IT has been called Gordon Strachan's last stand. But the Scotland manager feels it is simply time that his players stood up and were counted in order to win back some respectability for Scottish football.

The 59-year-old was in bullish mood last night ahead of tonight's vital Group F qualifier against England at Wembley as he banished all talk of his own uncertain future as manager of the national team to insist his players were ready to reclaim some national pride after the setbacks to Lithuania and Slovakia last month. What better way to do that than a meeting with the Auld Enemy at Wembley, a fixture which has a life of its own.

“I know what you’re inferring but it’s just three points," said Strachan. "It really is a huge three points and it’s to get some respectability back because I felt we lost that in the last couple of games. And a little bit of pride.

“It’s the one place you want to perform and put on a good show because there’s so many people there. We’re doing it for the group, the people who have travelled, anybody who has tapped us on the shoulder and wished us good luck and anyone who wants us to win. We’re doing it for them. Nothing else has any bearing on the next 24 hours."

With media commitments around the ATP Tour finals at the 02 arena to fulfil, Andy Murray - the new No 1 of men's tennis - will make a late call today as to whether to brave the London traffic and attend the Group F qualifier. That means there is almost certain to be no pre-match pep talk from Scotland's greatest ever sporting superstar but Strachan made light of the matter yesterday.

"If the big man can play up front and move about he can have a shot at that!" joked Strachan, who received a pre-match boost when Steven Fletcher and Gordon Greer came through training unscathed. "If he has got that in his locker great. But team sport is a wee bit different. I wouldn’t expect someone like me to go in and give him a talk on how he should be playing tennis. I wouldn’t say, ‘I don’t think you should be doing that drop shot any longer Andy. ‘Or ‘I think you really need to work on your upper body because it looks a bit puny. I don’t think he would appreciate that because I know nothing about tennis. I’ve had these motivational speeches before and thought, ‘I’m ready, shut up, let’s get out.’"

England versus Scotland is no-ordinary football match so perhaps it is appropriate that Strachan feels the backdrop to this match might inspire something extraordinary from his players. While much has changed, in both camps, since a debut goal from substitute Ricky Lambert, then of Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool, gave England a 3-2 friendly win here in August 2013, that performance is the template for what Scotland hope to achieve here tonight. Perhaps unsurprisingly, less is being read into the return 'friendly' at Celtic Park in November 2014, which finished 3-1 to England, days after Scotland had overcome the Republic of Ireland.

"It’s like any sport when you get the big occasions," said Strachan. "You can get world records when the adrenaline drives you to somewhere else. But obviously we’ve got a plan. We don’t just chuck everybody out, wish them all the best and say ‘go well’.

"But I’ve played in a Scotland-England game too where people have gone about booting people so the crowd think that’s great," he added. "That’s no good to anybody. You have to stick to the plan but use the emotion to run faster, jump higher, concentrate more, and be braver."

Scotland the brave is certainly needed tonight if England, on a run of 32 straight unbeaten qualifiers, are to stumble in the first competitive meeting between these teams since Scotland's 1-0 win in 1999. What team Strachan goes with is a source of fascination. Having found a new formula for his Scotland side after his summer spying mission at Euro 2016, the 59-year-old now ponders whether to go with the team which underwhelmed in October, or alter his plans for the Auld Enemy. Strachan says he had deliberated over "one or two" positions after watching them in training and said it was just about possible to read an opportunity for Oliver Burke, if not Leigh Griffiths, to start in place of Chris Martin up front.

"I see a new trend coming in in football where the main striker is stronger and quicker, that focal point," said Strachan. "You look at that and ask: 'have we got that?' Can we do that? If you don’t you go somewhere else and do what’s best for the team. But I do think that’s a trend with a bigger striker because everybody is playing deeper. It’s not like a Barcelona where we’re that good to say that’s the way we play and we never change."

While there was a shrug of the shoulders about the Charlie Adam situation, Strachan said he had had been moved by the fact so many of his players had become de fact parts of the "Strachan household". He was proud of the fact that Steven Naismith, Robert Snodgrass and James McArthur had called for him to stay - regardless of tonight's result.

The 59-year-old was famously on his honeymoon in London in 1977 when he ventured onto the Wembley pitch to steal a sod of turf in celebration after Scotland's 2-1 win. Winning tonight would be an even greater conquest. "Aye, it’s somewhere in Broughty Ferry now," said Strachan. "Three points would be a lot better and I’m sure they would appreciate me leaving the pitch alone as well."