Clyde. We parked up at the top end of the stadium and walked down to the main door, with all their casuals alongside us.

“They had no scarves, just hoodies and parkas zipped up and it was frightening and intimidating.

“I was a Bradford player at the time and, after Paul Scholes scored his two goals and we lost 2-0, I thought: ‘I’m not going to Wembley for the return’. I regretted it.

“The last two games had good atmospheres, though, so I hope the next two are the same.”

McCall has also warned England that they will see a different Scotland side from the one comfortably beaten 3-1 in a friendly at Celtic Park last November.

He points out that the Scots were still in the process of recovering from an exhausting Euro 2016 win over the Republic of Ireland just four days earlier and knows there will be a fresher mentality within an improved Scotland squad by the time the Auld Enemy rivalry is to be renewed.

“England were far better in the last game,” conceded McCall. “That was as poor as we have been at home for some time and we were disappointed in ourselves.

“England would expect to beat us if we perform like we did that night, but we have improved and we are improving.

“I think the mental side of it was an issue that night. There was this intense build-up to the Republic of Ireland game beforehand and all the euphoria after the win.

“We were never going to match that, even though it was England. That’s not an excuse. England were better than us in certain parts of the game, but, for long periods, it was even and scrappy.”

McCall also believes that qualifying for next summer’s European Championship finals would do much for the development of Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad and put them in a better position to compete with England when the World Cup fixtures come around.

“I hope that getting to Euro 2016 will help build the experience and knowledge of the squad,” said McCall, who won 40 caps and appeared at three major finals competitions.

“You cannot underestimate what going away for three weeks together helps to create within a squad and we have not had that for years. We are hoping that some players can emerge for us over the next 18 months while England’s Under-21s did not do particularly well in the tournament they were in recently.”

McCall also takes great heart from the way Scotland played when running England close at a friendly at Wembley in August 2013. Goals from James Morrison and Kenny Miller contributed to a thrilling match that ended in a 3-2 defeat following a goal from England substitute Rickie Lambert with 20 minutes to play.

“We gave them a right good game and I’d probably say we’re a stronger squad now,” he stated.