IT won’t go down as a golden era of Scottish football. We have reached the end of it now, though.

As Scotland look to move forward under the guidance of a new manager, it is time for the next generation of players to make up the core of the national side.

Only time will tell who Stewart Regan and the SFA board put their faith in and appoint as Gordon Strachan’s replacement but Malky Mackay has already started the blueprint as Performance Director and interim boss.

The 1-0 defeat to Holland on Thursday night was a fairly dull affair all round but there were just enough positives to take from it to ensure it wasn’t rendered a completely meaningless exercise.

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There could have been even more had Mackay not overlooked Liam Cooper and left the centre-half on the bench while Christophe Berra and then Charlie Mulgrew partnered Kieran Tierney at the back.

Or had he not delayed introducing Jason Cummings until the final minutes of the match and only given the striker the briefest of cameos to show what he could do at Pittodrie.

But the fact that the likes of John McGinn, Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie didn’t look out of place certainly bodes well for the future. It is no surprise that all three were comfortable, right enough.

That is certainly good news for Scotland, but it may be bad news for those that have been integral parts of the squad under Strachan in recent times.

When the new boss selects his first group next year, he will struggle to justify picking players that have tried, tried and tried again and failed on each occasion to take Scotland back to a major finals.

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It is time for the national side to look forward, to put faith in the likes of McGinn and McGregor, to give untested talents such as Ryan Fraser or Oliver Burke a chance to showcase their talents for their country.

The decision to leave out the likes of James Morrison, Chris Martin or Steven Fletcher in favour of an up-and-coming talents shouldn’t be that difficult a one to make for Strachan’s successor.

The same can’t be said of Scott Brown, though, and that big call will probably come down to the 32-year-old himself rather than the man he will call boss at international level.

There is no doubt that Brown can still be a key part of the Scotland squad and team, but having retired from national service once already he now has another decision to make.

Only he knows if that time has come to call it a day for a second time. But now seems like an opportune moment for Brown to step back and allow Tierney to take his armband and someone else to fill his boots.

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There is a chance for Scotland to have a changing of the guard and, going into 2018, it should be out with the old and in with the new.

For many players, we shouldn’t see their likes again. If the future is to be bright, we must move on from the past.

AND ANOTHER THING

The booing of Ryan Jack by a section of supporters on Thursday evening was as sad as it was predictable. The only surprise is that some people were surprised.

Fair play to the Rangers midfielder for brushing it off both during and after the game and not allowing the actions of the mindless ruin what was a proud night for him and his family as he made his international debut against Holland.

Jack will return to Pittodrie in a couple of weeks as Rangers play the second of their back-to-back Premiership clashes against former club Aberdeen and he will no doubt be expecting a hostile reception from the home crowd. All’s fair in love and war and all that.

It is just a shame, and a sad indictment of the attitude of some in our game, that any lingering animosity towards him for his move to Ibrox couldn’t have been put aside when he pulled on the dark blue jersey.