Welsh need to see bigger picture in play-off drama

FOR us, it represents the reclamation of what was once regarded as a birthright. For them, it is an opportunity for ultimate revenge and the end of more than 60 years of hurt. If Wales really are to host Scotland in a winner-takes-all play-off to make it to the World Cup, it will be a proper game for the ages. A match so rich in history, in stories, in national significance for both countries, that it would be a crime not to let as many people as possible see it happen.

That is why the SFA and everyone else must put as much pressure as possible on the Welsh to make sure this potential blockbuster does not go ahead in a 33,000-seater stadium when there is a ground that can hold 75,000 just a mile-and-a-half down the road.

Right now, the messages on the Welsh FA’s official channels are consistent. If they see off Austria and we beat Ukraine in the semis, the final will be going ahead in the Cardiff City Stadium. With a capacity of 33,338, to be precise.

Last week, their chief executive, Noel Mooney, was asked if there would be any chance of moving to the nearby Principality Stadium if the draw threw up a game that promised serious revenue.

‘No, we are really happy at the Cardiff City Stadium,’ he stated. ‘We have no ambition whatsoever to go to the Principality to play the play-offs.’

Faced with what did come out of the hat on Friday, though, carrying on with that stance would just be cutting your nose off to spite your face. If Scotland are to face them in the final, it would also be quite wrong. Unsporting, even.

An all-British Cup tie for a place in Qatar 2022, would be a national event. A spectacular deserving of a greater stage.

Yes, Cardiff City’s ground might be OK if Ukraine end up being the opponents.

But isn’t there some way, despite the logistical challenges, that the Principality can be put on standby?

Indeed, wouldn’t it be a better venue for any final involving Wales anyway? Surely they have more than 30,000 punters eager to get into the game that might see them return to the tournament of all tournaments for the first time since 1958, whoever they are up against. If they don’t, it doesn’t say much for them.

Yeah, Mooney can jabber on about how special the noise from The Red Wall was during the 1-1 home draw with Belgium that secured a play-off place at Cardiff’s home ground, how it got the team over the line. There is nothing wrong with seeking to maximise home advantage. They would still have the vast bulk of the support in the Principality anyway.

It’s just that, if Scotland are the team in the other corner, it would create so much more of a sense of occasion. So much more theatre. And it would allow so many more Scotland supporters to actually see the game.

That’s not Wales’ concern, of course. We get that. In normal circumstances, using everything to give yourself the best possible chance of success is understood.

In 2017, they faced the Republic of Ireland in the last game of World Cup qualifying with a play-off place at stake.

The Irish were given 3,500 tickets. Their fans wanted way more. They wanted the Principality. Wales stood firm and played at Cardiff City — and a fat lot of good it did them, with a James McClean goal giving the visitors a 1-0 win.

This would be slightly different, though. It’s a play-off. The venue was decided in a draw. It is not as if Wales earned the right to play at home and call the shots.

And it would reflect well on them if they took that into consideration before making the gesture, this time, of going to a bigger venue and offering a sizeable allocation of tickets should this mouthwatering face-off with Scotland come to pass.

Let’s be frank. If Steve Clarke’s side book a date against the Welsh, Cardiff, no matter where the game is played and no matter how many briefs are available, will be bedlam on March 29 of next year. There will be tens of thousands of Scots fans there.

There is a strong argument to be made in favour of opening up the Principality Stadium simply to make that more straightforward to police and manage. The Six Nations rugby will be over. Wales play their final game there against Italy on March 19. There seems no reason why it wouldn’t be free to hire.

Restricting away tickets won’t stop people from travelling. Scotland reaching the Euros was lovely, but making it to a first World Cup for 24 years is something else. Seat in the ground or no seat in the ground, people will want to be as close to the party as possible if Scotland win.

For generations of Scots, the national team being present at the Greatest Show on Earth was second-nature.

Having your heart broken into a million pieces by selling the jerseys against Iran, Alan Hansen and Willie Miller banging into each other or Stevie Nicol missing a sitter from a yard out every four years was a rite of passage.

As was getting there by putting Wales out in the most outrageous circumstances.

Lord, how great it will be to spend the build-up to this next meeting — because it is fated to happen — reading Joe Jordan deny for the umpteenth time that he punched Willie Johnston’s throw-in when winning the penalty that paved the way for that momentous win at Anfield in 1977.

What mixed memories it will invoke to reflect on Ninian Park in 1985 when Davie Cooper’s late spot-kick — awarded when David Speedie booted the ball into David Phillips’ arm from point-blank range — secured a place in the play-offs for Mexico 86.

There have been few nights to shred the emotions like that one. From Jim Leighton losing a contact lens and being replaced in goal by Alan Rough at half-time to those awful scenes of the late Jock Stein being taken into the dressing-room on a stretcher at the end.

Another World Cup, after all these years, would open up a passageway to travel, hand-in-hand, with our children and grandchildren as they gain their own ritual understanding of the way we used to live and can live again.

The prospect of getting there by seeing off Wales is just too good to be true. Like kismet. Like returning to all of the ancient ways in one, reconnecting Young Scotland with the spirit of their ancestors.

Tom Jones, Owain Glyndwr, Dylan Thomas, Mickey Thomas, that annoying bloke from the Go Compare adverts. Your boys are in for a hell of a beating. Or, rather, a thoroughly undeserved defeat from a penalty-that-never-was.

This is what the Gods demand. This is how it is written. Our youth must witness your sacrifice. So stop playing silly beggars and just let us in to see destiny take its course. Thank you.