STUART McCALL has revealed he kicked off his stint as Scotland coach by watching the worst half an hour of football he has ever been involved in.
Former Rangers midfielder McCall had high hopes when he was appointed to the national squad's backroom team by Gordon Strachan two years ago.
But the first competitive match the ex-Motherwell boss helped his country prepare for was a World Cup qualifier against Wales at Hampden - and he got a real fright.
He said: "We thought we could win and hit the ground running in our first game against Wales. And the first 30 minutes I can say was probably the worst 30 minutes I've ever been involved in in playing, coaching and managing.
"Good level of players giving the ball away, getting caught in possession, panicking. We were thinking: 'What's happened!'
"We got a goal ahead and we were doing okay. But then we got a player sent off, gave away a penalty and they scored two in four minutes. That changed it all.
"We got caught up in a snowstorm going back to our hotel. We were sitting on the bus scratching our heads and thinking: 'This is going to be a tough job'."
Since then, though, Scotland have been revitalised by former Celtic gaffer Strachan, and the Scots have a great chance of qualifying for Euro 2016. McCall said: "From that first game until now there has been a massive improvement, certainly mentally.
"What is encouraging is that you get a vibe when people meet up. I've been fortunate to have been in good team groups with Scotland and at clubs and you get that when you meet up.
"There are no individual cliques, they all mix in, the players love coming."
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