Young fan has trip of a lifetime as family end up booking into same Boston hotel as Scotland national team

Lucky Scotland fans from Hamilton had a World Cup trip to remember after discovering they had accidentally booked into the same Boston hotel as the national team.

Kevin Brogan, 38, his son Nicholas, 7, and Kevin’s dad Paul, 61, were left in awe as one by one they saw the Scotland team filing out of their hotel.

They had booked the trip as soon as Scotland had secured qualification against Denmark last November and did a double take when they spotted some of the players in their hotel when they arrived.

Kevin told STV News: “We left on the Wednesday night and then stayed over in London then flew to Madrid and then Madrid to Boston.

“As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we saw Jack Hendry and I was like ‘no way’, then next minute, we were up the escalators and saw Ryan Christie and then Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey, and I couldn’t believe it.

“We still had our bags and everything on. We were just pure flabbergasted.

“We were on holiday with my dad as well so there were three generations on board so that was special.”

Nicholas with Scotland boss Steve Clarke Whatsapp

Kevin said he had no idea they were staying in the same hotel as Steve Clarke’s men when he booked it, but the team were more than happy to take time out of a busy schedule to make a young fan very happy.

Nicholas said: “John McGinn is my favourite player.

“Me and my pal were looking for him and I spotted him just at the right time, then, we went downstairs and he wasn’t there and my dad said ‘let’s go look at the elevator’ and then we saw him and we got his autograph.

“My friends didn’t believe me, I think they were all jealous!”

Kevin added: “McGinn was brilliant with him, he couldn’t be happier to sign the wee man’s autograph and get a good photo with him. He was buzzing.”

The family packed in a lot during their four-day stay in Boston. They managed to go whale watching, wall climbing and saw performances from Nathan Evans and SAINT PHNX.

Nicholas gets to meet his Scotland heroes including Jack Hendry Whatsapp

Nicholas was even able to have a kickabout with some other young fans at Scotland House at The Anchor before heading to the Boston Stadium to watch Scotland’s 1-0 win over Haiti.

And Kevin said special family moments like that are what the World Cup is all about.

He added: “It’s definitely the best thing that’s been in my life. Just to see him meeting a player.

“My dad was watching me smile, and I was watching Nicholas smile, the three of us were just bouncing off each other’s vibes.

“My dad was absolutely brilliant. The three of us had our arms round each other singing Flower of Scotland at the game – it was a memorable moment as well.

“There was no phone out at that point, it was just us singing.

“There was some noise at the Haiti game. We were way up in the Gods.

“The good thing about Scotland game is it doesn’t matter if you are a Rangers fan, a Celtic fan, Aberdeen or Dundee – everybody comes together.

“The amount of people we met, it was brilliant. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. 100 per cent. We will definitely be going to the next World Cup.”

They have since returned home and enjoyed the trip so much they even considered heading back out to Miami for Scotland’s final group match against Brazil but it was going to cost too much.

Kevin said: “You could see Boston was absolutely bouncing and the Americans loved the Scottish.

“Everywhere you went they were interacting with you – it was just happy vibes. It was just brilliant, I can’t say any more. I’m just gutted we came home!”