England boss Gareth Southgate admits he was supporting Scotland during the 1978 World Cup
England boss Gareth Southgate has admitted that he was backing Scotland for glory in the 1978 World Cup.
Southgate made the shock admission ahead of the Three Lions' clash with Scotland at Hampden Park for a 150th Anniversary Heritage Match on Tuesday, live on talkSPORT.
Given the historic rivalry between the two home nations, many fans are expecting the friendly to be anything but that.
Speaking to the media ahead of the clash, Southgate recalled the first time he watched England take on Scotland.
«My first memory is some of your mates nicking the goalposts at Wembley, so back to 1977!» he said. «When I was growing up it was only the FA Cup final and the home internationals that were live on television, so it was the only game we saw really.»
The match in question saw Scotland beat England 2-1 in the 1976/77 British Home Championship, with Southgate aged seven at the time.
Scotland fans invaded the pitch at Wembley in celebration as they won on the hallowed turf for the first time in ten years.
Just a year later they competed at the World Cup in Argentina, and Southgate supported England's neighbours amid the Three Lions' absence.
«I mean this is horrendous what I'm going to say here ahead of tomorrow but I saw supporting Scotland in 1978 because obviously we hadn't qualified!» he said.
«So I kind of followed that through the trauma of Peru and the Netherlands, then we were back in in 1982 and all of sudden for me then onwards it was all about England.»
Scotland failed to make it out of the group at the World Cup as they could only muster one win against the Netherlands, with a draw coming against Iran and defeat to the hands of Peru preventing them from advancing to the next stage.
Speaking on the rivalry itself, Southgate
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