Craig Burley: I’ll be happy to give up title as Scotland’s last World Cup scorer

Craig Burley is relishing the prospect of finally losing his long-standing status as the last man to score for Scotland at a World Cup finals.

The 54-year-old, a former Chelsea team-mate of national team boss Steve Clarke, notched in a 1-1 draw with Norway in Bordeaux in 1998.

Burley, who was sent off in Scotland’s following match against Morocco, is hopeful one of the current squad will banish his big claim to fame by notching at next summer’s showpiece in North America.

“I think they will,” he told BBC Reporting Scotland. “I think I’ve dined out on it way too long now, that’s 28 years and I’m still dining out on it.

“Boys scored at the European Championships (in 2021 and 2024), but I said, ‘nah, it’s not the same, you’ve got to score at a World Cup’. So I’m sure somebody will get us over the line and people can stop talking about that.

“I’m also the last player to be sent off for Scotland at a World Cup, but I’m hoping nobody takes that one away from me, because that’ll make Stevie’s job even more difficult.

“But I just know myself, that feeling when I scored in Bordeaux against Norway, of running to the Tartan Army, knowing that you scored in the World Cup, having grown up as a kid in Ayrshire, watching David Narey scoring in the 82 World Cup against Brazil and watching all those big games.

“You’re out in the back garden, or in the park or on the street, you’re kicking that ball about and you’re dreaming of it. I was fortunate I got to do that, and a whole generation of players in the last 28 years have not.

“This generation are going to get that feeling of being in North America, playing on the biggest stage and hopefully doing themselves justice. And that, as a kid, is what you dream about.”