Gemmill welcomes 'Celtic Cup' proposal

Scotland legend Archie Gemmill threw his weight behind the idea of a revamped home international series – and claimed “Utopia” would be the eventual inclusion of England.

Discussions are going ahead for a ’Celtic Cup’ which would include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland featuring instead of England.

It is hoped the Football Association in England, who have showed no enthusiasm for bringing back the tournament last played in 1984, would eventually warm to the idea.

And the Scotland under-20 manager, preparing his side before flying out for the under-20 World Cup in Canada on Monday, would welcome the re-introduction of the Scotland versus England fixture in the near future.

He said: “I like the idea of the Celtic Cup, very much so.

“It’s just unfortunate to learn that England might come in at a later date.

“But you may as well start it and if they come in later then it will be like the icing on the cake.

“And if you could get the Scotland versus England fixture again it would be Utopia.

“From a Scottish player’s point of view, the matches against England are absolutely tremendous for everyone concerned.

“It would be great knowing that at the end of a hard season you were going to pit your wits against players from what everybody says is supposed to be the best league in the world – but isn’t.

“And there’s nothing like getting one over the English – that is most important.

“So it would be great to get everything together again.

“And it would be good to see the top Irish and Welsh players.”

The former Derby and Nottingham Forest midfielder insists the already congested football calendar could accommodate the tournament.

And Gemmill, best remembered for his goal against Holland in the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina, believes the current Scotland side would have nothing to fear from their English counterparts.

He said: “When the games are played will be up to the nations concerned.

“When I played football you were off for two-and-half months.

“But nowadays football has a three-week break and you are back again.

“Football has come on leaps and bounds in terms of the diet and the training, it’s phenomenal.

“Our boys were playing on the 25th of last month so they don’t get a lot of time off.

“Who knows if we could beat England now.

“It’s been a long time since they last played but I think you would find that if England and Scotland met at any time in the near future it could be a toss of a coin who would win.”