Scotland are preparing to play at next summer's pandemic-delayed Euro 2020, in what will be their first major finals since the 1998 World Cup.
Their qualification for the 12 city tournament was secured by a victory on penalties away to Serbia in the last round of the playoffs last Thursday night, with their captain Andy Robertson saying he now 'can't wait for next summer'.
Steve Clarke's side will face will face the Czech Republic, 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia and their old rivals England in Group D at the finals. It'll be the first meeting of Scotland and England at a major tournament since their game at Wembley at Euro '96.
Chief sports writer with BBC Scotland, Tom English, told Joe Molloy on Off The Ball's Football Show that many Scottish fans had given up hope on the team after a succession of disappointing qualifying campaigns.
"People had kinda inoculated themselves against disappointment by saying to themselves that international football really didn't matter anymore. They convinced themselves that it didn't matter because consistently Scotland would let them down.
"It was a glorious twist to the usual narrative for Scotland, it was incredible. People have been ground down in Scotland for the last 20 years about the national team.
"On Thursday night when Scotland won and qualified, all the emotion came rising to the top and we could see how much it mattered, it mattered hugely.
"For 90 minutes Scotland had played really well against Serbia and weren't looking in any danger at all and then of course comes that sucker-punch of an equaliser with two minutes left to play.
"The fatalism that has surrounded the Scottish national team for two decades came back. I don't think there would have been too many Scots, apart from the players on the pitch, who believed that Scotland were going to do it.
"It was important not just to football fans but to the entire country. Football can reach parts that other sports can't reach and my god it reached all around Scotland last Thursday night."
Scotland players celebrate their victory in the Euro 2020 playoff final soccer match between Serbia and Scotland, at the Rajko Mitic stadium in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Steve Clarke found the issues and fixed them
English described Scotland's progress under former Liverpool and Chelsea coach Clarke as a renaissance which has culminated in a turnaround of fortunes for many of their players.
"David Marshall, in the last year he's bounced around from different clubs in the Championship and is currently with Derby, now he's a national hero.
"Declan Gallagher, who five years ago was in prison for assault for hitting a guy with a baseball bat, now a national hero.
"What Clarke did was he came in and realised the incredibly negativity of the fans and of the media, and he was amazingly strong. He just took it all on his shoulders and the job he'd done at Kilmarnock was incredible, I mean really, really good.
"He decided to go from a four to a three at the back when everyone was against that. He decided to make Scott McTominay his right sided centre-half, everyone through he was mad and that he should be a midfielder.
"He brought in Gallagher and everyone thought he was only a Motherwell defender, he's been tremendous. He converted Tierney into a left centre-back so Andy Roberstson could play as a wing-back. All the problems that were there for years, he fixed them.
"He found Lyndon Dykes, a striker who is not going to score a million goals but he's a workhorse and effective in the air...he has that kind of Australian surfer dude self-belief which has coursed its way through the entire team.
"Clarke has fixed a lot of problems which managers before him could not fix. He's turned his squad into good, solid players and it's down to the clarity of his coaching."
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