Stuart Cosgrove: Despite the controversies, the Euros should be worth the wait

Coronavirus may yet dominate this tournament just as it has shaped our recent lives. A group of Scotland players have already been forced to self-isolate in their training base in Spain, after the midfielder John Fleck returned a positive test.

For hardcore Scotland fans there was ­another typically Scottish setback. The Aberdeen defender Andy Considine was excluded from Clark’s initial squad, even though it was his polysexual stag party video Yes Sir I Can Boogie – that gifted the Tartan Army its song of the summer.

Organising Euro 2020 has been a fraught logistical nightmare. With a third spike in Covid widely predicted and new variants challenging health officials, the nerves of Uefa bosses are shredded.

I am a passionate football fan but in the darkest hours of the pandemic, I have often lost patience with fellow fans who blithely imagine that their hobby somehow exists in a special category, magically free from infection. It is staggering how many people see a gathering of fans in a stadium as an arbiter of our nation’s well-being.

READ MORE: Scotch Embassy: Football anthem written in 1998 returns ahead of Euro 2021

Next Monday, a few thousand fans who have been lucky enough to ­navigate ­Uefa’s bewildering ticket allocation ­system will enter Hampden, the first fans to attend a major footballing event since ­Coronavirus took its vice-like grip on ­public gatherings.

And let us not forget how we got there. It was David Marshall’s epic penalty save against Serbia that sent Scotland to the Euros triggering some of the most bizarre celebrations across Scotland. As the ­players sang Yes Sir I Can Boogie in the dressing room a unique madness overtook Scotland. The game had gone to extra time and penalties. Pub owners working under strict tier systems were forced to shut up shop at 10:00pm, just as the clock ticked down to the final ­monumental drama.

Most fans were bundled outdoors only to stare through pub windows to watch Marshall’s save on hurriedly re-positioned TV screens. Two pipers climbed out on to a window ledge on Lothian Road playing Flower of Scotland and triggering an impromptu street party.

Covid has changed Scotland, maybe forever, but it has not dampened our love affair with the national team.

At long last, Scotland had defied the doom-mongers and qualified for a major tournament in the men’s game, just as a well-worn old quote – “the dream will never die” – was reverberating in political circles.

Covid restrictions have been tiring for all of us, emotionally troubling for many and worst of all fatal for over 7500 Scottish citizens. When the decisions taken by the Scottish Government are reviewed, mistakes will unquestionably be exposed – did we handle care-homes well? Could we have acted quicker? Should we have been so dutiful in following Westminster’s lead? The questions will be endless, and the answers will ­undoubtedly be ­exposed to strict scrutiny.

When all is said and done, I suspect the inconvenience of football fans will not register that highly and the Scottish government, a handy punch bag for those that are not predisposed to dealing with complexity.

Although most complaints have been amplified by social media, many football fans have responded in good grace, keen to get back to games but anxious not to spread the virus. A dedicated core has shown themselves hugely committed to their club and its wider community and there are signs of enthusiasm for season tickets even although a full season cannot be guaranteed yet.

READ MORE: Yes Sir, I Can Boogie: Scots band The Dirty Kilts cover disco hit for charity

Despite the noise, and the public ­outrage at George Square, football has mostly been a galvanising force for good during the pandemic. Next week, the ­Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal will ­donate to KEEN, a charity near Wembley that provides facilities for deprived and disabled kids.

SET against football’s goodwill has been self-flagellating journalism eager to point the finger of blame. Two nations in Scotland’s Group D abandoned plans to set up training camps here. Croatia ­cancelled their plans to base themselves in St ­Andrews and the Czech Republic withdrew from the Oriam Centre.

Much of the coverage seemed to blame Scotland’s Covid restrictions but that is a highly partial interpretation since both Croatia and the Czech Republic have ­public health restrictions in place too.

The Football Association in Croatia withdrew after coming under pressure at home to help the economically beleaguered Rovinj coastal resort, as part of a national effort to rebuild tourism. The Czech Republic faced a different problem. With national borders opening and closing in central Europe, they have made hurried arrangements to assemble a squad of key players based in England, Germany, and Austria. They will now fly to and from their games via private jet.

Tournament favourites France are not out of the woods yet either. Their pre-tournament planning has been thrown into chaos. New travel restrictions mean that entry to France is limited to EU nationals, French residents, and those travelling for essential purposes. But the catch is that even these permitted travellers must test negative before leaving their departure country and they must also isolate for seven days after they arrive in France. Most of the squad are currently in Nice, and they still have to fly to Germany for their opening match in Group F, the proverbial “Group of Death”. French boss Didier ­Deschamps will not sleep easy until they are all tucked up in bed.

As Scotland’s mouthy army of amateur epidemiologists, statisticians and logisticians grow louder it is worth stating a simple fact. There is not a football nation in the tournament that has not been impacted. The games planned for Dublin have moved to Wembley where the city’s mayor has advised Scotland fans not to congregate. Scientists are split as to whether England should be lifting restrictions on June 21, a decision that may yet bring Boris Johnson’s reckless stewardship to final ignominy.

The Welsh squad is still making its last-minute adjustments. They are at a training camp in the Algarve, but their luxury resort has just re-opened and is only offering partial self-catering facilities. Dietary regimes apart, it will be a long time since Gareth Bale cooked beans on toast.

READ MORE: Euros fan zone: Jason Leitch says 'perhaps' Glasgow Green event will go ahead

Scotland was asked to make provision for a Covid-safe stadium with a proportion of some fans nside the ground. That is now on track and so too is the fan zone, but many other aspects of the tournament have fallen by the wayside.

There was a simple solution, to call Uefa and say this it too complicated and too risky, we are pulling out. It would have taken decisive leadership, but the roar of resentment would have been loud enough to drive a ravine through Ben Nevis.

Our national men’s team so starved of success are back on the big stage. For the next few weeks, I will welcome the kitsch rhythms of Yes Sir I Can Boogie in the knowledge that this is Scotland, and we are only a lucky deflection away from greatness.

In more ways than one – we are not out of this yet.